For 5 years now I have been thinking I had to be the only person in the world with these weird migraines. They come about 2 months a year (November and December) , excruciating pain behind my eyes (usually my left) and come and go usually once in the morning. I just flat out dealt with the pain for 5 years. That is until this year came. They got way worse and happened more frequent and even in the middle of the night. I told my wife, "I don't know what these are, but they make me think very bad things when they come." I wanted to drive my car off a bridge, headbutt a pole, or stab my eye with a knife. She thought I was crazy. She thought it was from stress from watching sports too much, other people claimed bad eyes (I have 20/13 vision) and some said get checked for a tumor. Well I couldn't take the pain anymore and was tired of these horrible thoughts. I went to the eye doctor first and of course they said, sorry, your eyes are better than perfect in all ways we can see. So then I went to the doctor. I described everything, and he said it sounds like you have "cluster headaches," and I was like, "doc, don't use headache and what I feel in the same sentence." But he gave me 2 types of meds, and I've been researching ch ever since, and everything makes so much sense now, and it feels kind of good to know I'm not some alien. What was funny, was when I saw on the internet that they are also called "suicide headaches" which summed it up pretty well for me. I'm glad I found this site, and I look forward to trying some of the things I have read on here. Look forward to talking more!

What meds are the most recommended? Should I get a pack of red bull? How much is O2? Does anyone else scream super loud when they're alone with one? Is it not smart to drive with one? Should I tell my bosses, scared they would be quick to let me go?

Read the yellow tabs on the left side of your screen, all of them. 

Then under each heading, read the top posts, all of them. 

Then use the search box and google what you seek answers to. 

From there, you should know plenty and for what you still need answers to...ask away.

PS...Definitely not smart to drive while being attacked.

Yep, you need a good neuro..

Red Bull at the "first" sign sometimes will avert a hit. O2 is cheap (most places you'll need a scrip for it). Using the "right" mask is IMPORTANT. A NON-rebreather mask is a MUST - look to the left - at the CH.com store there are masks available that are good.

Imitrex is the drug of choice for most here for full blown attacks. I personally prefer Ergotomine (takes a little longer to work in the pill form, but lasts longer and is cheaper).

Melatonin at night (takes a little while to get in your system) works for "some" of us to prevent the night hits. I take 10mg at night, but have gone as high as 20 when I'm getting hit really hard. My neuro recommends it.

But the one thing you MUST do is LEARN as much as you can about CH and then ASK questions when you go to the doc. You have to be your own ADVOCATE with these things. Learn what you NEED and let the doc know about it. He/she will not have as much knowledge about these things as you MUST have (trust us all on this one). AND if the doc won't listen to you FIRE him/her immediately and find another one. Some of us have fired so many docs we've lost track, but then we run across one that is wonderful.

You didn't say where you're from. We have a doc referral here, so if you will let us know where you live, someone can probably recommend a neuro who knows what they're doing.

Oh and there's a supporter board here also for your wife to make sure she knows you're not "crazy" .

But nothing you can say will shock anyone here - we've been there - done that - got the t-shirt. We do UNDERSTAND what you're going thru.

We all react differently to everything around here. What triggers one - doesn't trigger another - the meds that work on one might not work on another. It's a crap shoot any way you look at it... We use trial and error till we find what works for "us".

Welcome to Clusterville - pull up a chair and read read read... ask questions - you're family now.. 

so does anyone have any experience with nifedipine and frova? should i get something else?