Good Morning! I am a wife of a CH suffererand my eyes became wide open once I looked into this site! I was searching through the blogs and came across a "utube" link that showed a CH episode and I immediately started to cry. I have never seen my husband go through an episode, the beast comes during his sleep cycle and he refuses to wake me. Joe was sitting here and watched the "utube"video with me and I looked at him with my eyes full of tears and asked "is this what happens to you?", he said "it is exactly what happens". I could not stop from crying and all I could say was I am so sorry this is happening to you and I can't believe you don't wake me to help. Joe says there is nothing I can do and it is best I just stay asleep.
As I am writing this tears are falling to the keyboard and my heart breaks for my loving husband. We have been together for 20 years and the beast arrived about a month ago. At first, I thought is was a migrane and thought it was brought on by stress. Joe had knee surgery on Nov 7 and has been off work since, so he tends to be stressed when something has him down. Two Fridays ago, I came home from work and he had drank ONE beer and the beast came to visit. I had missed the episode but the after affects had me worried since it is not typical for men to get headaches. His eyes looked like the were bleeding, he was real red faced and then go pale and he said it hurt to even touch his scalp. I insisted we go the ER, he actually did not fight me on taking him, this is when I knew it was serious. Joe has such a high pain threshold and for him to agree I knew the pain was immense!! After waiting 4 hours in the waiting room and his blood pressure had went down over 20 pts and the pain was gone, he did not want to stay any longer and promised me if it returned he would come back. He followed up with our family doctor and he immediately told Joe he was suffering from CH. He prescribed him blood pressure medication and also Treimet, to take on the onset of his attack.
Well, this past Saturday the beast visited again during his sleep cycle, he immediately took the pills and guess what...The Beast refused to go away and again, he did not wake me but informed me Sunday morning of his attack. Joe said he rode the stationary bike, paced the floors and then went out on the back porch sat at the table, rocking back and fourth, holding his head and praying to God until it went away. Joe said the cold air helps, it was probably 30 some degrees out and he had only boxer shorts and a t-shirt to keep him warm but he said it did not even notice how cold it was, only that it helped.
I needed to understand more so I went engine seaching and that is how I found this site. I brought Joe in and told him I set him up on the site and I believe it will help him to communicate with others who suffer too. Joe is just learning the whole computer world but I am sure once he gets to know that there are more people who share this condition, he will open up. I will be here to help him and I know you will too.
Please keep Joe in your prayers and I will keep all of you in mine. Thank you for this site and support.
Joes wife, Monica

Welcome, Monica and Joe.

First of all, as a supporter, you are very welcome here.  Consider getting your own user id and posting in the Supporter's section to introduce yourself.  I'm sure that the other supporters there will welcome you with open arms, and you may find that their insights may help you in learning to cope with the difficult role that supporters have.  Generally, clusterheads fall into one of two categories when they have an attack--those who prefer having others around, and those who prefer to be alone to deal with it.  It sounds as if Joe may be one of the latter.  I call them "hiders".  I'm one myself.

It sounds as if Joe's doctor is taking a two-pronged approach to his treatment.  First, a preventive approach to reduce the number of attacks (the "blood pressure medication", which I'm guessing may be verapamil).  Second, an abortive strategy, which I'm also guessing is Treximet. 

That's good.  If he's using verapamil as a preventive, he may find that the amount he's using may be inadequate to be completely effective.  Often, there's a learning curve involved, and the amounts prescribed will need to be increased (under the doctor's care, of course) until an effective dose is found.

If the abortive medication he's been prescribed is Treximet (a new combination drug consisting of Imitrex and ibuprophen) he may discover that this is less effective than Imitrex injectables.  In the experience of many here, the pills simply don't work fast enough to function as an effective abortive for a CH attack.  Joe may wish to discuss the use of Imitrex injections with his doctor.

I second Guiseppi's recommendation that Joe look into the use of oxygen as an abortive.  As he said, it must be administered at at least 15 lpm with a NON-rebreather mask (one that allows no admixture of atmospheric air).  Many here can abort an attack in just a few minutes using oxygen.  The side-effects are few.  It works well for something like 70 percent of us, and the cost is very reasonable.  Many consider it their first-line abortive.  Again, this is something he should discuss with his doctor.

Again--welcome.  I look forward to seeing your posts in the future, and look forward to meeting Joe as well.

All the best,

George

George,
I set up my own user id, you can find me as Monica and I will be looking for support for my husband and I appreciate your immediate support; information is very helpful at this point and I plan to be in the fore front to help my husband and all others who suffer!
The BP med is Verapamil SR 360mg and his Tremimet is 85mg. Thank you again! Monica

Were with ya Joe and Monica. Stay strong.
the bb

Thank you so much! You are right about thissite, I have been non stop all day learning so much that I did not know! I now feel I can help when when this beast hits! I haven't stopped crying all day; I will harden up though when he needs me, that's for sure! Please feel free to reach out for me as well in need! I think we all need each other and by the way, I m a hugger too!!

Thanks Again,
Hugs...Monica
MidgetNMinx wrote on Dec 29^th, 2008 at 6:13pm:

Hi Monica,



That's for being such a wonderful supporter.

Welcome to Clusterville