Hi, my husband has always had the hits on the right side.
Been on the d3 regime for a little over a week now. Headaches are LESS frequent, downt to one kip 10 a day, no shadows, which is great so far, but now headaches have starting switching sides back and forth during attack. This has never ever happened before....is this normal?

Not normal, but not unheard of either.

In my experience... The Beast doesn't like to be messed with... and when he feels like he's being beaten in some way, he likes to fight back by becoming less predictable.

That's very unusual but CH tends to surprise. I strongly recommend using energy drinks. Taurine is not only effective during attack, but also effects how minerals which are part of the regiman (calcium, magnesium, etc.) are metabolized.

During attack, it changes how they are used in the brain. The outcome is a diminished electrical activity in the brain which may stop the attack but also prevent attacks to a certain point.

I don't think it's anything to worry about. It happened 2 times to me in the last 13 years.

The neurologist said it was known to happen but didn't have an explanation.

There is little info on this issue and no significant conclusions re. meaning/impact.
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J Headache Pain. 2009 Aug;10(4):259-63. Epub 2009 Jun 3.
Lateralization in cluster headache: a Nordic multicenter study.

Meyer EL, Laurell K, Artto V, Bendtsen L, Linde M, Kallela M, Tronvik E, Zwart JA, Jensen RM, Hagen K.

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Neurology at Karolinska Insitutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

A slight predominance of cluster pain on the right side has been reported in several studies. The aim of this large retrospective Nordic multicenter study was to estimate the prevalence of right- and left-sided pain in cluster headache (CH) patients with side-locked pain, the prevalence of side shifts in episodic and chronic CH patients, and the occurrence of cranial autonomic symptoms related to pain side.

AMONG 383 CLUSTER PATIENTS, 55 (14%) HAD EXPERIENCED PAIN SIDE SHIFT. OF THE REMAINING 328 INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT SIDE SHIFT, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OCCURRENCE OF RIGHT-SIDED AND LEFT-SIDED PAIN (54 VS. 46%). THE PREVALENCE OF SIDE SHIFT WAS SIMILAR FOR EPISODIC AND CHRONIC CH AND THE OCCURRENCE OF CRANIAL AUTONOMIC SYMPTOMS WAS NOT INFLUENCED BY THE PAIN SIDE. In conclusion, previous reports of a side difference in location of cluster pain could not be confirmed in this large Nordic sample.

Publication Types:
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 19495933 [PubMed]
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Cephalalgia. 2008 Jul;28 Suppl 1:8-11.
Epidemiology of fixed unilateral headaches.

Leone M, Cecchini AP, Mea E, Tullo V, Bussone G.

Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy. leone@istituto-besta.it

A fixed location unilateral headache suggests involvement of a precise nervous structure, and neuroimaging investigations are essential to seek to identify it. Nevertheless, SIDE-LOCKED PRIMARY HEADACHES ALSO OCCUR, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE RARE. SIDE-LOCKED PRIMARY HEADACHES ARE MORE FREQUENTLY FOUND IN THE GROUP OF THE SHORT-LASTING (</= 4 HOURS) HEADACHES but long-lasting headache forms may also present with the pain always on the same side, including migraine, tension-type headache, new daily persistent headache and cervicogenic headache. Future studies should address the issue whether patients with side-locked headache form differ from those with non-side-locked form both in terms of natural history and biological markers. Among 63 consecutive CHRONIC CLUSTER headache patients seen by us from 1999 to 2007, 32 (51%) had side shift. We ALSO FOUND THAT THE DURATION OF THE CHRONIC CONDITION WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER IN THOSE WITH SIDE SHIFT THAN THOSE WITHOUT. The high frequency of side shift in chronic cluster headache should be considered when proposing surgical treatment for severe intractable forms of the disease.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 18494985

I think it's possible - it happened to me this Monday!

I have only been diagnosed for a year now, so I wouldn't consider myself an expert but I will never forget the day my cluster headache was on the opposite side. It was speculated at that point that I was having cluster headaches I just had not been diagnosed. I just remember waking up a little bit confused, and once I realized that it was my left eye, just thinking ohh, no.. This can't be good. For me I have had a few attacks on the left side. They do not occur as often or as rhythmically as the right, but are just as bad for me.

I've had countless left side attacks over many years, and maybe 3 or 4 cycles of right side attacks. 

Should have known that only one thing could cause that kind of pain; but the first time, I assumed it had to be something else--it was on the wrong side!

Finally tried an Imitrex shot, got relief in 5 minutes, and knew from then on that these things can switch sides.

Never had them on more than one side during the same cluster, though.

Wishing pain free days to all...

Dennis

I have been diagnosed with both Paroxysmal Hemicrania and Clusterheadaches. The Chs always occur on the left side and are much less frequent than the PHs though the experienced pain is the same. For the PHs, they will switch back and forth from the left to the right, sometimes within the same hour going from Kip 1 to 9 and then back down within 5 seconds. These can happen with a frequency of 3-15/hr. for up to 8 hours. Apparently the PHs are more common in women than men while CHs are the reverse.

Thankfully, a combination of the Vitamin D regimen along with Lithium seems to be working to break the cycles for both CH and Ph. So my question to you about the headaches that are switching sides is, are they the same in terms of how long they  last, duration, etc?

Lars