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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> Ex CH - now have Migraine aura?
        
(Message started by: Typebyte on Jun 23^rd, 2005, 11:10am)

Title: Ex CH - now have Migraine aura?
Post by Typebyte on Jun 23^rd, 2005, 11:10am

Hi everyone! What a great site, wish it could have been here 20 years ago. A bit of background, I started having cluster episodes in 1979. Of course at that time it wasn't diagnosed properly until about 1984. Over the years I would have 1 or 2 episodes a year lasting anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months (but not necessarily every year!). In my 30s the headaches greatly diminished and my last episode was in 1997 when I was 8 months pregnant with my youngest daughter. During that episode I tried the Oxygen therapy which worked almost instantly for me :)

Since that time I have not had one cluster! But about a month ago I started having weird eye flahes happen. After having a CT Scan and seeing a neurologist I was told I now have the migraine aura without the migraine! He said it is probably related to my cluster history. I certainly can live with flashing lights in my eyes if I don't get any headaches! I also had an MRI and was told there is a small cyst on the pineal gland which apparently is of no concern.

My question is if anyone else has ever heard of anything like this happening to anyone else or if anyone else has had a cyst diagnosis.

Thanks to everyone, you have yourselves a great community here!

Title: Re: Ex CH - now have Migraine aura?
Post by Margi on Jun 23^rd, 2005, 11:17am

Hi Typebyte - hey! A fellow Calgarian!! Hope you're not in the flooded areas!

Glad to hear you're in cluster remission but sorry to hear you're having migraine aura. I'm a migrainer too (my hubby is a clusterhead) and I get those too. They're called "occular migraine" and you only get the phosphenes but the full blown attack doesn't occur. Freaky isn't it? I hate it.

Just so you know, we have a Canadian site as well - check us out. So far, including yourself, we have 4 Calgarians (you, Grant, and Mike and I) and we're having a gettogether in Canmore in August.

http://www.clusterheadaches.ca

Hope to see you at the site! :)

Title: Re: Ex CH - now have Migraine aura?
Post by Bob_Johnson on Jun 24^th, 2005, 7:24pm

Cluster with aura is not common but we have seen a couple of medical reports posted here reporting them (he typed, going to his junk locker for....)

Cephalalgia. 2002 Nov;22(9):725-9. Related Articles, Links

Atypical presentations of cluster headache.

Rozen TD.

Department of Neurology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. RozenT@ccf.org

Recently, cluster headache has been shown to occur with aura, suggesting that as more cluster patients are seen by headache specialists new forms of this well-defined primary headache syndrome will be identified. This study presents three atypical presentations of cluster headache: persistent or unremitting cluster, periodic cluster, and reflex or event-related cluster. Case reports are presented with an explanation as to why these headaches should be considered cluster headache.

Publication Types:
Case Reports

PMID: 12421158 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2001 Feb;5(1):67-70. Related Articles, Links

Migrainous features in cluster headache.

Peatfield R.

Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF, UK. rpeatfield@ic.ac.uk

Migraine and cluster headache have been considered entirely separate clinical syndromes, both in routine clinical practice and in the 1988 International Headache Society classification. Neurologists seeing large numbers of patients soon realize, however, that there is a considerable overlap between the two conditions. Some patients have attacks with the cardinal features of cluster headache, but also have a few symptoms (especially a visual aura) usually attributed to migraine. In addition, it is not uncommon for a patient with a lifetime's history of migraine to experience a typical bout of cluster headache, although the reverse is less common. This article reviews the published series of such patients.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 11252140 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Title: Re: Ex CH - now have Migraine aura?
Post by Typebyte on Jun 24^th, 2005, 9:33pm

Thanks very much for the replies and information! I guess I just fall into the abnormal category for most things! :D When I suffered my last cluster episode the neurologist here who specializes in clusters had never heard of a pregnant woman having a cluster episode!

Thanks for the link to the Canadian site Margi, like I said before this is an awesome site for support!