On Dec 12th I was coming home from a get together at a friends house in Frazier Park ca.  As we were in the mountains above Castaic I kept feeling pain behind my left eye.  Little did I know what was coming.  As we entered Castaic, all of a sudden the left side of my head exploded in massive pain like someone drive a burning spike into my head.  All I really remember was screaming out in pain as my friend drove asking what happened.  I don't remember the 3 minutes while we drove on the 5 through Castaic, but I remember looking out the windshield and seeing Magic Mountain, and telling him to pull off and call 911.  I thought I was having an aneurysm or a stroke. I have suffered from migraines for the last 20 of my 32 years, and had some really bad ones, But never like this.  When we exited the freeway we stopped at Tommy Burgers, and I thought it would be Ironic that I would die there since I joked it would be the end of me.    LAcFD arrived but the pain had gone from a 1 billion to a 5, and I was able to think straight.  The pain was very manageable, so I declined transport, preferring my friends drive me to a closer hospital to home.  I was scared, still in pain, it was bouncing from a scale of 2 to 7.  We arrived at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena in record time.  (guess it pays to have a former cop car so people get out of the way  )  With in 30 minutes of arrival I was in the CT scan, and to a spinal tap (OUCH! only get it done in radiology, not in he ER unless there is no choice)  After my admission to the hospital the Neurologist and Nero Surgeon both questioned me about my headache history.  The said my CT was good, and the second with dye was good as well.  They suspected cluster headache as the problem, but I had some other issues in my spinal fluid so they could be certain yet.  After 6 days, another major battle with the beast (Imitrex works great), and angiogram to prove there was no bleeding on my spine or brain, they were able to say without a doubt it was cluster headaches.      My Docs prescribed Topamax which seems to work so far until I for got one dose....
Sadly, I didn't get any Imitrex.  When I went for my follow up visit last Monday, I was prescribed the pill form of Imitrex but not the injector.  I have a follow up with my Doc in a moth and I think I will request an injector.  If the Beast visits me, I will borrow my dad's Imitrex injector.

Well, now that I know what i suffer with, many of the prior "bad migraines" I had make sense.  Those were clusters.  I am glad to have found a place where I can turn to for advice for this issue.

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Oh yeah, don't learn this one the hard way as so many of us have - for most of us alcohol will trigger a slamming killer of a hit.

No booze while you're in the midst of an episode!!

Thanks for the info, I will definitely ask for for injector and oxygen.  As for the booze, well, I gave that up some years back.  I didn't like the mornings after LOL !

So far it's been 3 weeks with out an episode, but I am nervous every time i feel a twinge in the head.