i'm a 20yr old female, and been suffering from headaches for the past 2months,i even had to skip exams(i'm at varsity) because they were so severe    at first i thought it was tension headaches from all the stress from school, but when i started experiencing headaches i'd never before experienced, in terms of severity, i knew something was amiss. i saw a doctor who told me its nothing serious and 'it will go away'. he prescribed some medication which does not help at all.
these headaches occur at the same time every day-when i wake up, when i go to bad, and when i'm sleeping. i've been woken up at night by a deep, crushing, stabbing pain by my right eye. it lasts for about 15mins, the pain is so unbearable. my eye starts tearing, i become agitated trying to ease the pain, even the mere thought of it brings me to tears     or it can occur randomly, during the day, and my eye gets the worst stabbing ever. i start sweating, i become depressed and physical activity makes everything worse. even though i've only done a self diagnosis to come to the conclusion that its a cluster headache, i will be seeing another doctor soon to get a professional diagnosis.
in the mean time,i am watching what i eat, and hopefully try to identify the triggers. i was hoping to get some advice and inspiration on how you guys deal with these headaches and what else i can do to help the doctor give me a proper diagnosis..wishing you all the best

Hello again!

I'm sorry you had to find us, we'll try and help with this  and with getting you an accurate diagnosis. Please bear in mind that none of us are doctors, we can only speak from experience and not "expertise" - but you WILL get good advice!

First of all. You absolutely 100%, no questions need an MRI. With pain of this severity things more insidious need to be looked for and ruled out. That's not an option, thats an absolute, stamp your foot, you are having an MRI!

From what you have said about the length of attacks I would be more inclined at this stage to consider Paroxysmal Hemicrania. It's another TAC (Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgia) in the same class as CH. There are three - CH, PH and SUNCT. All are defined by length of attack as all other symptoms including the pain - are the same. The other defining thing is responsiveness to a drug called Indometacin. This is "only" an NSAID but for people with PH can be almost a miracle. It works for the vast majority of PH'ers and will block about 90% of all attacks. It's fast acting too and will be working in two weeks if it's going to. I'd certainly recommend trying it.

"Home remedies" we use which are safe to use now are ice or heat, ice packs on the affected side of your head or steaming hot showers right onto your face. I like the ice but the heat is a horrific trigger for me.

Strong coffee or red bull. (any "energy drink" will do as long as it has caffeine and taurine. I just say red bull so people know what I'm talking about!)

The TACS are vascular headaches. What happens is the pain is caused by vaso dilation so the only thing that will remove it is vaso constriction. Triptan drugs are used, high flow oxygen is my favourite abortive but as I said, two good home remedies are coffee and red bull!

People are pretty unique in triggers in that what affects me may not affect you. I can't stand strong smells. Instant agony for me so the perfume dept of a store is OUT! Filling my car is another problem.

The most common trigger for us all is alcohol though. Not for everyone, but for a good few. It's probably wise if you are having an odd drink to cut it out til your cycle is over.

I'm not going to go into too much "med stuff" now because of a)no diagnosis so I don't really know what will help and b) too much information!

Keep coming back, keep asking questions - heck just ask for support!! You'll get it.

First thing monday though, make a doctors appt and ask to see a headache specialist neurologist and from there ask for an MRI.

Where in the US are you by the way? We may be able to recommend a good doctor or neuro.

Hope this helps!

Helen

It's still the same pain in Botswana! Sadly!
At least a CT scan will show up somestuff so that takes a lot of the worry away. An MRI is usually still considered necessary though (I myself had both as both scans can show different things)
I hope when you do see your next doctor we'll have you armed with so much info that he won't be able to dismiss you 

Helen

Given your location I'm going to assume that locating a headache specialist is a barrier. Most neurologists do not have much education in headache and it's a very complex area of medicine.

Many of us have been blessed with a doc who is open to being "educated" by us, i.e., they will receive MEDICAL literature which we supply them. In effect, we have trained them to care for us! If you have such a doc, we can supply medical literature which he will find acceptable (coming from legit. sources). All you can do is talk and see if this is acceptable.

