Posted by Melodi (64.219.39.158) on July 07, 2001 at 14:53:38:
My son is 10 yrs old. When he was 5, he got severe headaches every day for about a month, then it went away. 6 months ago, he started getting severe, debilitating headaches 2-3 times per day which have gradually increased in severity and to 4-5 times per day. I had to take him out of school and homeschool him so we could work around the headaches. He had a C-T scan which was normal. After months of trying tylenol etc with no relief, a PA suggested it was cluster headaches and we try oxygen. We put him on oxygen and miraculously, the headaches dropped from 50-60 minutes per episode to 10 minutes per episode. The severity decreased also.
After months of waiting, he finally got into see a neurologist last week. The neurologist said that there is no way it could be cluster headaches because of his age. He said oxygen makes everybody feel better and said he NEVER prescribes oxygen for migraines because it is too "impractical." He said it couldn't be migraines either because nobody gets migraines every day.
Of note, my son's headaches stopped abruptly two weeks ago when we travelled out of town. On the way back, two miles out of town, his headache returned. Could be a coincidence. But when I told the neurologist this, he said that the headaches don't know which town he is in, so it has to be psychological. My son is an even-tempered, happy-go-lucky kid who is easy to get along with. He doesn't seem upset about anything though he is a sensitive guy. Anybody? Could it be clusters? I'm pulling my hair out as I have sat by his bed while he is in excruciating pain and I can do nothing. The oxygen was my one ray of hope and now the doctor wants to take it away.