Have you seen a headache specialist?

              Potter

As important as it is to get diagnosed by a headache specialist (NOT a run of the mill neurologist - they know nothing and only do harm), the typical headache specialist makes you wait months for an appointment.  Yes doctors are complete a-holes. 

Soooo you're self diagnosed like I was for years before getting an official MD diagnosis. Well meantime while you await your official diagnosis and you have this job and school immediately looming, some people in this type of situation will try to get a reliable diagnosis from a GP even though odds are slim, and try to get an O2 prescription, or just bypass the doc and get O2 without prescription from a welding supply place and administer it as outlined at the oxygen info link to the left.

You see, if you do indeed have CH, O2 can abort the attacks very effectively. Also, in a pinch - if you live in a cold area - going outside and deeply breathing freezing cold air through the nose can abort an attack for some of us some of the time if caught at onset, or if you're not in a cold area, putting your nose up to the blasting car air conditioner vent can do the same thing.

As you continue to research CH, you'll likely come across mention of "busting". Here's aNewsweek article that's a good synopsis of how some are knocking out their CH cycles:
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(it would be irresponsible for me to suggest you consider this approach until you get that pesky dx).

You've been given great advice. The only thing I would add is keep a headache diary (time, place, precursors that sort of thing) and bring it with you to your appointment. There are ways to deal with this, and while life is changed, it is definitely not ended. God bless. lance

First thing First. HEADACHE SPECIALIST you need to make sure what your dealing with.

Hey thanks for the quick and meaningful responses! I have an appointment on Wednesday with a GP. Oddly enough, when I called my parents today to tell them about these headache plights, I discovered on my Mom's side headaches are endemic (mostly migraine, but I doubt it's total coincidence that I have ended up with clusters). My aunt on my mom's side has all sorts of headache woes and her husband -- my uncle -- is also GP, so when I talked to him today he was pretty familiar with what I was talking about. But, as at least one of you mentioned, that doesn't translate into being a guru of how to tackle the problem.

I realize the danger of self-diagnosing, but the match between the "classic" cluster symptoms and my own make it probably 99.9 percent sure I have it. Wednesday will tell for sure though...

Thanks for all the tips otherwise. I've already been forced to recognize some of these -- like not drinking alcohol (that triggered two before I quit my otherwise pretty regular habit), and getting as much cold, winter air as possible. I've been more uncertain as to whether over the counter drugs are doing me any good; sometimes they seem to, sometimes not.

The biggest thing that worries me now it the longer-term prospects. If I had a magic eight ball that could tell me "you'll be OK in a week and you'll have another remission for this many months or years", it would be a lot easier to just bite the bullet in the meantime. But, with the uncertainty of it all -- compounded by the fact I'll have a lot more stresses inevitably coming up, like school and a job -- makes it especially treacherous.

Yesterday, for example, I had no serious headache -- not even the "alarm clock", middle of the night one, which is one of the most annoying/painful. This morning and early afternoon I felt great too. So this made me think that I had turned the corner and was going to be OK again. Then sure enough, out of nowhere this afternoon, I was blasted with the worst one yet I'm not one for crying, but I had tears going down my face and was once again about to call the ambulance, hoping they'd just give me something to literally knock me out so I wouldn't have to feel anything.

Now...I feel quite fine. And so goes the depressing cycle...

Anyway, thanks again everyone.

Then there's times when it hurts so damned bad you just give up and start crying.

The uncertainty, unpredicatable cycles, worrying about vacation plans, etc.....those are just some of the annoying side effects of this condition. A decent treatment program helps a lot, but doesn't "cure" anything.

Sure sounds like CH to me, we worry a lot about diagnosing people on the board, even obvious cases like yours, because there are more sinister things that could be going on. Always best to have evreything checked out just to be safe!

Then start educating yourself. Even when you find something that works, you always want a plan B, C and D ready, just in case. An educated CH'er hurts a lot less.

Joe