Hi all,

T here, 35 yr. old female. I'm on day 22 of my first ever cycle.

I had no idea what was going on at first. I had been taking a small dose of acetaminophen for a shoulder pain, so I thought that maybe I had a bad reaction to the acetaminophen and it caused my blood pressure to spike. I stopped the acetaminophen immediately and the headaches continued. It didn't take long for me to recognize a pattern - being jolted awake every night in severe pain (like someone had hit me in the right eye socket with a hammer while I was asleep!), with headaches continuing on and off throughout the mornings, then nothing, totally pain-free, all afternoon/evening. Every day was almost exactly the same. Because I thought it was possibly blood pressure related, I tried meditation and thought it worked at first because the pain would disappear almost magically after a fairly short meditation session. Eureka! I cured myself with mindfulness! I felt 100%, like a million bucks! Then, bam another one would hit. Then, it stopped working altogether, of course, because it never actually worked in the first place and it was just a coincidence that I happened to be close to the end of the attack when I started the meditation session. (I'm still meditating, I've just backed off the idea it is a miracle cure for these attacks)

Unfortunately, I had to attend a conference for work during days 7-10 of getting these mysterious attacks. Getting out the door to the morning sessions was a tremendous accomplishment. I still don't know how I managed. Maybe I'm superhuman. I'm sure I looked like a wreck. Regardless, the three nights in a hotel helped me rule out potential environmental causes in my home because the attacks got worse, not better during my time away. When I returned home I tried to get in to see a GP, but ended up at urgent care because the first available appointment for new patients with any GP in the whole town was months out! What I thought would be a quick diagnostic/referral visit at urgent care turned into a trip to the ER, which turned into a three-day, two-night stay in the hospital as they ran every blood test and scan imaginable. Eventually, I was released (incorrectly diagnosed) with a prescription for 800 mg ibuprofen (even though I told them I had already tried ibuprofen and it hadn't touched the pain). The follow-up visit with a different neurologist was where I was finally diagnosed with cluster headaches. He prescribed me a Medrol Dosepak and Imitrex (oral). I'm on day three of the steroid and it seems to be helping. I've only had four attacks since starting it. Although, from what I'm reading, I gather this is probably not an appropriate long-term solution. I took one dose of the Imitrex at the start of one attack, but don't think it helped quickly enough and the side effects left me unable to work for several hours. I don't think I will take any more of them.

Anyway, that is the short version of my diagnosis story. I guess it is still developing. After reading others' stories, I realize I am fortunate to have caught this relatively early. Now my doctor and I can get started trying to figure out what remedies will work for me. I'm doing my best to keep a positive attitude about everything as I know it could be so much worse and I've never found much comfort in wallowing.

T

Hi and welcome.  Your story is fairly typical of what we all suffered at the beginning.  Imitrex is a wonderful thing, but the pills are far too slow to work. Ask your doctor for the auto injections.  They will work in 5 - 7 minutes.  Also, check out the boards for posts by batch about his vitamin D3 regimen, which has proved to be miraculous for 80% of us.
Maz.