Dear Cluster Heads,
After my latest exam from my doctor, and a long reading of my cluster diary, it comes out that I have anywhere between 17 and 25 headaches a month.

My neurologist fears it might be Aneurysm, so do I.

Tell me, what are the chances those two are that close?
I have no idea how much Aneurysm hurts, so I have always measured my pain according to the kip scale. Pacing around in the room, oxygen, relpax, imigran, all those stuff help me take the edge off. Could it be Aneurysm if it responds on the drugs for Cluster Headaches?


Anyways, I haven't had a headache in 3 days!! I feel great! NOTHING CAN BRING ME DOWN! :D

I don't believe there is anyone here, who...after having their first CH attack DIDN'T   think it was an anurism or a brain tumor.

That is why it isn't a good idea to self-diagnose and we tell everyone to ask their Dr. for an MRI to rule out more sinister possibilities.

A good Dr. would insist upon it before treating you anyway.

Good luck and please let us know how it all goes.

Linda

I'm with Linda. I've had attacks where I swear I thought my head would absolutely explode. I'd definitely want my doc to confirm it's nothing sinister going on in my head! ;)

Joe

My GP and Neuro both tested me right away for tumors and/or anuerysm.  It was quite a relief to know that I have neither.

Keep us posted and enjoy being PF.  :)

Sonnie

The evidence is far from clear so far. Here are two fairly recent reports which you might like to print out for your doc.
========
cephalalgia. 2007 feb;27(2):173-6.  


typical cluster headache caused by granulomatous pituitary involvement.

favier i, haan j, van duinen s, ferrari m.

department of neurology, leiden university medical centre, leiden, the netherlands.

a young woman had typical cluster headache attacks and a pituitary mass lesion. the headache attacks resolved after transsphenoidal resection of the tumour, which was diagnosed as a granulomatous inflammation. the association between cluster headache and granulomatous enlargement of the pituitary gland has never been described before. THIS CASE REINFORCES THE GROWING EVIDENCE THAT EVEN IN TYPICAL CASES OF CLUSTER HEADACHE, NEUROIMAGING IS MANDATORY TO EXCLUDE STRUCTURAL LESIONS.

pmid: 17257239 [pubmed - in process]
====================

(You may need your doc to interpret this one!)

Cephalalgia. 2008 Sep 2. [Epub ahead of print]
What happens to new-onset headache presented to primary care? A case-cohort study using electronic primary care records.

Kernick D, Stapley S, Goadsby P, Hamilton W.

St Thomas Medical Group, Exeter, UK.

In the UK, 4% of general practitioner consultations are for headache, yet the natural history of these presentations is unknown. The objective of this study was to describe the outcome of new headache presentations to the general practitioner. This was a prospective case-control study in adults over a period of 1 year using data from the General Practitioner Research Database, UK.
RECORDS OF PATIENTS WHO PRESENTED WITH PRIMARY HEADACHE (MIGRAINE, TENSION-TYPE HEADACHE, CLUSTER HEADACHE) OR UNDIFFERENTIATED HEADACHE (NO FURTHER DESCRIPTOR) WERE EXAMINED FOR THE SUBSEQUENT YEAR FOR SUBARACHNOID HAEMORRHAGE, PRIMARY BRAIN TUMOUR, BENIGN SPACE-OCCUPYING LESION, TEMPORAL ARTERITIS, STROKE AND TRANSIENT ISCHAEMIC ATTACK. WE IDENTIFIED 21 758 PRIMARY HEADACHES AND 63 921 UNDIFFERENTIATED HEADACHES. THE LIKELIHOOD RATIO WAS 29 (9.9, 92) FOR A SUBARACHNOID HAEMORRHAGE AFTER AN UNDIFFERENTIATED HEADACHE AND INCREASED WITH AGE. THE 1-YEAR RISK OF A MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOUR WITH NEW UNDIFFERENTIATED HEADACHE WAS 0.15%, RISING TO 0.28% ABOVE THE AGE OF 50 YEARS. FOR PRIMARY HEADACHE THE RISK WAS 0.045%. THE RISK FOR A BENIGN SPACE-OCCUPYING LESION WAS 0.05% FOR AN UNDIFFERENTIATED AND 0.009% FOR A PRIMARY HEADACHE. THE RISK OF TEMPORAL ARTERITIS WAS THE HIGHEST OF THE CONDITIONS STUDIED, 0.66% IN THE UNDIFFERENTIATED AND 0.18% IN THE PRIMARY HEADACHE GROUP.
Accepting the limitations of this approach, our data can inform management guidelines for new presentations of headache in primary care and confirm the need for follow-up, even if a primary headache diagnosis is made.

