Hey SpringThyme,

'Sounds like there's room for improvement in quality of life.  Tell us a bit more about the frequency and intensity of your CH. 

Too many CH'ers tend to cling to the first combination of medications that bring any measurable relief like a security blanket and are hesitant to try anything new out fear it will make the beast come back more frequently and with a vengeance.

Unfortunately too many well intended physicians will prescribe headache medications they've prescribed in the past while others may even prescribe some of the mainstream cluster headache medications and both will think they've done the right thing.  However if these medications don't provide acceptable relief by either preventing or aborting your CH, you're the one who suffers.

Even if you find a particular medication or combination of medications that provide some relief from CH, you still need to ask yourself a few questions like:

Are these medications worth the frequent side effects in providing the kind of relief I expect? 

Am I getting the level of relief from CH that I expect? and finally,

Are these medications helping provide the quality of life I want?

You're fortunate to have a physician willing to work with you.  Many of us have found a physician like that is essential in finding effective treatments for our disorder.

Even when you find a physician like yours and come up with a winning treatment that brings acceptable relief from our disorder, the battle isn't over.  The only thing consistent about cluster headaches is they change, and more than likely, so will the need to change your medications.

You've already taken some steps to change your diet and stop drinking (ugh...  I don't think I could have done the latter) so you are trying things that could help.  That's a good sign... so don't stop there.

Work with your physician to develop a treatment strategy that has as its ultimate goal being pain free. 

The best advice I got from the old hands here at CH.com was to enjoy life between the bouts and try to do the same between attacks.  This requires both a healthy attitude and discipline that help far more than sitting around having anxiety attacks waiting for the next CH.

Tell your physician you want to try oxygen therapy.  It's the first acute treatment/abortive of choice prescribed by the top neurologists experienced in treating our disorder. 

If you use it properly at flow rates that support hyperventilation as soon as you sense a CH approaching, you'll find like many of us have, that you can abort most if not all your CH in short order.  That alone will give you a sense of confidence that makes anxiety of the next CH a thing of the past.

Ask your physician to check your vitamin D3 level.  A small but growing number of us are taking up to 10,000I.U. vitamin D3 with very promising results.

In short, there are a lot of things to try and do to get a better handle on your CH.

Take care and hang in there,

V/R, Batch