Is there anything that shows a relationship between the teeth and cluster headaches. I had two root canals on molars on the affected side and the pain seemed to go away for a couple days each time and then returned.  I'm thinking it was the lidocaine. I've tried lidocaine drops and its temporary relief or not at all.

during my cycle my teeth and ear feel like its the worst ear ache and teeth ache one can imagine,,,,now for the past 3 weeks i have stinging in my temple area and just enough headache at times i cant sleep,this has been a long road as it started sept 25 and i spiked around october 14th and started to fade away nov.20th but i still have i assume what one calls shadows,i am wondering if i have had nerve damage or vein damage or its just gonna go chronic.Dont have health insurance right now so i can go find out.

Moneymaker that's exactly how I feel

The trigeminal nerve is the nerve that is affected and where the cluster pain is coming from. That nerve has branches along the upper and lower gum lines and it is easy to suspect the pain is from the teeth. Please don't have any teeth pulled thinking it will stop the cluster pain.

What Bob said. I suspect cluster headaches can aggravate any areas that might already be problematic, but there never appeared to be an exact pattern for me. I've had pain that felt like it was shooting out the tips of my teeth, and other times no pain there at all.

Oh yes...please do NOT have teeth pulled because of this.  Bob G is correct and we have seen this over and over and over again here on this site where folks have been told to have teeth removed...all to no avail.  We've seen it  too any times here.  Bob's short explanation of the trigeminal nerve is somethihng you should look into.   Seriously!

I'm glad I never went that far and got them extracted. I guess I needed the root canals but I was probably too eager to have them done.

I have recently started with these cluster headaches about 10mths.ago. At first because the pain started from my gum area I thought something wrong dental(I wear dentures) so thought phantom toothache,seen dentist no not it. Then the pain and bouts got worse more intense,moremore unbearable. I find that steam from shower helps somewhat,or just letting this beast do what it has to do and go through it.But the pain is too extreme for me.Seeing doctor but he seems to be taken the long way around this. I have told him about the research I have done on this beast engulfing my life, he seems to think otherwise.Wow just wanted to comment on the teeth issue,and away I go on this,it has started to control everything I do and think.

Glad you found us Rotag. What area do you hail from? Are you seeing  a headache specialist neuro? We find GP's and even most neuros lack the expertise to treat CH. Let us know where you live, maybe we can refer you to a competent CH doc.

Joe

I reside in Ontario,Joe, and thank you for welcoming me,just knowing there are other ppl out there going through this is helpful,I don,t feel so alone. I have my wife but this is taking a toll on her also.

Yup, I have had teeth removed. I have had well-meaning dentists suggest CH was caused by my teeth grinding. I have had ENT's suggest the headaches were caused by ear infections and sinus problems. Except I've had all of those issues fixed and still suffer from CH.

So yeah, don't let them take your teeth.  :-X

Rotag, these are docs other CH'ers have recommended in the ontario area, any near you?

Ontario

Huntsville:
Dr. R. Blaine Taylor Foell

Ottawa:
Dr. Heather Elaine Mills (PCP)
Dr. Lucian Sitwell

Toronto:
Dr. Marek Gawel

Joe

I just had a root canal done on a wisdom tooth on Monday after an excruciating week last week that got worse day by day.  On Sat the dentist ground my tooth down as the upper had shifted and was impacting the lower.  We thought that took care of the problem for about 12 hours.  Went back Mon AM and was referred to a root canal specialist who discovered a crack in the tooth that had allow infection to set in.  It was definitely affecting the trigeminal, and was hitting in the K8 area multiple times.  I know though that this was not CH as it was on the other side, and I got hit with a CH while dealing with the jaw.  I looked funny holding my right eye and my left jaw and dancing!  Another reason I know it was not CH is that two Vicodin would give me temporary relief from the pain. 

It is often easy to confuse the pain caused by other things, and had I not had over 30 years with this beast and almost 10 years on this board I might have thought my tooth was CH.  I can also understand how the way the pain presents itself can lead to a Dr. who is not conversant with CH diagnosing the problem as teeth or sinus or . . . .  That is the reason it is so very important to have a headache specialist who is also a CH specialist involved in your diagnosis if not involved in the regular care of your CH. 

Jerry

BTW, in the post above I referred to the toothache with a Kip factor.  Normally the Kip scale is not transferable to other maladies, but in this case I referred to it due to the pain being nerve related, and in particular affecting the Trigeminal.  I guarantee it traveled up and down the nerve frequently!   ;D

Jerry

I will say the new dentist (who just did my two surgical extractions, bone grafts, and three cavities) was quite surprised by my pain threshold. Hahaha, I've got CH buddy! Everything else pales in comparison.

