A shadow is a cluster headache and any pain in the head no matter how low level, is not normal.  The best course of action is to abort any and all cluster headaches no matter how minor with oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation.

The lower the pain level the faster this method of oxygen inhalation therapy will work to make the pain go away...

There's a very good reason for doing this and it's based on a condition called vascular toning... 

In other words, strengthening the muscles that line the arteries and capillaries in and around the trigeminal nerve.

It's kind of like doing curls with a dumb bell weight to strengthen the biceps.  Do reps for 5 minutes 4 to 5 times a day and your biceps will grow in size, strength and muscle tone.

The same thing happens to the muscles lining our arteries every time we hyperventilate long enough with oxygen therapy to push our circulatory and respiratory systems into respiratory alkalosis as the artery and capillary muscles contract to produce vasoconstriction...

The net result of using this method of oxygen therapy on every attack no matter how minor is vascular toning...  When our arteries are toned up, they become more resistant to the cluster headache triggering mechanism so we tend to have fewer cluster headaches and the few we do have are at the low end of the pain scale so they abort very rapidly... on the order of 2 to 3 minutes...

Now here's the kicker...  the reverse may be true as well...  By sitting around doing nothing about a low level headache for long periods of time, the arteries and capillaries in and around our trigeminal nerve are also basically sitting around in a state of complete dilation the entire time...   They lose muscle tone, grow flaccid and flabby... This makes them more susceptible to the cluster headache triggering mechanism.  We collected data on 366 aborts with this method of oxygen therapy that from seven cluster headache sufferers that clearly show that all seven experienced a marked reduction in the frequency and intensity of their attacks with continued use... 

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

LH,

It sounds like you may be having re-attacks.  See my post in the thread titled "Medical Oxygen "very expensive"?" at the link below:

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Take care,

V/R, Batch

Kika,

There's no question in my mind that repeated use of oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation and induce respiratory alkalosis can cause vasoconstriction to the point it will tone up arteries in and around the trigeminal nerve.  The only downside is this takes time.  Data from our study indicates vascular toning starts becoming effective around week 3 to 4 and reaches maximum effectiveness around week 8 of repeated daily use.

Having said that, I'm of the opinion that a regimen of calcium citrate tablets containing vitamin D, magnesium and zinc washed down with lemonade or limeade works much faster at lowering the frequency and intensity of my cluster headaches. 

Although the exact mechanism for this is not clear, it appears this regimen elevates arterial pH and that results in vasoconstriction with the same net effect of repeated use of oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation. 

I've recently shifted from fresh homemade lemonade to Jose Cuervo margarita mix and found it to be very effective due to the extra citric acid.  The only downside to the Jose Cuervo margarita mix is the 250 calories a glass.  Last week I switched over to Baja Bob's sugar free margarita mix and found it to be even more effective with the added benefit that the Sumo recruiters are no longer chasing me down the street.

Take care,

V/R, Batch