I am wondering if positive benefit from oxygen has diagnostic value in determining whether a headache disorder is in fact CH?

To put it another way are there other headache types that are known to respond to the use of oxygen (other than placebo effect)?

Thanks.

Searching on PubMed:

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Quote:

Efficacy of high-flow oxygen therapy in all types of headache: a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Ozkurt B, Cinar O, Cevik E, Acar AY, Arslan D, Eyi EY, Jay L, Yamanel L, Madsen T. Source Department of Emergency Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, GATA Acil Tip Anabilim Dalı, Etlik, Ankara 06010, Turkey. drbirsenozkurt@yahoo.com Abstract OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the efficacy of oxygen inhalation therapy in emergency department (ED) patients presenting with all types of headache. METHOD: We performed a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of patients presenting to the ED with a chief complaint of headache. The patients were randomized to receive either 100% oxygen via nonrebreather mask at 15 L/min or the placebo treatment of room air via nonrebreather mask for 15 minutes in total. We recorded pain scores at 0, 15, 30, and 60 minutes using the visual analog scale. At 30 minutes, the patients were assessed for the need for analgesic medication. Patient headache type was classified by the treating emergency physician using standardized diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: A total of 204 patients agreed to participate in the study and were randomized to the oxygen (102 patients) and placebo (102 patients) groups. Patient headache types included tension (47%), migraine (27%), undifferentiated (25%), and cluster (1%). Patients who received oxygen therapy reported significant improvement in visual analog scale scores at all points when compared with placebo: 22 mm vs 11 mm at 15 minutes (P < .001), 29 mm vs 13 mm at 30 minutes (P < .001), and 55 mm vs 45 mm at 60 minutes (P < .001). When questioned at 30 minutes, 72% of patients in the oxygen group and 86% of patients in the placebo group requested analgesic medication (P = .005). CONCLUSION: In addition to its role in the treatment of cluster headache, high-flow oxygen therapy may provide an effective treatment of all types of headaches in the ED setting. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It looks like it need not be a good diagnostic test.

Thanks for that Mike. You have provided some very interesting info there.

Thanks, Mike. I had not read that before, even while it may have been previously posted. And before reading the study results I think I would have said, I doubt O2 will help unless it's CHs. Now...I would say give it a try. God bless. lance

Not being a scientific sort, I once told another clusterhead to let his wife try his 02 while in the throes of a Migraine.  He did, and it worked.

I've heard it works really well for hangover headaches, too. I don't over-imbibe anymore like I did when I was younger, so I've not tried it out.