Ryder,

First, let me say welcome and I am sorry you had to discover us! 

A couple of ideas.  First, check out the OUCH site to the left.  Click on it.  Scroll down.  There are pdfs of resources that may be helpful for you, including one to share with employers.  I actually sent it to my supervisor and a colleague; I get hit in the middle of the day in the height of my flare pattern (Feb-June) and may have to reschedule appointments.  I did not want to be perceived as slacking off!  I have lupus and I don't need to take time off for it; just the CHs!

For night, I take Melatonin; it seems to help.  In my flare period, I take 10mg.  This is the first autumn I am taking a low dose in the hopes that it will ease the next epsiode.

I have also found that Imitrix injections are fabulous for the nighttime hits when the KIP is 8 and above.  I use O2 at home.  I use energy drinks and Maxalt when on the road. 

Read on and other ideas will come...

This is an awesome support and knowledge site.

Good luck with your CHs and especially with your work situation.

Here is a form letter you can print out and give to your employer if you choose to disclose your condition.

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I can't tell how to handle this. It's your situation and you will know best what to do. My only thought is with this layoff thing looming and a new boss that's not very supportive of you, this might be a good option just to make sure you're covering your butt here for any possible future arguments about your job performance, possible layoff/termination and severance decisions. Take it from someone who has been royally screwed...big companies WILL screw you given the chance. If they can avoid writing you a check, they will.
Just make sure you have your butt well covered. I sure hope you'll never need it but if you do, you'll be glad you were prepared.
Best of luck to you in your troubled time and pain free wishes!

I cant tell you what to do as each situation is different i can only tell you my experience.

I told the guys in work about my problem and what to do if they noticed me having an attack. I allso told my supervisor, shift leader and assistant shift leader who i had a good working relationship. the day after i told my supervisor things changed. My work collegues sat together in the break room when i  wasnt there and decided that 1st i dont have any illness, 2nd if i do it cant be that bad,3rd that i was only trying to do the easy work. several other comments have come out over the last months and out of a shift of 21 people 2 have understood what it means to have CH and fully understand what i/we go through the rest just sit there and try to find some reason to make me look bad. to this date i havent had a sick day, I make sure that i do the hardest jobs when possible and basically take all the crap the tell about me and do the opposite. Now the situation is strange, they dont know how to approach me as they know that i know whats been going on and cant find a reason to explain why they did what they did. Me personally i find it very amusing watching them as they work in the same area as me. Its like there all walking around with a large foot in there mouths.
as to what you should do personally if i had the chance to go back and do it differently i wouldnt have told anyone apart from my department head.

I hope this helps

Mark

Thanks everyone for your thoughts an d advice. it's really great to get other's perspectives as I feel so alone when dealing with CHs in general, and now it's spilled into work too.
I only had time to read through your responses as I'm running late to take my son to preschool, but wanted to share I had my 1st PF night in this episode. YAY! This isn't unusual for me, as I usually have PF days here and there, and I'm sure it's not the end of this episode, but I feel GOOOOD today

@EmJay: I actually have been on this site for many years, and have read up on a lot. I should have been more clear about that, and the number of posts I've made certainly doesn't reflect that. I do have Imitrex injections (6mg I believe) at the ready, but they are a few years old. Would they still work?

@Charlotte: I have yet to get hit at work during this cycle, but had a couple of mid-day hits this weekend so I'll wait and see...

@Weatherman: despite my initial reaction, which is very anti-"playing the game," I think that with 2 young kids (infant and toddler), this may be the safest thing to do. I just worry that it might backfire and be perceived as an excuse to slack off. However, since the HR department is aware of my good track record, I don't think I need to be overly concerned about it. I'll think about this today.

@Joni: my concern is what happens if I need to duck out of a meeting, or miss work, or seem out of it some days. Then it might be perceived as my dragging my feet, being a slacker. This, I'm thinking, might be worse considering all the other factors associated with my work situation, which is hard to convey on the forums.

