hi.
I woke up this morning at 2:30am out of a peaceful sleep to pain in my left eye. Normally it is in my right eye, but I guess it decided to pull a fast one on me!

These started about 1-2 years ago, and sent me at first to the ER telling them I had a migraine. They told me no you have CH. I was mad she blew it off as a migraine (this was before I learned CH is worse than a migraine). Now when people tell me I have a migraine, I tell them I wish! No, I have CH- it's a hundred times worse than a measly migraine!

I don't know what sparks them, I don't drink caffeine, I rarely drink alcohol, I exercise everyday, don't smoke. Just got 'lucky' I guess! Yeah right!

How I feel when it happens: Well, first I think: oh, no, not again!
Then if I can make it back upstairs or safely home if I am driving (cause I squint my eyes when the pain starts) then I crawl into bed, darken the room and between crying my eyes out, I try to breathe slowly and not throw up. As I ALWAYS feel nauseous from it.

18 years ago I fell on my head and had a severe closed head brain trauma injury. I never had these headaches before then, and wonder if maybe it spawned these horrible monsters in my head?

Does anyone else have any recollection when they first noticed them and whether they had any prior head injuries?

We can beat this!
V.

Hi and welcome aboard.

I've had head injuries also, but there does not seem to be any evidence that it is what brings on CH.

From your description of what you do I would suggest you take the cluster quiz to the left of your screen.  The onset of your pain is indicative of CH, but your ability to darken the room and lie down does not.  Neither does nausea.  Some clusterheads experience nausea, but that is not a common trait.  I know I cannot lie still at all when getting hit.  I MUST move!

Wishing you all the best!  Keep reading. you will find a lot of excellent info here.

Jerry

Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2006 Apr;10(2):130-6. Links
Head trauma and cluster headache.Manzoni GC, Lambru G, Torelli P.
Headache Centre, Department of Neurology, University of Parma and University Centre for Adaptive Disorders and Headache, Via Gramsci, 14, 43100 Parma, Italy. giancamillo.manzoni@unipr.it

Post-traumatic cluster headache (CH) is a very rare occurrence. Only one such case has been verified in the literature thus far. On the other hand, a non-casual association is almost certain to exist between previous head trauma and future CH onset. Considering the generally long interval of time separating the two events, it is not easy to accurately explain the nature of the head trauma/CH relationship. Head trauma may damage extra- or intracranial peripheral or central nervous structures, hence predisposing to the future development of CH. However, there also is the possibility that previous head injuries may be more frequent among CH patients because of their lifestyle, which may leave them more exposed to the risk of traumatic events.

PMID: 16539866 [PubMed

Hi V.

Welcome but sorry you are here!

I've had CH since I was a child and used to vomit at the end of every hit.  Now I only "toss my cookies"  after a very high kip level hit.  I am unable to lie down during a hit but do prefer to be alone and in a dark room as I am very light sensitive as well as hypersensitive to sound.  I also cannot stand to be touched during a hit.

I was misdiagnosed with migraine for many years.... until I was in my late twenties!    My mom would go lie down with a migraine for an entire day.  I used to think, " MY GOD! I would kill myself if my HA lasted that long!"    I thought that I was really a wimp that I acted so awful during MY migraines.

CH does not ALWAYS have the very same characteristics for every person.   

Jeannie