Hello everyone. My name is David. I'm 35 years old. I have been dealing with CH's for about 3 months now.

I've been diagnosed with migraine headaches in my early 20's, and about 3 months ago they changed. My migraines completely emcompassed my entire head, light sensitive, nausea, etc. until 3 months ago my headaches became solely on the right side of my head. My pain was centered behind my right eye. The pain is excruciating. I cry. My right eyelid droops. It feels like there is something trying to push my right eye out of it's socket. My vision in my right eye gets blurry. I have a very temper tantrum like fight with my bed (which I sprint to as soon as the cursed thing starts) screaming and writhing in pain. I have not had a "typical" migraine since the CH's started.

I usually have 1 CH a day for 5-7 days straight. They usually start in the evening. They have lasted as short as 10 minutes and as long as 2 hours. The shorter episodes are usually aborted via Imitrex. (My insurance sucks and only pays for 4 tabs and 4 injections). I have tramadol as a pain killer for a back injury. I have used it for these headaches with success only in relieving the pain. The pressure type feeling behind my eye remains until I either A.) fall asleep or B.) take an Imitrex.

When the headaches changed, I marched into my PMD's office and explained what was going on. She looked perplexed. I told her that Imitrex was still working, so we're sticking with it. I am a Paramedic, and my PMD takes my medical opinion of my symptoms quite seriously. I told her this was scaring the shit out of me, and I wanted a scan. I had an MRI/MRA without contrast which was read as negative by the radiologist. YAY NO TUMOR! BOO EFF'ING HEADACHES STILL COMING!

I HATE IMITREX! I hate the way it makes me feel. It makes my hair feel like it's on fire, my throat feels tight, dysphagia, my left arm gets heavy and weak, and in general, it makes me feel like I got run over by a septic tanker truck that was kind enough to dump it's load on me as it ran me over. But I'll jump in front of that truck everyday to get rid of the headache. The headache that nothing seems to fix...

I remember the first time I got this feeling. I was crying, screaming. My wife was panicked. I kept punching the wall near our bed yelling for her to put a bullet through my head it hurt so bad. My CH laughed at the attempt to calm it with Excedrin. My CH kicked Motrin right in the ding ding, pointed and laughed, and then proceded to give my tylenol a noogie...I really wanted to die that night. I finally fell asleep after a dose of Imitrex. My wife did some research and told me about "CLUSTER HEADACHES."

My wife is tough. She's my rock when these come on. Somehow she manages to keep me all together despite her own medical issues. So far, because of these damn headaches...I've missed a Jimmy Buffett concert; a visit from a dear friend, twice; missed the Renaissance Fair, twice (left early once); countless dinners and movies; and almost missed an Eagles concert.

After reading some of these stories, I feel like I don't have a right to complain a single bit in comparison. I get them once a day for 5-7 days. Some of you guys are having multiple attacks a day. My prayers are truly with you guys.

That being said, thank you for this site. And thank you for having me.

Thanks pretty face.

Nyteguardyan wrote on Dec 14^th, 2008 at 2:19am:

seasonalboomer wrote on Dec 14^th, 2008 at 6:21am:


I didn't mention trying o2 because I hadn't tried it yet. To be honest, it never crossed my mind. I hope it works for me. Thanks for all the invaluable information I've found on this site.

I'm sorry you are here, but welcome!  these guys are like my new family(and they are better supporters than my REAL family!!)   

You've joined an exclusive club, my friend.  And while these folks aren't doctors, they have amassed far more research than most neuros have on this subject, and as a medical man yourself I'm sure you can appreciate that!!  I'm newly diagnosed from migraines, too, and my advice is this- go through all the posts and start collecting all the info you can on what everyone has tried, because this lovely disease reacts differently for everyone....and keep a headache journal!!  it took me a while to figure out what was going on because I was getting CH and migraines together; and when you are trying out meds, it really helps to have a chart of pain/symptoms/meds you've taken to start working out the best course of action- memory is notoriously poor in these situations.  Good luck- to both of you!

Ok...time to get a bit mushy...

I tear up a bit as I read posts here. There's just so much relief in knowing that I'm not alone. I hate to wish pain on anyone, but I'm glad to know that there are people that know and understand my pain.

I really can't express how I feel.

Thank you.