I entered a cycle about 6 weeks ago with all of the standard symptoms, congested nostril, droopy eyelid, blood shot eye and of course, the pain.

After a few weeks, the headaches stopped and I was relieved because it was one of the shortest cycles I've had.

However, for the past couple of weeks, I've continued having all of the exceptions, except for the pain. Everything is exactly the same, the alarm clock nature, the congested nose, the droopy eyelid, the blood shot eye, but there's no pain. If anything, the other symptoms have gotten worse with much more noticeable drooping of the eyelid.

Don't get me wrong, I could live with these symptoms the rest of my life as long as I didn't have the pain, but it also has me very baffled.

Has anyone run into this before? It has me kind of worried. I know it's kind of weird to be worried about not having pain, but at least then I knew it was business as usual.

This is what we call shadows , usually come just before a hit but some of us get them all the time . I've bean having shadows several times a day, with or without some pain (K4 at the most ) but usually without, ever since my last cycle over 2 years ago.

I can usually see them off by downing a can of Red Bull of other energy drink.

I hope this is maybe of a little help to you.

God bless

Nigel

Much the same.  Still in cycle (10 weeks now), meds have killed the attacks, but I still carry on with some of the less onerous symptoms.  On the advice of the wiser minds on the site, I am staying on the meds until all symptoms disappear.

PAIN-less clusters are quite rare but have been reported in the medical literature. All other syptoms except for pain.

Enjoy!

I have the exact same thing since my last cycle ended back a year and a half ago! Its like im "stuck in a cluster shadow" some days more intense than others. I was being treated for hemicrainia continua was put on indomethicin helped for a bit i stopped it. I just recently went back on it yesterday actually so we will see.
Its so frustrating having ALL the precursors of the cluster but no real attacks (not that I want that either) but I live my life on edge cause of it :-/ :'(
It really sucks
I hope yours leave u soon!!!!
Best
Anthony

johannese wrote on Jan 9^th, 2012 at 11:15am:

Everything is exactly the same, the alarm clock nature, the congested nose, the droopy eyelid, the blood shot eye, but there's no pain...

Could well be what we call a phantom CH. Those of us who get them know exactly what you're talking about.

Everyone else thinks we're mad.

AussieBrian wrote on Jan 10^th, 2012 at 6:22pm:

johannese wrote on Jan 9th, 2012 at 11:15am: Everything is exactly the same, the alarm clock nature, the congested nose, the droopy eyelid, the blood shot eye, but there's no pain... Could well be what we call a phantom CH. Those of us who get them know exactly what you're talking about. Everyone else thinks we're mad.

Brian this is exactly how clusters present themselves for over a year! Rea lly confusing

At least now I know what you all are referring to as "shadows" !!!!  ::)

Let the light come on, hallelujah!!!!! ha ha ha

Interesting  ::)

Me too Johannese.  Last cycle was twice the length as "usual" but the second half was much like you and the others here...virtually painless but a near-constant shadow, phantom CH,whatever one wants to call it.  Same clockwork, similar symptoms.  Very slowly, the shadows subsided over weeks, until I could finally pass the beer test.  For myself I learned that its just as well to err on the side of caution and stay on the meds.   Take care

Over the years my CHs have changed. Most of the symptoms have left, I just get the pain. No congested nostril, no droopy eyelid, no blood shot eye.

As I spent the first week of the present cycle with absolutely no meds (cycle started unexpected  on Dec. 24), it was raw data. Also, it's been years since my eye is not affected anymore. That is where I used to get most of the pain, now rather a precise spot behind my ear, and my temple. The 3-4 kip 8-9 I had around Christmas time got me sweating heavily from toe to head (I was totally soaked). I used to sweat while having a hit, but really not as much.  Also these 3-4 kip 8-9 sessions got me vomiting about 30-40 minutes into them, which used to happen only... say one on eight hits. My stomach and intestine stayed very perturbed until I got my hands on verapamil from my brother who I was visiting and who is also a clusterhead.

AussieBrian is correct. The all symptom- no pain attacks are called phantom headaches.
Shadows are low level attacks that refuse to go away.

BobG wrote on Jan 18^th, 2012 at 7:29pm:

AussieBrian is correct. The all symptom- no pain attacks are called phantom headaches. Shadows are low level attacks that refuse to go away.

I second that ;)

I didn't know that  :)

J Headache Pain. 2011 Jun;12(3):281-6. Epub 2011 Apr 9.
Phantom headache: pain-memory-emotion hypothesis for chronic daily headache?
Prakash S, Golwala P.
Source

Department of Neurology, Medical College, SSG Hospital, O-19, Doctor's Quarter, Jail Road, Baroda, Gujarat, 390001, India. drprakashs@yahoo.co.in
Abstract

The neurobiology of chronic pain, including chronic daily headache (CDH) is not completely understood. "Pain memory" hypothesis is one of the mechanisms for phantom limb pain. We reviewed the literature to delineate a relation of "pain memory" for the development of CDH. There is a direct relation of pain to memory. Patients with poor memory have less chance to develop "pain memory", hence less possibility to develop chronic pain. Progressive memory impairment may lead to decline in headache prevalence. A similar relation of pain is also noted with emotional or psychiatric symptoms. Literature review suggests that there is marked overlap in the neural network of pain to that of memory and emotions. We speculate that pain, memory, and emotions are interrelated in triangular pattern, and each of these three is related to other two in bidirectional pattern, i.e., stimulation of one of these will stimulate other symptoms/networks and vice versa (triangular theory for chronic pain). Longstanding or recurrent noxious stimuli will strengthen this interrelation, and this may be responsible for chronicity of pain. Reduction of both chronic pain and psychological symptoms by cognitive behavioral therapy or psychological interventions further suggests a bidirectional interrelation between pain and emotion. Longitudinal studies are warranted on the prevalence of headache and other painful conditions in patients with progressive memory impairment to delineate the relation of pain to memory. Interrelation of headache to emotional symptoms should also be explored.