@Mark: that really, really sucks about your coworkers not having a clue and creating a negative work situation for you. Have you thought about changing jobs yourself? Maybe we can start a new business together, bu clusterheads and for clusterheads? LOL But I may only tell my HR rep and not my new boss/team.

@Bob: I want to understand you more clearly:  when you say "Using abortives which have the fastest/proven action will, generally, deliver you from the long "hang over" effects of an attack," do you mean using the Maxalt or Zyprexa instead of O2, and that the pills are better than O2 for hangovers?
Also, if I wasn't being clear about it, I haven't gotten hit at work (yet). If I do, are you suggesting to pop a pill instead/along with O2?
So you know, I've had mixed results with Maxalt as an abortive (can't rely on it to abort consistently), and never tried Zyprexa. I'm a little worried about the Zyprexa as I've heard people having reactions to it which may make it hard to work. My Neuro prescribed these hard 10mg Zyprexa pills which I can't break in half, so perhaps I should ask for a 5mg Rx instead.

Every word of advice and encouragement has been such a positive thing for me, everyone. Thanks again.
-- Ryder

Ditto...Bob.  Even the 2.5mg Zyprexa works for me. 

To answer your question...IF it became necessary, I did tell my close coworker friends and supervisor I had cluster headaches but I always acted like it was mostly just an inconvenience, although painful, and would pass.  I didn't explain the headaches and they really never questioned it because I was so casual about it.  Like you, I was lucky to not have many at work...I do think our brain takes care of us.  As for the exhaustion, I just dealt with it and tried to stay on top of medications, sleep, massage, whatever you need to help you function.  I taught school for 31 years successfully and many did not even know I had them.  I am a very upbeat type person and can fake it very well when I don't feel well.  It has it's pros and cons!  Because of that, if I am not really cheerful, people notice, so I carry on until it is impossible...again, has it's pros and cons.  Maybe you can produce a happy medium!  Good luck.

Joni

Employees are entitled to Reasonable Accommodations due to medical needs.

File one if you feel you need to.

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Wow, so sorry to hear the layoff has happened. Or in some ways maybe congratulations are in order.
Anyway, best of luck to you on your next career adventure!!! Hope it all works out very soon!

I only use Zyprexa as a last resort and never had any side effects.  I use 2 pills (I thought they were 5mg each but I will check) and it aborted everytime.

When I was working in early childhood special education, I actually found it better to work through the pain.  The kids I worked with were used to me making funny faces (no joke) so when I got hit, they always thought I was being silly (my eye doesn't turn red).  The only problem was that I used to do a lot of driving with that job and I just focused hard on the driving and except for the occasional pull over to get out and either scream or take meds, it worked fine.

When I was working there, I used Maxalt MLT (dissolve) and it worked better for me than trex injects. 

Anyway, it is weird for me to talk so much and never mention Oxygen, so let me just say that O2 works decently for me.

@Weatherman - let's go with "congratulations!" - thanks Time to finally move the family out of LA and closer to the place where we always knew we'd settle down. It was only a matter of time before it happened, whether by layoffs or resignation. Being laid off has the added benefit of a severance, which will be very, very helpful.

@Joni - I hope you're wrong, and based on that wish for your next cycle and the ones after it to take it easy on you. You've been fighting a long time, and you deserve it. Sending good vibes your way.......

@FramCire - funny to hear the kids thought you were being silly. If only they knew. I've used trex injections over 10 years ago, and the reaction + rebound I suffered scared the hell out of me. Not so much that I wouldn't resort to it (anything, actually) if a Kip 10 hit, but trex injections are not my friend. I'm happy to have found out about the Zyprexa, which wasn't around during my last cycle IIR.

@Skyhawk5 - I've been using O2 since my last cycle, so this is my 2nd time. It works most of the time. It's the times when it doesn't, like a couple of days ago, that made me ask about O2 in addition to Zyp.

Thanks everyone for your advice and hope everyone has a PF night tonight.

I don't know of any MEDICAL reason for not using Zyprexa and O2 at the same time, or with Imitrex. But--that's a question for the doc to handle.

However, I would not mix two abortives at the same time because you cannot tell which one is being the most effective. Trials should segregate one treatment from another.