Hi Shawn.  Yep, I believe most of us here know what you are talking about.  My clusters of that magnitude are very rare now, but I suffered for a couple decades.

Welcome to this site, check it out.  You don't have to suffer like that anymore if you follow the advice from people on this site.  Plenty of people will be along to support if you want it. 

Hang in there, we know it hurts.  Read and learn and take control of your pain most of the time.  You can have a good life with these things.

--Shaggy

LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Search the OUCH site (button on left) for a list of recommended M.D.s.

2. 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.

3.  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.

4. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ; On-line screen to find a physician.

5. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or 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.

6. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or 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.
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See the PDF file, print out and use as a tool to discussion treatment options with any doc you see.

If you can't find a specialist  then find a doc with an open mind who will accept, from you, medical literature which we can supply. Many of us have had to educate our doc so that they could treat us effectively. Obvously, the key is a doc who can listen!

Hi again Shawn.  A few additional notes for you to think about perhaps.

If you are having a hard time sleeping I assume you get the night time attacks?  If this is the case our caffein/taurine trick may not be that good.  Eases the pain but then you can't sleep anyways because you are jacked up on caffeine.  I know some people can still sleep through that too. 

So think about the melatonin and herbs that people take here.  I haven't, but lots of the night timers do it successfully.  Someone fill in the details here please.

Also, if you are pretty sure you have cluster headaches, there has been lots of success with psychoactive plants and fungus as described in detail at Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ; No it's not a joke, that stuff works good for old Shaggy.  That's why I said earlier that I hear what you are saying and there are ways to control or avoid the pain most of the time. 

For some people the pharmaceuticals can do that too.  For those of us who are freaked out by the side effects or whatever, there are other, more natural alternatives.

Oxygen seems to almost universally work as described in the oxygen section of this site.

Good luck daddy-o!   

--Shaggy