Hi,

I've been trying to explain to our family Doctor on and off for 2 and a half years (all seasons except summer) now I've had these outbursts of horrid headaches, intense brain freeze type pain behind my eye, on and off during the day. I normally go though. 2-5 prolonged ones for 1-3 hours each.

I'm in the middle of GCSE'S, it's intensely difficult! My parent's won't let my have a day off at all in I puke, let alone have "just a headache". :@

I normally just suffer though it the best I can. There's no point excusing myself from lessons because it doesn't quiet down. I just try my best to concentrate and get on with it.

But sometimes I find myself wanting to bash my head against the desk, or glass, or computer screen. It's that intense.

It's behind my left eye. I can just about get away with crushing it with the base of my palm, swearing and chewing my mouth.

The most annoying thing is sometimes, I have an 1-2 and a half week gap between having them constantly for 2 months. So my grading and my work climbs for that period but then it just crashes back down and my teachers get on my case.

The water technique I realized on my own a year ago. When instead of moaning about it I drunk a glass of water. It eases the pain slightly and the period of time shortened by 5-20 minutes. It's an great improvement! And you can get away with gulping an beaker of water at school with people asking to many questions.

I used to rely on thing such as paracetamol throughout the day around 8 months ago. But my parents were getting concerned with the amount I was going though weekly. So now I have to suffer cold turkey or they'll think I'm an addict or something ludicrous.

The Doctor just told me to tally when they were and how long they lasted, I returned them and he said that they weren't mirgranes so there's nothing he can do and I should just "Power Through".

My ass.

Period One- Starts Period 2-Stops 10 minutes before break.

End of period 3- Starts 2nd break- stops

End of 2nd break, on bell- Starts. 30 minutes till end of period 6- Stops.

I then get a prolonged one from 7ish-10ish.

Then normally 2am-4isham. (this doesn't affect me as I've never slept well at night. I sleep from 4pm-6pm, sleep from 11pm till the headache starts. Then try to go back to sleep, if i can't, normally once or twice a week I do homework until 7.10 when I 'get up' for school.)

Do I in your opinion have them? These cluster headaches are the nearest to fitting with them.

If so I will not hold back and make a fuss for once. I've been dodging round the bush for ages now for the sake of convenience for my parents jobs and my sister's education and social life. I'm sick of it. I'll tell the Doctor what I suspect, he may laugh in my face if he wishes but I'm going to continue to just know what's going on.

Thanks, sorry for the long text.

Sounds like it may be CH.

Two and a half years? You need to see a headache specialist (neurologist) to get a proper diagnosis.

Regardless of what responses you receive from us, the bottom line will be the same: Need a skilled doc to treat you, regardless of what type of headache you have.
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LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Yellow Pages phone book: look for "Headache Clinics" in the M.D. section and look under "neurologist" where some docs will list speciality areas of practice.

2.  Call your hospital/medical center. They often have an office to assist in finding a physician. You may have to ask for the social worker/patient advocate.

3. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE; On-line screen to find a physician.

4. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE Look for "Physician Finder" search box. They will send a list of M.D.s for your state.I suggest using this source for several reasons: first, we have read several messages from people who, even seeing neurologists, are unhappy with the quality of care and ATTITUDES they have encountered; second, the clinical director of the Jefferson (Philadelphia) Headache Clinic said, in late 1999, that upwards of 40%+ of U.S. doctors have poor training in treating headache and/or hold attitudes about headache ("hysterical female disorder") which block them from sympathetic and effective work with the patient; third, it's necessary to find a doctor who has experience, skill, and a set of attitudes which give hope of success. This is the best method I know of to find such a physician.

5. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE NEW certification program for "Headache Medicine" by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, an independent, non-profit, professional medical organization.
        Since this is a new program, the initial listing is limited and so it should be checked each time you have an interest in locating a headache doctor.

Hi Katherine and welcome

Whilst what you describe sounds like it might be CH you really need to work with a headache specialist to get an accurate diagnosis which will lead to the appropriate treatment.

Early CH can not quite match the classical CH symptoms but this can apply to other headache types too, so this is why we always say that you need to work with a headache specialist and not just a GP or neuro. They normally have too little experience or training for this complex area of medicine.

From the reference to GCSEs I suspect that you're in the UK, so a good source of help from a UK perspective is OUCH UK - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE. They have a load of info, forums and a phone help line that will help you with the NHS.

Be very careful of too much paracetamol. It can result in severe liver damage which can kill.