For the un or under insured, oxygen is actually failry cheap. A regulator can be bought off E-Bay for as little as $20. A re breather mask about the same. Then it's renting E-Tanks for $5 a month, and $12-$15 per refill. 32 year sufferer and oxygen is still my first line abort, will kill most attacks in 6-10 minutes.

Try the energy drinks as an abortive, I use Red Bull but any containing Caffeine and Taurine are effective, chug it down at the first hint of an attack.

An OTC med, Melatonin, it's a sleep aid, helps many to avoid the night time hits. Srt with 6-9 mg at bed time, takes a week or two to become effctive for many.

Welcome to the board.

Joe

First, tell us where you live. Resources vary with locale and it's difficult to give specific help without this info.

If you don't have health insurance you will have to give your history when applying and, yes, Cluster will be a preexisting condition. Whether it's excluded depends on the company.

First option: search your local medical resources for no or low cost care. Inquire at the social services office at your hospitals (larger the better); ask at your local health department, at the United Way organization office.

If you have access to a GP who will negotiate fees with you AND he is open to accepting MEDICAL literature which we can supply, he could learn how to treat Cluster and be the source of the meds which help the most.

Explore the buttons (left), starting with OUCH, where you will find many useful leads; ditto for the top of one of these message sections where there is a collection of messages on self-help. A good self-help book:

HEADACHE HELP, Revised edition, 2000; Lawrence Robbins, M.D., Houghton Mifflin, $15.
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Learning what you are dealing with is critical.




Cluster headache.
From: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or (Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases)
[Easy to read; one of the better overview articles I've seen. Suggest printing the full length article--link, line above--if you are serious about keeping a good medical library on the subject.]

Leroux E, Ducros A.

ABSTRACT: Cluster headache (CH) is a primary headache disease characterized by recurrent short-lasting attacks (15 to 180 minutes) of excruciating unilateral periorbital pain accompanied by ipsilateral autonomic signs (lacrimation, nasal congestion, ptosis, miosis, lid edema, redness of the eye). It affects young adults, predominantly males. Prevalence is estimated at 0.5-1.0/1,000. CH has a circannual and circadian periodicity, attacks being clustered (hence the name) in bouts that can occur during specific months of the year. ALCOHOL IS THE ONLY DIETARY TRIGGER OF CH, STRONG ODORS (MAINLY SOLVENTS AND CIGARETTE SMOKE) AND NAPPING MAY ALSO TRIGGER CH ATTACKS. During bouts, attacks may happen at precise hours, especially during the night. During the attacks, patients tend to be restless. CH may be episodic or chronic, depending on the presence of remission periods. CH IS ASSOCIATED WITH TRIGEMINOVASCULAR ACTIVATION AND NEUROENDOCRINE AND VEGETATIVE DISTURBANCES, HOWEVER, THE PRECISE CAUSATIVE MECHANISMS REMAIN UNKNOWN. Involvement of the hypothalamus (a structure regulating endocrine function and sleep-wake rhythms) has been confirmed, explaining, at least in part, the cyclic aspects of CH. The disease is familial in about 10% of cases. Genetic factors play a role in CH susceptibility, and a causative role has been suggested for the hypocretin receptor gene. Diagnosis is clinical. Differential diagnoses include other primary headache diseases such as migraine, paroxysmal hemicrania and SUNCT syndrome. At present, there is no curative treatment. There are efficient treatments to shorten the painful attacks (acute treatments) and to reduce the number of daily attacks (prophylactic treatments). Acute treatment is based on subcutaneous administration of sumatriptan and high-flow oxygen. Verapamil, lithium, methysergide, prednisone, greater occipital nerve blocks and topiramate may be used for prophylaxis. In refractory cases, deep-brain stimulation of the hypothalamus and greater occipital nerve stimulators have been tried in experimental settings.THE DISEASE COURSE OVER A LIFETIME IS UNPREDICTABLE. Some patients have only one period of attacks, while in others the disease evolves from episodic to chronic form.

PMID: 18651939 [PubMed]
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Give us a listing of what you have tried to abort/control your attacks. How much, how long used, results, etc. No need to reinvent the wheel by suggesting approaches which you have already tried.

If anyone knows – if I got insurance and went to a doctor, would this be considered a pre-existing condition and thus not covered?

I can't answer that question but, if I was in your place, After I got insurance I would see a doctor and explain I was just starting to get bad headaches. I would not say the headaches have been coming on for a long time. I would not try to say anything that might let on that the headaches are a pre-exiting condition.
This might sound unethical, lying, immoral and maybe unlawful but, what the hell, you’re in pain and need help.

Hi, just want to say welcome!
All of the information here is priceless, the people are wonderful and will understand where your coming from!
Remember information is power!
Goodluck with your journey, you are not alone anymore.

                                         Regards Shell

Be real careful with the weed. It's a vaso-dialator.....for CH'ers that's bad. We primarily use vaso-constrictors to alleviate our pain. Some have found it'll cause a real skull crusher attack!

Joe

After using the right search terms, I think I found the answer to my own question, but would still appreciate others weighing in on this rust thought.  As long as I get a new tank, and never let it get below 50psi, then rust shouldn't develop, right?

What up KCDizzy?  Yeah, I don't know about the diet coke.  So much nasty crap in there, but I have used the regular coke successfully.  So whatever works.  The cold carbonated water always tastes and feels so good.

I have used it as a preventative.  You can if you know what time your attacks are coming each day.  Caution, because they may try to come back later at a less predictable time.  So 1 energy drink a day could do it, but be ready with a second.  And always weigh that against too many energy drinks in 1 day or too late in the day where you can't sleep etc.  You'll figure out a nice routine I bet.

Melatonin is good if your are getting whacked by big kippers while you sleep.  Some people don't sleep for 3 months because of the attacks.  I, however am a daytime guy, so no need currently for the melatonin.  Many have success, so keep it in the back of your mind if ever needed.

Make sure you do the oxygen exactly as written on this site and get the proper high flow regulator and mask.  So many people claim it doesn't work for them only to find out it actually does if done like everyone here says. (sorry probably everyone keeps saying that to you).

Clusterbusters:  if you want to try their/our techniques you can easily order the RC seeds online and have them in a few days.  Legal to order and buy, not legal to ingest.  Seeds not as strong as the mushrooms or lsd, but will work.  They also tend to make the oxygen and caffeine routine more effective.  Must be fully detoxed from prescriptions as they block the medicine.

Enough for now my good clusterhead!  I wish you good luck and god's speed!

--Shaggy