Thank you for having this forum. I thought I was alone in this suffering. My name is Mike and I am a 41 y/o male.

I started getting the headaches about 8 months ago. They would happen maybe once a month until about 2 months ago, I get them 3-4 time a day. My primary care doctor was clueless as to what was bothering me so he sent me to the emergency room for a ct-scan of my head about 3 months ago. The emergency room doctor, who said he was versed in headaches, concluded I had migraines and gave me a script for 5mg Maxalt which works wonderfully. Well, as long as I can get it into fast enough. I am lucky that the standard Maxalt work real fast for me, within 15-30 minutes. To bad my insurance company will only cover 12 pills a month(bastards!). So I had my primary up the script to 10mg so I could split the pills and get 24 doses out of it. Still isn't enough lately though.

My primary care doctor initially started me on different medications to treat migraines which of course didn't do diddly squat. The first was Amitriptyline, then Topamax. Waste of time and money!

So yesterday I finally saw a neurologist, after waiting over a month for the appointment, and he immediately diagnosed me with Cluster Headaches. And to complicate the matters, I also have Horner's Syndrome.

There have been the worst 8 months of my life! Being a webmaster/DBA, I can't get any work done. My marriage is falling apart. I am scared to go out any where in fear that I might get a headache while out and not be able to hide or find some place to deal with it till the meds kick in. Forget about even trying to play any music any more, I can't even play Rock Band without worrying about getting a headache.

Thank you for this website and forum. At least I have one place that I don't feel crazy or less of a man because the pain is so debilitating.

Joe,

Thanx! I am waiting on oxygen as we speak. My neurologist already gave me a script but my insurance is giving me the run-around. First they say I need to get pre-authorized for it. Then they say I don't. Right now I am just waiting on a call back from my local medical supply store as to whether they can do it and if so when.

If I have to, I'll just say to hell with the insurance and my wife and pay for it my-self.

Mike

I got my oxygen over the weekend and WOW! What more can I say! Even with the crappy mask and a max 15lpm flow rate, it aborts my headaches in 2-5 minutes compared to waiting 15-45 for the pills to take effect! Not to mention, the oxygen just plain makes you feel good! No wonder oxygen bars were/are a hit!

I run it at top flow, 15lpm, for about 2-3 minutes minutes, then drop it down to 8-10lpm, depending on how bad I a breathing at that point, until my breathing gets back to normal. Granted, it doesn't keep it at bay as long as the meds do, but hell, I'll suck down oxygen any day before feeling like I do on the meds!

I am going to get on the phone this morning and order me up a couple of the good masks listed on this site!

Thanx to every one at this site for making me feel normal again!

And special kudos to Batch for sending me ALL the information on the oxygen therapy.

Keep fighting folks! Life will go on!

I tried the caffeine line by slamming a cup of strong coffee. All it did was wire me out for 4 hours! Didn't seem to do to much as far as keeping the beast at bay.

But then again, I am new to the whole CH thing. I was just diagnosed with it not even a week ago and I am trying to figure out if I am eposodic or chronic or even when my cycle(s) is/are. I started collecting data about 1-1/2 months ago, even though this has been going on for about 8 months, when I thought it was migraines. I collected data related to the current weather conditions, what I ate, what I did and the times the headaches hit.

So far 3 things have jumped out at me.

First is the timing, during the last month (I am going to say it was a peak, last month was REAL bad) I was getting them 2-3 times a day all between Kip7-10. Times would be between 1-3pm, 6-9pm and 1-4am.

The second would be alcohol as a trigger when I am in-cycle. 1 beer is all it takes and within 20 minutes I am having a Kip8-9. Over the past 8 months I think I have gone through a few cycles seeing I was able to drink a few times with no headache and no meds. Which is kind of why I am leaning towards chronic CH seeing that over the past 8 months I have had headaches more than I haven't.

The third is driving. So far, at least over the past month, if I go out driving for extended periods of time, say longer than 1/2 hour or more, I will get a headache. I haven't been in a car as a passenger for periods that long so I can't say if it's just being in the car that's doing it.

I am still learning and trying to get this beast under control. I am sure though that with finally having a correct diagnosis and folks like the people here I will be able to tame this beast and get back to living my life!  

Mike

I was thinking for a minute there that maybe the Verpamil or steroids might actually be working. I was headache free for all day yesterday and today up until now. My wife just went to bed and I was relaxing watching some Robot Chicken on Adult Swim on my new HD TV and I felt that bastard start creeping up my neck then kick me in the teeth!

Thank heaven for O2!

Missed Robot Chicken but I get to catch Squid Billies!

It's gonna be a long night!