Just wondering what everyone thinks- I would get CH twice a year before I found a Neuro that put me on 180mg Verapamil 1x daily - then I only got CH in late April/early May when the pollen started - I upped the verapamil to 240 1x daily and for 3 1/2 no CH - this past October I got hit with CH out of the blue - Neuro put me on methylprednisolone taper over 6 days - it didn't break the cycle, so he put me on prednisone - after 2 days, the CH stopped on my right side, then it kind of hit me in the middle of my head above my nose, imitrex took care of that for the night, but then the next night - CH on my left side !  my cycles seem to last 3 1/2 - 4 weeks - the right side lasted 3 1/2 weeks, now approaching 4 weeks on the left... anyone ever hear of this happening before ?   does this mean I am going chronic ?

I was right-sided for years and years then got my first leftie and never even realised what it was. Got a tooth taken out to stop the pain.

Been mostly right ever since but every cycle's a bit different. Still, it's an adventure and there's many who miss out on such excitement.

There is little medical literature on the question and what's there dosn't give clear answers about why or consequences.
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J Headache Pain. 2009 Aug;10(4):259-63. Epub 2009 Jun 3.
Lateralization in cluster headache: a Nordic multicenter study.

Meyer EL, Laurell K, Artto V, Bendtsen L, Linde M, Kallela M, Tronvik E, Zwart JA, Jensen RM, Hagen K.

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Neurology at Karolinska Insitutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

A slight predominance of cluster pain on the right side has been reported in several studies. The aim of this large retrospective Nordic multicenter study was to estimate the prevalence of right- and left-sided pain in cluster headache (CH) patients with side-locked pain, the prevalence of side shifts in episodic and chronic CH patients, and the occurrence of cranial autonomic symptoms related to pain side.

AMONG 383 CLUSTER PATIENTS, 55 (14%) HAD EXPERIENCED PAIN SIDE SHIFT. OF THE REMAINING 328 INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT SIDE SHIFT, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OCCURRENCE OF RIGHT-SIDED AND LEFT-SIDED PAIN (54 VS. 46%). THE PREVALENCE OF SIDE SHIFT WAS SIMILAR FOR EPISODIC AND CHRONIC CH AND THE OCCURRENCE OF CRANIAL AUTONOMIC SYMPTOMS WAS NOT INFLUENCED BY THE PAIN SIDE. In conclusion, previous reports of a side difference in location of cluster pain could not be confirmed in this large Nordic sample.

Publication Types:
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 19495933 [PubMed]
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Cephalalgia. 2008 Jul;28 Suppl 1:8-11.
Epidemiology of fixed unilateral headaches.

Leone M, Cecchini AP, Mea E, Tullo V, Bussone G.

Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy. leone@istituto-besta.it

A fixed location unilateral headache suggests involvement of a precise nervous structure, and neuroimaging investigations are essential to seek to identify it. Nevertheless, SIDE-LOCKED PRIMARY HEADACHES ALSO OCCUR, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE RARE. SIDE-LOCKED PRIMARY HEADACHES ARE MORE FREQUENTLY FOUND IN THE GROUP OF THE SHORT-LASTING (</= 4 HOURS) HEADACHES but long-lasting headache forms may also present with the pain always on the same side, including migraine, tension-type headache, new daily persistent headache and cervicogenic headache. Future studies should address the issue whether patients with side-locked headache form differ from those with non-side-locked form both in terms of natural history and biological markers. Among 63 consecutive CHRONIC CLUSTER headache patients seen by us from 1999 to 2007, 32 (51%) had side shift. We ALSO FOUND THAT THE DURATION OF THE CHRONIC CONDITION WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER IN THOSE WITH SIDE SHIFT THAN THOSE WITHOUT. The high frequency of side shift in chronic cluster headache should be considered when proposing surgical treatment for severe intractable forms of the disease.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 18494985