Hi everyone!

My headaches have not been diagnosed as CHs yet, but I have been referred to a neurologist and will have that appointment sometime this week. So basically, right now I am going off a self-diagnosis, but I think that my symptoms point clusters. I'll try to keep this short enough and organized, but I'm here because I just need to bounce some things off people, or get some sort of support.

I am a 22 yo male - college student - who has gotten fairly bad headaches for the past two years in the spring and the fall. They always occur at those times, when the seasons are changing. This year, I got my typical rounds at the beginning of October; they lasted about a week and a half, were fairly bad, I went to the doctor, she prescribed some muscle relaxants and naproxen (neither of which really helped), but the headaches went away so I just let everything slide and figured I would see them again in the spring. I had been to the doctor before last fall also, and he told me it was probably an allergy thing and told me just to begin taking Claritin every day starting in March to October-ish.

So, I thought I was done with my 'period' for this year, but unfortunately, just over 2 weeks ago, I started getting the headaches again. They were worse than ever. I have had them every day since then, at least once a day. They occur at either 9-10am-ish, or noon-ish. There was one day I had about four attacks total. They last anywhere from 20 min to 2 hours, with an average of 45 min for each attack. About 50% of the time, these headaches are probably in the range of 6-8 out of a 10 on the pain scale. That's bad, but usually I can still function if I must.

The other 50% of the time, these headaches are 10+. I feel like my pain scale is rewritten every day because I forget what the pain was like the day before. I just live in dread of that time of day I get headaches. For the past two weeks, the majority of my thoughts have centered on these headaches. The first time I got a really, REALLY bad one, I wondered if I was literally  possessed. I seriously thought there was an evil demon inside of me. And that pain has almost become the norm for these headaches. It's always centered on one side of the head, behind the eye, and seems to radiate from there. Sometimes it takes over my entire face, with nasal pain, toothaches. I think it even travels down to give me a sore throat sometimes. When i get a headache, I just want to tear the pain right out of my head.

I think it's CH, because many of my symptoms and reactions to them add up. We will have to wait and see what the doctor says. Every time they hit I just run to back to my room in our apartment and am reduced to whimpering on the floor, rocking back and forth, just praying as hard as I can that the pain will go away. I don't want to be overly dramatic, but before this latest round, I had always thought that there were a lot of things worse than physical pain. Now, I only think there's a few things worse than this pain.

Anyway, I'm just here because I don't have anyone to talk to about it. My family doesn't seem to think the pain is that bad. They want me to get better, but aren't really too concerned. I have vented to one friend about this, but I don't want to be inconsiderate towards her and just use her like that. I just wanted to get some support from other people who I might be in the same boat as.

Thanks for reading. I hope this neurologist appointment goes well!

Hi Peter and welcome to where we all understand all too much what the impact of severe headaches can be. We've all gone through now knowing what was causing a tremendous amount of pain, going through the process to get a diagnosis and then finally getting the right treatment.

Brain has given you great advice. Also I'd write down all the questions you have prior to the appointment and tick them off as you go, making notes. It's all too easy to forget questions and then remember after the appointment is over.

We also really understand how others who have never gone through something like this have no idea what you're going through. They just think they understand what a headache can be like without really understanding what we can go through.

Really hope things go well with the appointment and you get the answers you need. Let us know how you get on and what the diagnosis is.

Hi Peter,

Sorry to have to meet you this way.  Just a quick note about your friends and family (and perhaps professors) at the top of this board is a section called "Important Topics"  and in there is a thread and a link called "Letter to Employers and Colleagues".  This may be a good start to explaining what your going through to those you care about.  Hope this helps a bit.

Dahrken