Hello everybody, my first post here. I have had CH for at least 14 years that I can recall and this is the first year I have seen a doc about it, I have medicated in the past with HEAVY amounts of alcohol (Beer, Wine, Whiskey etc.) and yes I know alcohol is a trigger but didn't even know what I had until I was diagnosed this year.

Is it normal to have ringing in both ears constantly, my teeth on the side of the CH's hurt a lot, lymph nodes feel swollen several times per day with a lot of pressure. I just feel like there is something else at play here and the Neuro just act's like it's not a big deal and keeps talking about treatment of the CH only. I am starting to think that the heavy drinking was a lot easier. I am an audio mix engineer and this ringing is really worrying me. Anybody have a clue if all this is normal for CH's ?

Thanks for reading this and best wishes to all of you dealing with this craziness.

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Tinnitus is not peculiar to, or a distinctive sign, of Cluster.
Very common with age, caused by many medications, a result of working for long periods in high noise situations or being exposed to even single extremely lound noises (an explosion, for example). Seeing high rates from folks in their 30s who have lived "in" rock concerts, and such.

If you suspect some hearing loss now, a good heating exam is useful. Not only to Dx the problem but to explore the  source of hearing loss. Early intervention helps a lot to preserve your quality of life.

Thanks for the responses. I am not having any hearing loss, I am not around anything loud but rather a normal studio setting where the audio is at normal level. This ringing just started with this cycle and does not just come when I have an attack, it as well as a tight headache are persistent, the constant headache is new to my cycles, it never leaves but just goes up and down in pain level, and the constant headache is all over and feels like a belt being wrapped around my head and pulled tight, my blood pressure has been up since this cycle started. I am currently on Imitrex and Depakote, still waiting on Oxygen as it was just prescribed yesterday and I have to wait until Monday to even attempt to get that, I strongly felt an MRI was in order but my Neuro didn't seem to think so, he is trying to relate the persistent headaches with tension headaches and stress which I don't really feel I have, he says my neck feels like a rock but for me that is normal unless I rub my neck and stretch for a while and of course I can see why I would have a stiff neck going through pain etc. But of all the cycles I drank myself through in the past 14 years the CH's just came and then went, never had a solid headache that does not go away or a ringing in my ears like this, these things just all started when my clusters started this time. Imitrex seems to make my teeth hurt on my CH side but I have not taken it for two days and I still have teeth pain and this ringing. Other than this ringing my hearing is rather superb, always has been. It just freaks me out having these additional things going on this time around, I skipped the past two years with no cycles which is nice but new symptoms and the constant headache is causing me to want to just pop Imitrex which I don't really want to do because it makes me paranoid and brings my blood pressure up even higher than it is now. I guess I just don't understand the higher than normal BP this cycle and I take Metoprolol succ er 25mg and I have taken double doses and my BP stays the same, it does not go over 100 and does not drop below 95 for the bottom number, I would think that particular BP med should be doing something especially in double doses. Two years ago so Psycho attacked me and hit me in this same CH side of the head with a baseball bat and the hospital didn't feel the need to do anything other than stitch me up and send me home, I have not had any problems with that healing or anything though and my Neuro does not feel it has done any damage. Just seems to me that an MRI would at least rule out some things. But if this is normal as he seems to think it is then I don't know what to do. I don't find a constant headache normal or high BP just due to a cluster cycle but as I said I self medicated with tons of booze in the past, I realize alcohol is a trigger but oddly enough I heard triggering the clusters over and over while masking a lot of the pain with booze makes the nerves that put out the pain neurotransmitter called substance P send out so much that it runs out and take a week or two to create more, so once it runs low or out and you continue to drink and trigger clusters you are not feeling them which is probably why I was getting through the cycles faster, because the drinking would continue for a while after I felt the cycle ended then weaning down and stopping so I don't know, this is just something I was told as there are people who self medicate with alcohol. I always thought it was just allergies. I am a 43 year old male in really great health other than this, weight, habits etc. I don't drink or smoke, no drugs etc. The ringing is as loud as the TV and right now the only thing I am taking is the Depakote, I have almost taken an Imitrex a few times for this headache but have been able to fight it, sleep is about impossible but I manage to get some each night, if my Girl Friend isn't moving around waking me up then my head is waking me up, I sleep about 30 minutes to an hour at a time, wake up and fall back to sleep, I never thought I'd be able to sleep with a headache like this but I guess some sleep is better than none. Now a CH will obviously wake me up and send me through the headboard. Thanks again for the responses.

When the lymph nodes swell it is a sign that they are working hard to fight an infection. This is not neuro territory, so see your GP. Painful teeth is one of the symptoms of CH pain, but coupled with the onset of ear problems and swollen nymph nodes it's possible in this instance it's something unrelated. Ear infections can make your teeth hurt, and tooth problems can make your ears hurt. Get your GP to check you out.
Maz.