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Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Am I a cluster Head? http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1342004427 Message started by ManOnAMission on Jul 11th, 2012 at 7:00am |
Title: Am I a cluster Head? Post by ManOnAMission on Jul 11th, 2012 at 7:00am
Hello Everybody,
I am new to the site and here in hopes to hopefully find out once and for all if I suffer from cluster headaches. So what better way to find out then from such a unique community right? I dont want to waste yall's time, so let me cut to the facts. I am a 19 year old male and as long as I have lived, I believe myself to be a Cluster Head after seeing countless doctors, researching hundreds of hours online, and suffering even more from the worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life. These are the details of my headaches and I will be very specific as I know it is important: -the pain is always on the right side, always -sweating on only the right side of my body -complete nasal congestion on right nostril -right eye will tear as if I am balling, left eye fine -headache comes from nowhere, pre shadow is long enough to basically let me know I am screwed in 5 minutes -pain seemingly originates in temple but of course is in eye, sinus, forhead, cheek, back of head, pretty much entire right side of my head. -pain type: ha. no words can describe the pain, but that it is the worst thing I have and ever will experience in my life. like when the doctor asks you to describe the pain and you just wanna punch him in the jugular -They always last from 45-60 minutes. But never more then an hour. -will always wake me up from a dead sleep -movement and constant motion seems like the only thing to keep me from jumping off a cliff Those are what my symptoms are like, picture perfect on any and every symptoms list that ever existed for a Cluster Headache. But here are the things that don't exactly line up: -Never ever had more then one of these in a day. -I can go from having three in three days, to three in three months.(part of a cycle?) -they don't strike me as happening at certain repetitive times(cause of inconsistency in occurance) So, that being said what do ya'll think? |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by Joshua on Jul 11th, 2012 at 7:33am
The headache characteristics (during attack) certainly sound like cluster.
. What have any doctors said? Have you been prescribed any abortives (Imitrex, etc.) - and do they work if taken during the onset? . When I first began to get these, they presented like yours, very infrequent, on no real regular schedule that I could tell, and as time went on, they evolved. |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by ManOnAMission on Jul 11th, 2012 at 3:17pm
Thank you for all the insight!
I am from San Antonio and have seen a neurologist there. She had little to zero insight on cluster headaches while it felt like I had to teach her what a cluster was. I changed through various medicines over the years from Immitrex, to an every day preventative(which I hated) to finally something called Sumatriptan. I take the Sumatriptan in an injection form(shot to the thigh) at the onset of my attacks and the attacks will always go away after 10-15 min. But there are negatives to that in The Sumatriptan injections take a while to kick in, make me feel like absolute crap the rest of the day, and are very expensive. I treat each shot like a precious commodity for the purpose of if I run into a bad stretch of needing more then my prescribed 8 injections every two months, I find myself paying 300$ a headache off insurance. Oxygen getting rid in 6-8 minutes sounds amazing. So, can anyone in the San Antonio/Austin/Houston area refer me to a specialist? |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by Brew on Jul 11th, 2012 at 3:29pm
Imitrex (brand name) = Sumatriptan (generic)
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Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by Brew on Jul 11th, 2012 at 3:32pm
Did you check out the link I provided? Here's what I found in, like, 30 seconds (nothing listed for San Antonio):
Austin: Dr. Robert M. Cain Associated Neurological Specialties Dr. Craig DuBois Austin Pain Associates Dr. Rajat Gupta Headache & Pain Center Dr. Marci A. Roy Austin Headache Clinic Dr. Sheila Shung Houston: Dr. Howard S. Derman Methodist Neurological Institute Dr. Herbert P. Edmundson, Jr. Memorial Neurological Association Dr. Leonard Hershkowitz Houston Neurology Associates Dr. Ninan T. Mathew Houston Headache Clinic Lori Meadors, PA Houston Headache Clinic |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by TJMBeav on Jul 11th, 2012 at 6:07pm
Sounds like CH to me. As for the Imetrix - see if you can get your Doc to write a bigger prescription even if the insurance does not cover - and then get it to a Canadian pharmacy to fill. Still spendy - but I get mine for less than $30 per (sometimes as low as $24 on a discount). That assumes you get 24 injections. Takes about two to weeks to get. So - one $720 dollar hit gets you 24 magic bullets.
As far as 10-15 minutes - I find if I take it during that shadow warning - or right when I am fairly confident it is not a fake out - it works much faster. If I wait till it starts really hitting, 10-15 minutes is reasonable and confirms to me that it works for you. I personnally used that as my test that it was truely a cluster headache - I don't think it works on anythng else. Good luck. |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by Brew on Jul 11th, 2012 at 7:26pm TJMBeav wrote on Jul 11th, 2012 at 6:07pm:
Imitrex was first designed for migraine patients. It works for us, too. You can't use response to one drug as a definitive test for a diagnosis of CH. |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by Linda_Howell on Jul 11th, 2012 at 7:48pm Quote:
AND...if you read around here with any consistancy, you will see why. It works! you must have a non-rebreather mask, as well as a regulator that goes to 15 lpm at the very least. 25 to 45 lpm works so much better. |
Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by TJMBeav on Jul 11th, 2012 at 8:19pm
Brew - agree, it works on regular migranes as well. Just saying, if the headache is gone with imitrex it is a migrane. With the other symptoms it doesn't sound like it's normal migranes to me.
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Title: Re: Am I a cluster Head? Post by japanzaman on Jul 12th, 2012 at 9:02am
You sound pretty much like me. I have had some random headaches pop up out of cycle, and I usually only have 1 every day or so. In other words, you sound like a typical cluster sufferer to me. Obviously you will want to visit a specialist to get a proper diagnosis, but I would wager what you have is cluster.
If in fact it does turn out to be that, welcome to club! 8-) |
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