He was also surprised that after taking two Halcion before my appointment (for sedation), I was still completely awake, lucid, and able to describe everything that happened to me. Just my luck.  ::)

Well I am back,went to my doctor Tuesday,he has also done some research on CH, and he prescribed :RELPAX: ,and I have taken them just as I feel the beast coming,and I would say 10 to 15mins, later nothing,been taking them before bedtime because thats when they occur the most intense,I just get twinges during the day(so far)crossing my fingers that they don,t effect me during the day,it would really effect my job,I drive alot, I have taken one every nite so far,their 40mg. I have slept all night I have woke up and felt so much better then I had been feeling,The thing that concerns me is one person is saying don,t take every day,another is saying you can take one every day as long as you don,t exceed 80mg a day. I get them every day so far out of 14 days I have had only 1PF day. My doctor did not say ,not to take every day,he said if you feel it coming on take it. The pharmacist said not to exceed 10 a month,well I was prescribed only 10 pills,and to go back to doctor next week for evalution on it. The pill is helping alot,I get up feeling rested and ready for the day.But now I am confused about how to take them or for how long,the possibilty of having to deal with this beast as I have been before medication really makes me upset, because if this helps ,am suppose to deal with the ones ,knowing there is something rite here that will help me deal with this beast. Confused. My wife thought for sure we were headed in the rite direction now she wonders is ever going to be tolerable for me. She has read up on all of it ,says she reads every day finds different things out .Rite now its the holiday season and worries about how I will cope during this time if medication is limited for use. Well just wanted to get this off my chest,doing more research on the RELPAX,and again finding different doses for ppl.CONFUSED!!!!

There's quite a bit of conflicting info out there regarding oral triptans (like Relpax) for cluster headache--whether or not it's a good treatment plan, how much/how often to take it, and dealing with insurance companies who don't want to pay for an adequate supply of these expensive drugs.

Not enough time to lay that out for you now, but I'll check back in tonight. Hang in there and keep doing what you're doing for now, I'd say.

Rotag, seeing how you are so new to CH's, may I make a few comments to you that your wife will benefit greatly from? First, I hate telling people new to CH's about the "coming attractions", but feel that I am wrong to keep info from you. I can't speak for everyone, but a lot of us had the intensity increase ove the years. I started getting mine when I was 21 and back then it was the worst pain I had felt to date. In the past 5 years they now come at a whole new level. Please don't think I am jynxing you or wishing anything on you. I just thought you should know this, and not be completely blind-sided if they do increase in intensity.

Secondly, this advice could greatly help your wife and sopporter(s). I had lost several good women over the way my headaches would influence my behavior. When my current girlfriend came to live with me a little over a year ago, I explained to her about my cluster headaches. Naturally she had never heard of them and didn't understand my pain. After a couple of 7's.....she became more interested and began making inquiries. One day (while not under attack) I laid it out to her how she can be helpful to me when I'm getting hit. I explained to her as nice as possible to : please don't talk to me, leave me alone, don't bring me anything, please don't touch me,please turn the TV off or watch it in another room, please keep other people to leave me alone, don't turn on any lights, please understand that I will be very weak afterward and most likely not be motivated to carry out any plans we may had made.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes and I apologized for anything I may had said or done while under attack. She asked me "is that really ALL I can do for you while you are insuch great pain?!". I told her that is the best thing in the world for me when I'm being hit and that I do love her dearly and appreciate her concern for wanting to help ease my pain. It really wasn't until after I found this site and asked her to read some of the posts here. I'm sure she was thinking "oh my god.....everyone who gets these basically handle them the same way and ask the same requests of their supporters". After sitting her down and telling her my requests and her reading some of what people said here.....she became a lot more understanding about my condition. Now she knows that if she talks to me when I'm being hit, that I'm not just being intentionally rude. There isn't a lot of the frusteration that generally came with an attack. If you have sat your wife or supporters down and had "the talk" yet, I strongly urge it. There's no reason to let your loved ones feel anymore pain and grief than they have to.

Back to teeth:  Seems logical, but toothaches are different.  Before I figured out what was going on, this was a likely candidate for me.  I had a couple messed up wisdom teeth removed after my first cycle.  The next year was another cycle.  Oh well...

As noted, the same nerve bunch serves the whole side of the face, including jaw.  My upper right teeth would hurt almost as bad as my face and temple.  The root cause is the common nerve that branches out to all of those places.

Find yourself a good head doctor, not a dentist!

I too thought my pain was tooth related.  I have an old root canal on the side where my headaches occur.  After seeing several dentists and a ton of xrays, they couldn't find anything.  It still feels like a tooth and I want to pull it out so bad!!!