PMID: 18771496 [PubMed]

Bottom line is that noone here is going to be able to tell you.  Let your Doc do his/her job.  If the doc doesnt know much about clusters, then educate him/her using the references Bob gave you.  

Good luck!!!!

Has your Dr. ordered an MRI and catscan?  

I, like almost everyone else here, thought I had a tumor or aneurysm that was going to explode in my head.  The fear of that is why I stopped hiding the pain from my family (after almost a year).

Keep us udated.  Good to hear you are getting some pf time!

Beth

I had it all checked out 20 years ago.  I would recomend anyone who has the pain associated with these headaches to rule out every possibility.  Honestly, finding this website has been the best breakthrough in CH for me since they have started.

Gary

Doctors generally do scans and tests to rule out other nasty conditions that can mimic CH or other forms of severe headaches. I get migraines and when I had 3 of them back to back I got to do a brain scan too.

There are many conditions that can give pain in the face and head similar to CH and/or migraines and some of them can be deadly if go undetected.

Its good to rule things out.

I hope that the outcome of the tests will be good and hope you stay painfree forever.

Aneurysms run in my family on fathers side. 2 generations. 2 of my aunts that survived it later said that it felt like someone hit them in the head with a hammer. So compared to what CH's do to me...linger ON AND ON AND ON AND ON...I kind of wish I could get hit that quick and get the CH over with.

Well, it turns out that the recent return of my CHs after a 19 year remission was a blessing in disguise.

My doc sent me for an MRI just to be safe and it revealed a brain aneurysm. I am now awaiting a CT angiogram and an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

Are the CHs connected? ''Dr. Google'' indicates yes in that, in some cases, people with both conditions who the aneurysm surgically clipped also stopped having CHs.

But O2 aborts my headaches. If they were caused by an aneurysm, I doubt the O2 would make a difference.

Anyway, if I have surgery, there goe smy long blonde hair.  :(

Antonia wrote on Mar 29^th, 2009 at 10:23pm:

Well, it turns out that the recent return of my CHs after a 19 year remission was a blessing in disguise. My doc sent me for an MRI just to be safe and it revealed a brain aneurysm. I am now awaiting a CT angiogram and an appointment with a neurosurgeon. Are the CHs connected? ''Dr. Google'' indicates yes in that, in some cases, people with both conditions who the aneurysm surgically clipped also stopped having CHs. But O2 aborts my headaches. If they were caused by an aneurysm, I doubt the O2 would make a difference. Anyway, if I have surgery, there goe smy long blonde hair.  :(

Goodness, I'll keep you in my prayers. And you never know, the aneursym could have triggered the CH's. Activated them somehow...

As far as the hair thing goes... I can understand not wanting to lose it. At least for certain surgeries, it depends on where the problem is.  And on the surgeon! Some shave your head completely, some don't. One I saw had the habit of shaving the whole head because he wanted to make sure -nothing- interfered with recovery.

I didn't end up having the shunt put in, but my great-great aunt did. A different surgeon did hers, and they only shaved some hair behind her ear to put it in. So you might end up getting to keep your long hair... If not, it'll grow back. You could always have it made into a wig until it does!

I hope they can help you soon, PFDAN.
Mystina

Antonia wrote on Mar 29^th, 2009 at 10:23pm:

Are the CHs connected? ''Dr. Google'' indicates yes in that, in some cases, people with both conditions who the aneurysm surgically clipped also stopped having CHs.

I've had clusters since 1973, and a ruptured aneurysm in 1999. My clusters went chronic after the clipping, I'm afraid. I found a very effective prevent since.

Good luck with your surgery ... better to get it fixed before it explodes. (Oh, I only lost an inch wide strip of hair between my ear and temple, so there's hair hope.)  ;)

Wow, Nani. Glad to see you lived to tell the tale.

Thanks for your replies.

Meanwhile last night, I fell asleep with the mask on and found myself choking. Sleep apnea?

I know there's a connection.

Anyway, the spiritual side of me tells me the CHs came back so I would have the MRI so I would find the aneurysm.

Thanks again.

I say have what ever test he wants you to have.

Please cut the straps off of your O2 mask.  Then it falls off if you fall asleep.  I'd hate to lose someone to that potential problem.

Don't fret about the hair - get what's inside fixed.   Hey, some guys like the short-hair look.

And, Back to the original question, get everything else checked out and treated.  I was a little disappointed when the doc looked at my brain and said "nothing remarkable", but it was a good thing.

Jon