Jim-

Can you share the med medley and change in diet that has worked for you?  I am lucky enough to only get them in the evening, where I can find an ice pack and grab the O2 tank and whisk them away within 5-10 minutes, but the prospect of being headache free...

I would do just about anything to get myself to the shadows, not that they are pleasant, but they may not wake me 7 times a night

   Way back in the bad ol' days of my CHs ..Dec '07.. Before I discovered this wonderful forum. I discovered, by accident, that food can trigger these headaches. From that point on I kept a journal. I wrote down everything that I ate or drank and the time I ate it. Any meds I took and the time that I took them. Any headaches that I had, the time that they occurred and their intensity and their durration. I did this for a while.

   I then looked at the data and started seeing patterns. My headaches would come at the same times every day, as would my meals. I found that certain foods would trigger headaches and certian would not. I cut out foods that triggered CH and stuck to the few that didn't.
 It occurred to me that, unfortunately, much of the meat we eat these days is full of growth hormones. I searched and found info on the effect of hormones on CHs. I found an article that stated CHs can be caused by low testosterone. To see if this was my case, I went to the nutrition store and got some Amidren*. Amidren is supposed to increase the T. level in aging men. I doubted that low T. was my problem because I had none of the other symptoms generally associated with low T. Besides I was only 44 years old, and didn't consider myself aging . But what the hell, I've tried everything else.
  Up until that day, from the beginning of this whole Ch thing, I had an attack KP7-KP8 between 4pm and 5pm every day. That day (Saturday) I took 2 Amidren at 1:30pm. My 4pm Ch came but was only KP2-KP3. I was speachless. I continued on this track, no other meds, for a couple of months.
  By this time I was documenting everything. I took my notes to my GP. He had never heard of such a thing, and was VERY skepticle. To satisify me, He ran tests.
  My T. was low. he prescribed T. replacement therapy. And I've been on shadows and few KP2s and KP3s ever since.
  I have since modified my diet to one that naturally increases T. and am off the prescription T.

In summary:

   I steer clear of meats that have hormones or nitrates . Sugar in any form, white wine ( don't drink red... it's yukkie... can drink whiskey and beer though....Hmmm go figure), and about a thousand other things that are on my bad foods list. Trial and error seems to be the only way to make this list.
  I eat a lot of Peanut Butter, nuts and other T. friendly foods.

*the ingredient that I was looking for when I found Amidren was tribulus terrestirs... I have tried other "male enhancement" products with this ingredient, but no other has worked.


My friendly advise (NOT medical advise) is get your T. levels checked. (Women, I don't know if you would need to check your T. levels or your Est. levels. The hypothalamus controls the pituitary which controls all hormones ) If you are going to your GP anyway, this shouldn't be a problem.  

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND. These are MY experiences. I believe that even though we all may have similar symptoms, that does not mean that we have the same problem. thus we may not respond to the same treatment.

Bumps, bruises and broken bones can be caused by a car accident or a fall off of the roof......Same symptoms, different cause.

PFDs to all Clusterheads and their Cluster families

Jim
   

Pixie-elf wrote on Oct 18^th, 2008 at 3:07am:



With all due respect to your Neurologist, not one of my 3 Neurologists even considered low T. as a possibility.

Remember, the hypothalumus controls the pituitary and the pituitary controls the hormones.

here is an interesting link..
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or


If your doctor list is as extensive as mine, adding an Endocrinologist probably wouldn't hurt.

Best of luck to you and your family.

PFDs to All

Jim

shelticon2 wrote on Oct 16^th, 2008 at 11:16pm:

don't feel bad. thats easy to do on this board. i didn't follow any of the links posted here but i will say this. i took Ritalin from the age of 8 to 11 twice daily. i was one of those unruly smart ass kids so they put me on some pills. anyways after i stopped taking Ritalin  is when i started having ch. i dunno know. if you do decide to try Ritalin let us know if it works.