Hello my name is Holli and I am 22 years old. I am currently attending college and have a full time job at a bank. I have been having my headaches for a couple of years and its been an ongoing battle ever since.

When I first started getting the headaches they were consitantly every other day around 4. After a month or so of trying medicine such as Advil, Tylonol, every Excedrine know to man, Claratin (thinking maybe it was allergies), Benodryl, ect. and finding no relief, I went to a dentist thinking it might have been my wisdom teeth. I had the top two pulled (paying out of pocket) since the dentist said those could be pushing my jaw out and causing the headaches. After this I found that the headaches reduced in frequency and even went away for a while.

Well when they returned they were worse than ever and I decided to see my doctor. She immediatly had me schedual a head and neck MRI and took my blood for bloodwork. All of this checked out good so I was told to see an opthomoligist since I had a lazy eye as a child and possibly needed glasses but everything checked out A ok there as well. Again the headaches subsided and I decided to stop persuing answers since funds and time were limited.

I was still having the occasional periods of headaches off and on but nothing that I felt was worth persuing answers since I had felt I had hit so many dead ends. Up until last December I was just trying to deal with them when they came, then they became much worse. Almost every single night around 2AM I was woken up with excrusiating pain. It became very wearing loosing my sleep and even having the occasional headache at work. Often times I would feel like I had been beaten with a bat by morning, like my head was sore from the pain the night before. So I talked to my doctor (she attends the same church as me) and she told me to make an appointment with the neurologist across the hall. When I went to make the appointment I was told I would have to wait about a month. So I walked right across the hall to my doctor bawling my eyes out and told her that I could absolutly not wait that long for relief. So I then began a series of perscription medications that did not help. The one medicine that I somewhat found helpful was Metraprolo, a beta blocker. By the time I saw the nuerologist the headaches had again subsided for the most part. I felt that she COMPLETLY blew me off. She did not listen to me and told me I just had a few bad headaches and if it was in fact clusters, as my doctor suspected, that I had "the worst case ever".
At this point the headaches have returned and I simply told my doctor I wanted Imitrex. Although it helps it is not the relief I am looking for.

My headaches go a little like this. Always on the left side behind the eye, down the jaw, and in the base of my neck. Often time I can hardly keep my eye open, it feels very heavy. They always last one hour and hit mostly at night, although I have woken up with them, gotten them in the middle of the day, and have been frequenly woken up at all hours of the night. I have gotten a stuffy nose on that side and have even gotten sick because of the pain. The attacks are very sudden and usually leave just as sudden. I often have stiffness and pain in my neck (I was a swimmer and have pulled muscles in my neck before, not sure if this is related) but this is usually how I can tell I will get one, as this is where the pain usually starts. I am constantly dreading the next attack and often have minor headaches throughout the day. I feel like these minor headaches are leading up to a big one but my pain never peaks. I found the most relief from heat. I sleep with a heating pad next to my bed and often sleep with my face pressed against it (absolutly no cover, directly to my face). I carry a tube of icyhot with me at all times as well. I have been known to sit in the sunlight for relief as well. I have also tried drinking as much water as possible when I feel I am going to get one, but it usually doesnt help much. I have tried taking hot showers but they only help as long as the water is directly on me. I have also noticed that I have less feeling in my shoulder and neck on the left side, I more feel pressure than anything. Again I am not sure if this is related or not as I have always had back and neck pain/soreness. Sometimes when I feel I am getting a headache, massaging my neck makes it worse. I have described driving with a headache much like trying to drive after drinking. It becomes very hard to concentrate on anything. I have been known to get very angry and upset, pacing my room, calling my mom crying at 2 AM, and even hitting my head to maybe make it go away are all things I have done. 

At this point I am feeling a little helpless and its hard to find time or money to persue answers, although I want to. I am fortunate to have an understanding and helpful boyfriend, family, and friends, but I feel like nobody understands. It has started to take a toll on me emotianally and I tend to feel hopeless everytime I get one. I am very happy with my life but I feel that this is a major diability that I may just have to learn to deal with since I have found no true answers. I truly appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read my story,I know its long ,  and I am open to ANY suggestions/support/help. Just getting my story off my chest to people who understand what I battle with everyday makes me feel like a weight has been lifted.

Thank you again to all who have taken time to read this.
<3 Holli

Hi Holli and welcome to your new home.
lots and lots of homework for you and a great bunch of people here who are willing to help in anyway possible. One thing that sorted my Dr out was a headache diary, just one look at what i was going through and my Dr instantly said Cluster (after all the tests of course). So stick with it, be strong and i wish you lots of pain free days and nights

Mark (the normal one  )

Was hoping Bob would post that link Holli, I can't stress enough how important it is to get a decent head doc. There's no need to suffer with so many effective treatment options out there. Let's get you pro-active in that doc search!

Joe