Wow!  Its unbelievable what us Clusterheads have to go thru sometimes. I spend a lot of time here reading the boards, it never ceases to amaze me. So much knowledge can be obtained here. I wish I had been directed here 5 years sooner.
Heres a bit about my story:

     My headaches started about 7 years ago, with all of OUR normal symptoms,and after seeing 3 or 4 doctors of different types, including an Ear Nose Throat guy, was told that I needed to basically have all of my right ear gutted out and my mastoid bone drilled out to remove the infected bone. This would leave me with a larger than normal hole in my ear, making it easier for doctors to get in there to clean it out in the future! Like I really cared about the ease of their future cleanout jobs! A LARGER than normal ear opening? I quickly imagined birds trying to nest in my ear as I walked down the street. JEESZ! I couldnt believe what I was hearing from this guy. He assured me that he does this type of surgery ( MASTOIDECTOMY) on a regular basis, and as I walked thru his clinic and seen all of the people who had had this procedure done, all wearing turbins and ear bandages, I new he truly was doing them often.
    I went home and thought " I gotta do some research on this procedure or get a second opinion at least. The next thing I read was some of the sideeffects of this type of surgery, loss of hearing in that ear of course, and maybe including lost of taste when eating. I thought Wow, maybe I will just use a damn puddy knife and mash my food into my Larger Than Normal ear cavity, since I wont be able to taste it anyway.
     Well, it didnt take to long to decide against this surgery. So I never followed through with the scheduled surgery. They probably figured I had died when I didnt show up. Then, for the next 3 or 4 years I had to listen to everyone telling me how foolish I was for not taking doctors advice and having that surgery, all while going thru the normal CH Hell. I just knew they were not diagnosing it right.
    Then a little over a year ago, my daughter text me on my phone one morning and said "Dad! I know what your problem is! Heard about it on TV late last night! Its CLUSTER HEADACHES!!!"  She had gon online and searched Cluster Headaches, and matched all my symptoms up with the list. Sure did sound right.
    So after reading about it myself all that I could, and telling my Doctor about it. and how some patients were using Verapamil , which I already used for high blood pressure, in high dosages to prevent the cycles.
He shrugged his shoulders and went to his office for a minute, I assume to get online himself, and then came back and wrote me a script for 240mgs a day. I filled it and started taking it that night. That was practically the end of the cycle right there. Wow! Pain free and able to sleep again! A happy ending? Not quite.
     Was still getting a headache once in a while, but not every day and night. Its always hard to be sure when patterns change with CHs  if its the meds or just time for a cycle to end. But when my doctor mentioned cutting back on the Veraps, I freaked out and smoke came out of my ears  " I Dont Want Those Headaches Again! Why stop Taking It When Its Working?"  My doc was kinda timid so he just said OK for now.
    Well I went up till about a month ago taking my Verap and No cycle. Then they returned. Full Force too. Day and night. Real Hell. Was getting about 3 45minute naps per night and was totally exhausted.  Then about a week ago my daughter found and told me about this site. I was thrilled to visit it and read about CHs from people who knew about them. The Sufferors. While trying to be helpful to another member of this site, he gave me the answer to my current problem. I should have cutback on my meds after cycle stopped instead of fearing a return of it, then increased meds agin when cycle returned. So dumb of me not to think that. I blame my FEAR of The Devil.
    Luckily based on the amount of Verap he was taking I knew I could double my dosage and maybe get results. So after waiting six hours and 3 more headaches for my doctor to return my call, (wanted his approval- dont know why) I doubled up on my dosage. That night...NO HEADACHES! actually went 30 hours without one. Am still getting a couple a day now but not as severe and hope this cycle is coming to an end.
     Thank God for Cluster Headaches.COM.

Gotta go try on my new CH.com T-shirts that came in mail today.

Isn't your daughter a life saver?

5 years too late, but better than never. Welcome Home.