I am enjoying your scientific and non-scientific material very much. It's 4 am and I'm here with guess who. Your warped sense of humor still made me smile in the middle of it all. Thanks.

I am 63 yo and started 5 years ago. I embarrassed myself with my antics but see that everyone acts crazy. My neurologist has been great but as no cure in sight, if someone told me to take my clothes off and howl at the moon I would try it. I have 6 week stents each year. No help with mega-steroids or Verapamil or melatonin. Imitrex and O2 are life savers. Literally. I'm planning to try Vit D3.
Speaking of taking my clothes off and howling at the moon, I must admit I tried that once. It didn't help my CH but the neighbors seemed much intrigued. The police were less engaging however.

Sadly there is no cure, but the condition is perfectly controllable. Imitrex and 02 are the best abortives there are. Send off a PM to Batch about the D3. He's a great guy and will tell you all you need to know.
Maz.

Howling at the moon has been done before as well as, swinging the dead chicken over your head, vinegar sponge bath, the always appreciated putting chunks of blucheese in your armpits and tobasco under the tongue.  May want to try peeling an apple and leaving it on the nightstand while you sleep, then eat that well browned thing in the morning.  The presenter claimed it worked well!

Big O,

You seem to still have your sense of humor intact.  I suspect you might really enjoy reading this thread as much as I did: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Mark

Really hoping not to jinx myself, but CH free for two years after dancing with them for 30 years...

My secret? I'm fairly certain it was when I quit smoking that helped. Makes sense to me because I used O2 for an abortive. Logic tells me that if O2 worked, it was a blood oxygen issue causing the CHs.

I'm now able to enjoy many things I had to forego for many years, namely craft beers.

I know those friggin' headaches hurt like heck. I wish you all pain free days and nights.

18% of Americans smoke.
50% of clusterheads smoke.

Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer.
Not everyone who smokes gets cluster headaches.

J Headache Pain. 2013 Jun 6;14(1):48.
Impact of continuing or quitting smoking on episodic cluster headache: a pilot survey.
Ferrari A, Zappaterra M, Righi F, Ciccarese M, Tiraferri I, Pini LA, Guerzoni S, Cainazzo MM.
SourceHeadache and Drug Abuse Inter-Department Research Centre, Division of Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia- Policlinico, Largo del Pozzo, 71-41100 Modena, Italy. anna.ferrari@unimore.it.

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The majority of patients suffering from cluster headache (CH) are smokers and it has been suggested that smoking may trigger the development of CH. The aim of this pilot survey was to describe: 1. the differences between current, former, and never smokers CH patients; 2. if smoking changed during an active cluster period; 3. if CH changed after quitting.

RESULTS: Among a total of 200 patients surveyed (172 males, 28 females; mean age ± SD: 48.41 ± 12 years) there were 60%, 21%, and 19% of current, former, and never smokers, respectively. Current smokers reported longer active periods (12.38 ± 10 weeks) and a higher maximum number of attacks per day (3.38 ± 1) compared to never smoker CH patients (5.68 ± 4 weeks, P <0.05 and 2.47 ± 1, P <0.05, respectively). During the active period most of the patients stated to decrease (45.7%) or not to change (45.7%) the number of cigarettes smoked. Among those who decreased smoking, most (83.8%) reported that they had less desire to smoke. After quitting, the majority of former smokers stated that their headache had not changed.

CONCLUSIONS: PATIENTS WITH EPISODIC CH WHO ARE ALSO SMOKERS APPEAR TO HAVE A MORE SEVERE FORM OF THE DISORDER. HOWEVER, IT IS UNLIKELY THAT BETWEEN CH AND SMOKING THERE IS A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP, AS CH PATIENTS RARELY IMPROVE QUITTING SMOKING.

PMID:23742010[PubMed]



 

Doc,
I agree with Brian.. of course we're nutz.. but welcome to the "family". And we're the best bunch of nuts you'll ever meet.

Check with Batch on the D3 regimen. It's really helping a lot of us.

And keep the O2 handy (check on the left for O2 info). This is the best city in the world for help cause we've all been there (or are there) and know what you're going thru..