I've been having nonstop attacks since yesterday. They come and go with maybe an hour or two between attacks. I got very little sleep last night because they kept waking me up, and I would thrash around in my bed until I eventually fell asleep.

I've never had it happen like this before. I generally only get one or two attacks a day when I'm having a cluster.

I don't have any treatment methods. I'm mostly just concerned that this could be a bad sign. Going to the doctor would be a lot of money that I don't exactly have...

So, I guess I'm wondering, is this a severe enough situation to warrant a doctor's visit? If it's not, at what point would it become one?

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is this a severe enough situation to warrant a doctor's visit? If it's not, at what point would it become one?

It's subjective, I guess.  How much are you hurting? 

If going to see a Dr. and getting proper treatment like a script for 0xygen for instance can mean the difference between being in pain, getting no sleep, and maybe losing a job...I'd beans and hot dogs for a few weeks and use that money for an office visit to make it stop. 

Oxygen is probably the most inexpensive of all of our abortives.  It's safe, cheap and it works. 

Explore the "Helpful Hints" section right above where we are now.

Look for some guidance on using Melatonin. I think many people use about 9-11mg/night to block attacks although it may take a 1-3 days to become effective.

It's OTC and inexpensive.

You might call your local hospital and talk to the medical social worker about local options for reduced cost care, or health department, or United Way office.

While a headache specialist migh be out of the question now ($), if you have a receptive primary care doc, we can supply legit medical material to guide his treatment of you. (If you have been around here for long, you know that many of us have had to educate our docs on how to care for us! It's a workable arragement with the right person across the desk.)

If you take this approach, print out the PDF file, below, and give to the doc.

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Long term I would like to get Oxygen, but I just got off the phone with my parents and they said that it would be "too dangerous" to have it and that my school wouldn't allow me to have one in my dorm...

But short term, for now, if I am in severe enough pain would a doctor's office be able to give me anything on the spot?

Ordinary pain meds are no useful for CH. A doc could give you some help IF he is capable of diagnosing your condition.

You didn't say that you have CH, but I assume this is the issue.

But your school health service might be a good source of care, ergo, print out the PDF file I mentioned and take it to any doc you see.

Also, I'm a big believer in benadryl. Doesn't really do anything for the pain, but helps with the stuffyness and keeps you from getting tense which only makes the headache worse.

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Long term I would like to get Oxygen, but I just got off the phone with my parents and they said that it would be "too dangerous" to have

Not sure what your parents have to do with it, but their stance is coming from ignorance about the use of 02.  Please go to the link in yellow to the left of here and read.   I have had a tank of 02 in my car, bedroom and garage for 23 years now. 

There have been more and more convincing reports lately of people effectively knocking their CH down for several days or even out for an entire episode with sub hallucinogenic doses of psilocybin or LSD. Well convincing enough to me at least, you'd want to research the subject here and at clusterbusters.com.

Relatively cheap way to go too, of course if you can get it. I'm assuming here that you're an adult in a college dorm. If you're in a dorm at BYU, then availability may be non existent I suppose :P, if you're at SDSU on the other hand, for all I know your fellow students might be handing it out like candy.  8-)

Otherwise, it sure would be cool if the funds were available for Doctor/O2, and maybe some imitrex inhalers for any attacks that happen right during a class.

Cittenscollar wrote on Feb 27^th, 2010 at 1:34pm:

I've been having nonstop attacks since yesterday. They come and go with maybe an hour or two between attacks. I got very little sleep last night because they kept waking me up, and I would thrash around in my bed until I eventually fell asleep. I've never had it happen like this before. I generally only get one or two attacks a day when I'm having a cluster. I don't have any treatment methods. I'm mostly just concerned that this could be a bad sign. Going to the doctor would be a lot of money that I don't exactly have... So, I guess I'm wondering, is this a severe enough situation to warrant a doctor's visit? If it's not, at what point would it become one?

Ive been being hit like you for 6 straight months now. No sleep is tough but its amazing how tough you can be.
If this is an entirely new situation then you should get it checked out.
I second Bob,s suggestion to visit the health services office on campus, (assuming your at a major university).
Often times the larger schools can have the most current knowledge and thus the best treatments available.
Most universities require you to have insurance anymore but they wont turn you away if you dont. Stress the extremes of CH.
They will have oxygen available for you to try during a hit. tell them you need a full non rebreather mask not the cannulas.

Being a weekend. Try pushups against your desk or floor immediately on the 1st sign of an attack, untill your arms can do no more.  Breath deep and hearty. followed by drinking cold water, this can help allmost as fast as oxygen is claimed to help.

Hang in there. We all know what its like.

I am chronic and would get hit 8x a day every day of the year before I found a preventative that worked for me.  It would last 2 hours with a 1 1/2 hr break in between where I am hit with low level shadows.  I think it is time for you to see a knowlegable dr/neruo and get a preventative such as verapamil, lithium, topamax, elavil just to name a few are good with preventing ch.  Imitrex is expensive but is quick and good to abort a ch if oxygen cant be used. Zomig, axert, frova, amerge, etc are all good abortives.  Good luck in finding some meds to help you get this under control.

Do you or your parents have a good relationship with any family doctors?  They might have samples of maxalt mlt, imitrex inject, and/or sumavel dosepro.  Even 1 or 2 samples might get you through a night or two where you can sleep.

In the end Oxygen is still a best bet and I would talk to the Dean of Students at your school to see if maybe you can have them house your O2 in a safe place (although it isnt ideal it might be worth it if it could be accessed quickly).

Energy drinks with taurine (andcaffiene) might also be a good suggestion.  I cant sleep with the caffeine but id rather be giddy and awake then thrashing.

Keep asking questions and good luck. 

Try finding out about sumavel dosepro.... it is new and used for migraines too so they are pushing samples right now.

Cittenscollar wrote on Feb 27^th, 2010 at 2:13pm:

Long term I would like to get Oxygen, but I just got off the phone with my parents and they said that it would be "too dangerous" to have it and that my school wouldn't allow me to have one in my dorm... But short term, for now, if I am in severe enough pain would a doctor's office be able to give me anything on the spot?

If you have a perscription and a proper set up, your school can't deny you as long as it is in compliance.
That would be discriminatory and certainly the administration would not want to be dealing with that issue.
and to answer your original question...YES go to a dr.!!! If you don't and you miss class then you are in deeper $hit.
Mine first started when I was in college. I lived with them through undergrad and grad school without a proper diagnosis.
I used ice, steam and head wraps like a bandana as well as tons of coffee.
If you already have a diagnosis get yourself treated

good luck