Welcome to the board, glad you found us. Your experience is similar to mine. In my 20's and 30's they stayed in a very rigid cyclic pattern. My 40's they went all over the map! Please check out the newest and greatest around here:

Follow this link to the medications section of this board and read the post 

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

It’s a vitamin/mineral/fish oil supplement, all over the counter stuff. It’s up to an 81% success rate of those who try it and respond to the survey so you’re just shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t give it a shot. I’m 3 years pain free on it after a 35 plus year track record with episodic CH. Best of all, it’s healthy for you even without CH!

As of January 20, 2013, the compiled raw data indicates an efficacy of 80%. 240 out of the 300 CH'ers who have started this regimen and stayed on it for a month or more have experienced a significant reduction in the frequency and severity of their CH... 78% of the 300 CH'ers experienced a pain free response and 60% of the 300 have remained essentially pain free. Episodic and chronic CH'ers respond to this regimen at roughly the same rate.

Preliminary survey results indicate most of these CH'ers were pain free before the end of the third week with some responding in a little as 12 to 24 hours. The average time to respond is five days

Joe

I have been on Oxygen for the last few ch sessions that have hit.  It does seem to work as long as I get it going before the peak of the ch.

Thanks for the information!

Thanks wimsey1!  I will say that the ONLY thing that has worked for me up until now is Oxygen before the onset, nothing else has even touched the ch. 

I did get a beta-blocker prescribed one time and if I could "predict" a ch it seemed to help a little bit, but when I had depleted a years worth in about 2 weeks I was told that I couldn't take them anymore!

Hey there! I would also back the Vit D3 regime to work! I've tried it and found relief within 3 days. Still experience the shadows but essentially pain free! Read up on it and definitely try it if you're suffering. 

It will help us to direct you to good sources of assistance if you will tell us where you live (city & state, if U.S. or country). At the Home page: Help button-->Edit & Profile --> Location.
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If you have the option, we suggest workiing with a headache specialist. Others doc have meager training in treating complex headache disorders.
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LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Yellow Pages phone book: look for "Headache Clinics" in the M.D. section and look under "neurologist" where some docs will list speciality areas of practice.

2.  Call your hospital/medical center. They often have an office to assist in finding a physician. You may have to ask for the social worker/patient advocate.

3. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ; On-line screen to find a physician.

4. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or Look for "Physician Finder" search box. They will send a list of M.D.s for your state.I suggest using this source for several reasons: first, we have read several messages from people who, even seeing neurologists, are unhappy with the quality of care and ATTITUDES they have encountered; second, the clinical director of the Jefferson (Philadelphia) Headache Clinic said, in late 1999, that upwards of 40%+ of U.S. doctors have poor training in treating headache and/or hold attitudes about headache ("hysterical female disorder") which block them from sympathetic and effective work with the patient; third, it's necessary to find a doctor who has experience, skill, and a set of attitudes which give hope of success. This is the best method I know of to find such a physician.

5. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or NEW certification program for "Headache Medicine" by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, an independent, non-profit, professional medical organization.
        Since this is a new program, the initial listing is limited and so it should be checked each time you have an interest in locating a headache doctor.
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Print the PDF file, below. Any doc you see should be working with meds outlined here.

The usual approach: steriod to kill Cluster within hours, but for short term use only; then a long acting preventive which will block/reduce attacks; then an abortive to knock out attacks which sneak thru.