Hi there. I am turning 40 this year and I have had clusters since 19. I live in Santa Clara, CA married, 2 little girls.

Always episodic thank god and I have had remissions as long as 2 years. In my 20's the clusters were always spring/fall. Now that has changed and they are at random times of year. Now I am currently in an attack for about a month.

I take verapamil and use Oxygen to treat headaches. I am looking into some of the other options, shrooms, rc seeds and willing to try.

I was diagnosed at 19 with cluster headaches and got my hands on the oxygen about 10 years ago. I had a good neuro in San Francisco who helped me out. Btw, i Just bought the O2 optimask and after tinkering with it it just blows away the crappy masks I was using before.

If you are reading this and are a sufferer I definitely feel for you, but in my opinion treatment options and info are so much better than it was say 10 years ago. For many years I didn't want to admit I had something wrong with me and wouldn't take care of the headaches properly. The first step for me was realizing what I had and seeking out treatments to help me.

I am not one to complain. There are other people in this world who have it much much worse than me whether it be a disease or just their quality of life.

I am interested to know if there are any other CH sufferers in the Northern California area.

thanks don. yep we have had ch for about the same time. mine started in the late 80s also. my regulator maxes out at 15 lpm. i am lucky though 12lpm seems to do the job for me.

Hi Koctail,

Mine morphed from spring/fall too, now to late summer. I'm so glad the o2 is working well for you. There is a lot of new info out about higher lpm's- definitely read up on that to get the best results.

As far as alternative methods of treating ch, you can research Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or to help make an informed decision on what are the best treatment options for you.

my headaches have changed a lot as well from when i was younger, but i think its for the better. i seem to have longer breaks inbetween headache attacks and the pain isnt as severe as when i was younger. im glad to have the oxygen and look forward to trying some of the other new alternatives.

i appreciate all your support. for years i thought i was the only one who had this bizarre problem. its reassuring to know there are others who can empathize with the pain, missed diagnosis, life disruptions this causes. in some ways i feel that the headaches have made me stronger, tougher. if i can live through these i feel i can take just about anything else on.