Take the cluster quiz on the left.

Go see your neurologist and go from there.

There is lots of info on this site to educate yourself about CHs.

Start reading,reading and reading

Best of luck, Iddy :)

Hello,

  With all that sinus dealings it is an easy call for the doctor to request an operation. And it very well may help you when out of cycle in dealing with alergery and sinus colds and things like that. And i dont want to be the bad news guy, But it wont stop a single cluster.


                             Be Well.. Coach Bill

coach_bill wrote on Mar 4^th, 2009 at 7:37pm:

With all that sinus dealings it is an easy call for the doctor to request an operation. And it very well may help you when out of cycle in dealing with alergery and sinus colds and things like that. And i dont want to be the bad news guy, But it wont stop a single cluster.

Not necessarily true - surgery to correct endonasal contacts points is fairly effective in controlling cluster headaches ... in patients that have endonasal contact points to start with. It is a subset of the world of clusters, but can be an important contributing factor for some people.  


Quote:

Laryngoscope. 2003 Dec;113(12):2151-6.    Endonasal surgery for contact point headaches: a 10-year longitudinal study.    Welge-Luessen A, Hauser R, Schmid N, Kappos L, Probst R.    OBJECTIVE: Some migraine and cluster headaches may be triggered by stimulation of intranasal contact points via the trigeminovascular system. Endonasal surgery is successful in some patients, but long-term outcomes have not been reported. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective. METHODS: This investigation included 20 patients with a mean 18-year history of refractory cluster or migraine headaches who were selected for surgery. All had endoscopically visible endonasal contact as well as a positive preoperative cocaine test result. Changes in pain severity and frequency and duration of headache attacks were statistically rated using a MANOVA. Follow-up averaged 112 months. RESULTS: Almost 10 years after surgery, six patients remained completely free of pain, seven had significant symptom improvement, and seven received no benefit from surgery (65% improvement). Two patients had been free of all symptoms for 7 and 8 years, respectively, before complaints returned. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that some patients with refractory headaches and endonasal contact areas benefit from surgery, thereby supporting the existence of a connection between the two. Even though it is clear that surgery should be considered only if all other treatments have failed, a success rate of 65% over almost 10 years justifies evaluation of this option. Preoperative patient selection remains crucial and warrants further investigation.    PMID: 14660919 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Micheal,

Monty makes a great point.  Surgery might just help...  Then again it might not.  

Before you undergo invasive surgery and have them take a slurp gun to your sinuses, ask your neurologist to prescribe oxygen therapy for you as a part of a differential diagnostic test. An E-size cylinder of oxygen with reglator and mask will cost a lot less than CT Scans, additional MRIs, or a packet of generic imitrex, and if you are able to abort your headaches using a flow rate of 15 liters/minute with a non-rebreather mask, you're one step closer to a diagnosis without having to go through invasive surgery.

We're still analyzing the results of a major cluster headache survey taken by over a 1000 participants here in the US this last December, and there were a surprising number of CHer's who underwent sinus surgery or tooth extractions only to have their headaches return and have them finally diagnosed properly as cluster headaches.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

The test is the first thing i done a few days ago, and ive read every post on the message boards that pertain to these headaches. As i kept reading further, it was evadent that almost everybody here describes the same thing. When i saw the videos on you tube of clusters, they were identical to my headaches, exactly. Im gonna get him to hook me up with o2 and try some other things before i let him send me to the operating room. I will see him this afternoon, and i will post the results. Thanks for the info, i really appreciate it.

It is possible to have 2 or 3 different type of ha going on in the same brain.  I get ch and migraine.  My husband gets sinius and migraine.  I certainly do not think that the sinus problems are a cause of your ch.  MRI do not lie tho either.  You could ask for a second opinion and have your MRI read by a second person.  Maybe once you get the sinus problem taken care of you will have lots less pain. Maybe not.  Its your call.

I dunno, but to me it sounds like you have a couple DIFFERENT issues going on. I, too, have seriously messed up sinuses, as does almost everyone in my family. I've had ct scans of my sinuses done, as well as the doc doing the whole scope through the sinuses thing, so yeah, I know they're screwed up.

As far as the results of your scan goes... if your sinuses are screwed up and need fixing, than why not fix it. I just wouldn't hold my breath on having the surgery fix the cluster headaches tho.

best of luck,
Adam

Yeah definitely see what the dr says.  If fixing your sinuses eases or ends our CHs, then you are in great shape!  Though sinus procedures can be something awful, it's better than suffering with CHs.

Just got back from Dr. He prescribed me Verapamil 180mg, two a day for preventative, and prescribed me O2, which will be here tomorrow evening. He gave me six Dexamethasone .5mg steroids, i take two tonite then one a day. He also gave me Percocet 10. I got my fingers crossed!

If you have CH, don't be suprised if the Percoset is not much help. Most of us find that narcotics can actually trigger hits, and cause rebounds.

For me not even Morphine can stop a major hit, just made me very tired and less prepared for the next one, while still in pain.

We are all different so maybe you will find some relief, but I and others here speak from experience so be aware. It took me some time to realize the pain meds don't work for my CH.

Oxygen can be your best CH weapon, it is mine.

Best of Luck, Don

Any news on the sinus issue and it's possible relation to your CHs?

He said he didnt think it had anything to do with the clusters? I did get my o2 today though. I'm fixin to order another mask. The one they gave me is a joke! I'll get an O2ptimask i think.

You were right about the percocets. They might help a little on the shadows but not at all on the BIG HITS. I'm going back to see him Wednesday, gonna see if he cant give me something else, maybe a nose spray, something to work fast if the o2 doesn't knock it out. I dont want to go to the injections unless it's the last resort. The o2 has worked so far. Takes about 10-15 min to knock them out!

Good to hear the O2 is helping. The O2pti mask does make are huge difference. It is like night & day for me. I Hope you too. I also use a higher LPM regulator which helps even more. 25lpm is faster to abort.

It really sounds like you're dealing with CH. Imitrex does come in an inhaler and works well for others. Not for me though,

Good Luck, Don

I ordered the O2ptimask right off Cluster Headaches.Com, from the CH store. Cant wait till it gets here! I/m going to call LifeGas tomorrow and see how much a 25lpm regulator cost. Thanks!

Micheal,
The bigger regulators do help a lot. You can get your own without a prescription. Your O2ptimask will make a large difference with the 15lpm reg. I don't know if you're aware that if you hyperventelate the O2, it speeds aborts.

Check you PM's at the top of the page for a little more info.

Don

B4 I got the CH diagnosis, they gave me every pain killer under the sun. I even went to the hosp. & got morphine. NOTHING worked.

O2 is the way to go!!!!!!

Deb