First off, stumbling upon this site between headaches has made me feel so relieved!  To start I have not been diagnosed with CH but after reading the information on this site and many of the posts I am convinced that I suffer from CH. SO here is my story:
I am 34 and started getting the headaches when I was 23 or 24.  My first couple of visits to the ER and doctor, I was diagnosed with sinositus, and given antibiotics and told to take various decongestants and nose sprays.  I think that I was mis-diagnosed because I always go to the doctor between headaches and and there is swelling sinus.  So since the initial diagnosis, I have just been going to the doctor and saying that I must have another sinus infection and trying to power through episodes with the recommended medication and none of it has worked.  Like clockwork, almost every year for the past 10 years, usually in August/September or in January/Febuary (sometimes both) I would get what I thought was a sinus infection.

I've been waking up every morning for the last week and a half at about 5:30am with a headache (some stronger than others).  The pain is directly behind the eye/brow, sometimes spread to the ear or teeth, always on the right side.  I immediately get out of bed, take ibuprofen, decongestants, nose sprays to try to stop it before if kicks in.  None of these help obviously, so I usually end pacing around the house trying various things to distract me from the pain such as hot showers on my head, ice packs on my face, punching/pinching myself other places to try to feel something else besides the pain. Every headache is different in pain level, and can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, and come and go randomly for about 2-3 weeks then disappear.  The best feeling is when you start to feel it break and you can finally breathe a sigh of relief (usually tears of joy for me) if only for a short period of time. 

As of yesterday I thought that I just had a sinus infection, but I remembered seeing a documentary a while back about these people who have extremely painful headaches that cause people to hurt themselves (I believe they were using LSD as a treatment).  I was in between headache periods so didn't think much of it at the time but this caused me to do a little research and HOLY COW!!  Everything that I read about CH describes exactly what I am feeling down to the letter!  Now I know I have not been diagnosed, but this is my first priority moving forward.

Thank you all for sharing your stories.  Discovering this site made me feel so relieved that someone in the world understands what I have been going through for the last 10 years.

Justin

Hi Justine, Sometime in the past -pre D3-, when i could feel an attack coming on or even when waking up in terrible pain from a deep sleep, i would hyper ventilate -breathing in through the nose- like hell for at least 5 minutes, and i mean a lot. Weather permiting, i would do it outside, i felt relief everytime.
All the best

Hi Justin,
It's absolutely vital that you get a proper diagnosis because there are several headache types that all present themselves with the pain you describe. But they have differen causes, and respond to different meds, so till the docs know what you have they won't know how to treat you. That said, it does sound very much like you have CH, but you have to know for sure.

In the meantime, at the very first sign of pain (dont wait till it ramps up) drink a redbull, really fast. It's the combination of caffiene and taurine in a sudden hit that does the trick, so any energy drink with those ingredients will do. It doesn't work for everyone, but does for many, so worth a try.

Your story is almost identical to most of us so we know what you go through, and you are not alone any more.
Maz.