Hi,
Thank you so much for your responses.
You may be sorry you asked for my story.....
I am almost 38 years old, female, born and currently living in South Africa.
At 22 years old, I moved to London. About a year later, I was woken from sleep with SEVERE pain in the right side of my head. It was so sudden and so sharp, I actually thought I must be dying and rushed to the A&E - where I waited over 8 hours to be seen - and of course by then the pain had gone and I felt I must've imagined it all, especially with the disbelieving looks from the doctors. I was sent home with a panadol.
Unfortunately, I endured this pain unmedicated and not really taken seriously by any doctors for the next 3 years. I figured out myself that it came in cycles. I also tried every over the counter drug imaginable. From muscle relaxants to painkillers, and finally to sinus medicine which was the only (small) relief I had (I think it's the ephedrine that helps though I still don't know why).
This led to ENT investigation. I had a deviated septum and some benign polyps which they thought may contribute to the pain, but sent me on to the dentist, where, over the years, I had FIVE root canals in the right side.
I still thought I was dealing with sinusitis and tooth problems at that point.
I also soon figured out that there were triggers when i was in a cycle.... change in temperature (the heater next to my desk at work was a killer), alcohol (even a sip), and straight after exercise.
In 2010 I became pregnant (no attacks the whole pregnancy! - but I made up for that straight after
)
When my daughter was about 6 months and I was alone with no help with my baby, I was so desperate that I paid privately for a GP referral to a neurologist.
I told the neurologist that what I was experiencing was more painful than childbirth (I had a 26 hour, complicated, unmedicated and very painful birth).
It was almost immediately after describing my pain that he gave it a name: Cluster headaches. I'd never heard of it before. It sounded too benign to describe it, but when I read up on it later, I cried with the relief of the diagnosis. I had a plan - sumatriptan injections - which I carried always.
In 2012, I moved back to South Africa, where the attacks continued, along with very bad sinus issues. I had emergency sinus surgery because it was so infected. The ENT thought it strange that my sinus issues were strictly on one side. He said usually patients with sinus disease are affected on both sides, and on that basis, sent me for a dental cone beam scan. The scan showed that an old root canal had not been properly filled and was causing infection. I had the tooth extracted in December 2013. A few months later I had a dental implant.
And so I thought that was it. It WAS the tooth after all.
And I have had almost 4 years since then not one attack, thinking the problem had been solved.
And then...
3 weeks ago. Awoken an hour after going to sleep - after 2 hours of pain, I went to the ER.
As soon as it started up, I went back to the ENT and the Periodontist who treated me, had a CT scan, had a cone beam scan. I was convinced something had gone wrong with the tooth or sinus again to be experiencing the exact same pain again. But there is nothing with with my sinus or my implant.
I wrote here because I didn't think it possible to have absolutely nothing for 4 years and then randomly start up again. I don't know what to expect next? Is it wishful thinking to think this is just a random flare up and it will go away again?
If you made it this far, thanks for reading and sorry about the rambling!
Sabine