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Sorry, I've never heard of that either.

Rebound headaches while in cycle, yes, along with a whole host of other problems, not the least of which is addiction. But CAUSE them? Sorry. Never heard of that.

"Cause" was definitely the wrong word. "Trigger" is better. Maybe it's the vasodilating effect of the narcotics (similar to alcohol). I was having a headache pretty steadily during my hospital stay and finally they settled into a cluster pattern. The bid verapamil is starting to get things back in order again. Maybe it's my own idiosyncrasy.

You are so right, Guiseppi. We each have our idiosyncrasies. Neuro upped my dose from bid to tid.

My TKR was the most painless surgery I've ever had. I'm two-years from the surgery and believe that consistent, GENTLE stretching exercises prevented any real discomfort.

My neighbors who stayed quiet and still, with the same surgery, lost function with surprising speed and lost flexibility quickly.

Update: Still on percocet q 4 hours round the clock, and still having a cluster each night. I have had almost no CH action for three years because of prophylactic verapamil. Now even after upping verapamil dose I'm needing an abortive. Fortunately my annual neuro checkup is scheduled for next Monday and we can devise a strategy. Just in case no one realized this, clusters SUCK.

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I've been saying this (above) around here for 12 years Not that they're the cause...but a re-bound/trigger.

I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way, but I totally empathize with you being in pain from surgery and needing something short-term.

I had hip replacement before the holidays and am on pain medications for that. Yes, my clusters have kicked into high gear. My doc says that it's probably just the surgery but I think it's the pain meds. I had the same experience with the abortive meds - the Zomig that my GP gave me did stop the clusters that night, but I was crying in the middle of the night because my leg pain was so bad.

I've been afraid to take the Zomig since, and have been sleeping with frozen water balloons wrapped in a towel next to my bed each night. When the CH's wake me up (usually 4 or 5 times a night) I stick one of those ice balloons on my cheek until it subsides.

I'm hoping that going off the pain meds in a week or two will help the CH's to calm down.

I've come to the conclusion that cluster syndrome and percocet are partners in crime.

Oxygen coming today. Hope it works. Surprisingly, the imitrex stopped working; the cold pack failed; I actually aborted with Excedrin migraine this a.m. Not sure there's a verapamil dosage that will outrun the percocet. I already have a mild heart block and get a little nervous with high verapamil dosage.

I'm now off of the narcotics for the post-op pain and recovery, and what do you know, my cluster headaches have, for the last three days anyway, not come back.

Still sleeping with that frozen water balloon wrapped in a dishtowel next to the bed, however. Because the worst thing is to be awakened by the CH pain and have to walk down to the kitchen to get some ice!