Going to send a long article for you to print out for your doc; some sources of treatment information; and a web site run by a top rate headache doc in the U.S. This last site has the advantage of listing multiple MEDICAL articles which are on specific issues, which the doc can access easily and/or you could print them out for his use, as he asks for information.
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Cluster headache.
From: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or (Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases)
[Easy to read; one of the better overview articles I've seen. Suggest printing the full length article--link, line above--if you are serious about keeping a good medical library on the subject.]

Leroux E, Ducros A.

ABSTRACT: Cluster headache (CH) is a primary headache disease characterized by recurrent short-lasting attacks (15 to 180 minutes) of excruciating unilateral periorbital pain accompanied by ipsilateral autonomic signs (lacrimation, nasal congestion, ptosis, miosis, lid edema, redness of the eye). It affects young adults, predominantly males. Prevalence is estimated at 0.5-1.0/1,000. CH has a circannual and circadian periodicity, attacks being clustered (hence the name) in bouts that can occur during specific months of the year. ALCOHOL IS THE ONLY DIETARY TRIGGER OF CH, STRONG ODORS (MAINLY SOLVENTS AND CIGARETTE SMOKE) AND NAPPING MAY ALSO TRIGGER CH ATTACKS. During bouts, attacks may happen at precise hours, especially during the night. During the attacks, patients tend to be restless. CH may be episodic or chronic, depending on the presence of remission periods. CH IS ASSOCIATED WITH TRIGEMINOVASCULAR ACTIVATION AND NEUROENDOCRINE AND VEGETATIVE DISTURBANCES, HOWEVER, THE PRECISE CAUSATIVE MECHANISMS REMAIN UNKNOWN. Involvement of the hypothalamus (a structure regulating endocrine function and sleep-wake rhythms) has been confirmed, explaining, at least in part, the cyclic aspects of CH. The disease is familial in about 10% of cases. Genetic factors play a role in CH susceptibility, and a causative role has been suggested for the hypocretin receptor gene. Diagnosis is clinical. Differential diagnoses include other primary headache diseases such as migraine, paroxysmal hemicrania and SUNCT syndrome. At present, there is no curative treatment. There are efficient treatments to shorten the painful attacks (acute treatments) and to reduce the number of daily attacks (prophylactic treatments). Acute treatment is based on subcutaneous administration of sumatriptan and high-flow oxygen. Verapamil, lithium, methysergide, prednisone, greater occipital nerve blocks and topiramate may be used for prophylaxis. In refractory cases, deep-brain stimulation of the hypothalamus and greater occipital nerve stimulators have been tried in experimental settings.THE DISEASE COURSE OVER A LIFETIME IS UNPREDICTABLE. Some patients have only one period of attacks, while in others the disease evolves from episodic to chronic form.

PMID: 18651939 [PubMed]
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HERE ARE TWO MAJOR DOCUMENTS WITH RECOMMENDED TREATMENTS FOR CLUSTER HEADACHE, ONE FROM A U.S. PHYSICIAN, THE SECOND FROM EUROPE.
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Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor.  It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S.  (2002. Rozen)
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Treatment guidelines from Europe

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A. May, M. Leone, J. Áfra, M. Linde, P. S. Sándor, S. Evers, P. J. Goadsby:
EFNS guidelines on the treatment of cluster headache and other
trigeminalautonomic cephalalgias.
European Journal of Neurology. 2006; 13: 1066–1077.

Download free full text:
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
(Thanks to "cluster" for link.)
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Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
ALL NEW!! HEADACHE 2008-2009
The new 72 page Headache 2008-2009 is hot off the press! Click here to download the PDF instantly! (free)

If you would like a bound copy, send $12 (includes shipping) to
Robbins Headache Clinic
1535 Lake Cook Rd.
Suite 506
Northbrook, Ill.60062

This site is not the easiest to navigate but a little exposure will make your comfortable. The search box is useful after you get the basic structure under control.
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Finally, stay in touch with your specific needs/questions.