So a week and a half ago I went to see an urgent care doctor because I was having pain my face sinus region and left eye, I was sweating, my eye was watering, and I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain.  On a side note, for years I have been having these attacks that seen to be seasonal starting in September or October time frame and lasting until January or February.  I have seen many doctors and ENT's who told me that I had bad sinus infections or upper respiratory problems or seasonal allergies.  they would prescribe me some form of prednisone and antibiotic and usually a nasal spray.  The symptoms would go away for a short period and than come back and the process would start over.  I now understand why the symptoms went away with the steroid use.  Anyway getting back to the point,  the urgent care doctor stated that she had a different diagnosis for me and told me I needed to see a neurologist to confirm.

Later that week I ended up in the ER as I could not get the headaches under control with the prescriptions the urgent care doctor gave me.  The ER doctor seemed arrogant and cocky not wanting to believe I had cluster headaches.  He told me that they only lasted up to 15 minutes which I believed was incorrect due to information I had seen here and on other medical websites.  They did a CT of my head and sinus region and both were normal according to the Dr.  He gave me medpredisone and a narcotic pain med and sent me on my way stating that it was just a bad headache or possible a migraine.

I saw the neurologist today and he confirmed that it appears to be cluster headache.  I have to do a MRI just to be sure that there is nothing else going on due to 1 double vision episode that I can not explain.  Only happened once and only for two or three minutes.  So I left the neurologist office with some hope that there is some hope.  Relief from the pain that has be misdiagnosed for probably 13 years now. 

I have some questions on how the Sumatriptan Nasal Spray and the topiramate 25mg tablets will effect me and what to really expect.  I know everyone is different and that the reactions may be different for me, but was looking for others experiences with these medications.  Any insight is helpful.  Thanks

The topimirate has helped several members here. It wasn't my magic bullet, but I did take it for almost a year. It was the only antiepileptic that caused me to lose weight...all the others have the opposite effect. And its nickname among some is dopomax. It has the odd effect of making words and concepts disappear from your mental filing cabinet. Sorta like voluntary alzheimers. But...if it works for you, and I think you should give it a fair trial, it just might be worth the inconveniences to be able to manage the pain. Good luck and God bless. lance

Jonathan Welcome. Iam a faithful user of the nasal spray and it aborts my attacks in about 10 mins. BUT there is a trick to the proper use of this product. I read of many here that dont get fast results or dont like the taste. I had the same problems until my doctor told me what I was doing wrong. If you taste this med while useing it your doing it wrong. I now have 02 so that will be my first abortive (becuse it's so cheap) but I have had awsome results with the spray.The big problem with Initrex is you can only use it twice in a 24 hour period,so if you have multiple headaches in the same day your limited. I also dont get the stuffy nose durning an attack so I think that helps with the spray. Check the 02 tab on the left side of this page. If you want to talk more about the nasal spray PM me.

Good Luck.