Well, 3 weeks down and I thought I'd provide a summary of this interesting week.  After having one of the worst days I've ever had this past Saturday, I wasn't about to suffer like that again.  It hit me first thing Monday morning and came on hard, so I went to the hospital and let me tell you about the wonderful world of military hospitals; they don't know much which somewhat worked to my advantage.  I went in with the headache and they saw I was in pain.  Once they saw that I was diagnosed with cluster headaches I seemed to be the patient everyone wanted to see because I was the second patient ever to go in there with cluster headaches.  Nobody knew how to treat it, so I, not realizing that they'd take my word for it, told them that they treated me before with Oxygen and Cafergot.  Two minutes later I had a prescription for Cafergot and a referral for Oxygen.  Then they took me into the treatment area and gave me a double shot of Imitrex and put me on oxygen.  I know now that Imitrex is useless to me because it didn't help at all.  Neither did the Oxygen because they only had it on 2, but I didn't know what the exact flow was supposed to be so I couldn't tell them what to raise it to. 

So, now that I have the Cafergot, which mind you, it didn't seem to work years ago when I got it, works wonderfully.  I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that it's the brand version and not the generic version that I received last time, but I'm hooked.  Cafergot is a mixture of ergotamine and caffeine 1/100mg.  I'm supposed to take 2 at onset and then 1 every 30 minutes after.  Unfortunately, my aura is only about 5 minutes and it takes about 10 minutes for the Cafergot to kick in, but when it does there is no pain for the rest of the day.  If I can't get to the medicine before the headache sets in then I have to take 3, but that's it.  I am now in a weird cycle where it comes at exactly 4:30 in the morning and I wake up the instant I feel the aura and go take the medication.  It means I have to stay up from 4:30, but the cost is insignificant compared to the benefit.  I have not seen a full attack since Saturday.

Now just a few odd things I've discovered during while I am in the initial stage of an attack.  This is just an interesting thing that happens, but when I walk into a brightly lit room I can see and feel my left eye go in and out of focus and switch back and forth between dark and light while the right eye is just fine.  Odd huh?

The other thing I've noticed is that at any time during the onset I cannot look left or keep my eyes closed or else it will trigger the headache into full mode.  I found that if I look right and blink slowly but don't focus that it never sets and gives me the buffer I need for the medication to take affect. 

Well, I hope I've helped a little bit and will continue to provide as much info as I can.  Take care.

Many years ago a neuro screwed up badly and I ended with a serious cafergot overdose and things were not good at all. Long time before I could have a beer, among other things.

If you find you've suddenly an unexplained sprained ankle or the like, talk to your pharmacist immediately.

Hey AussieBrian can you please elaborate about the sprained ankle statement.
I woke up with a swollen and bruised ankle last week and i cant think where i injured it.It might just be coincidence.
I am currently on Sumatriptan and its the only thing that gives me any relief so i hope it's nothing to do with that..

cheers Alan

Cheers Brian, going along the caffein lines ,maybe all the rudbull i've been drinking had something to do with my ankle and my wrist feeling bruised  or it's probably just coincidence and i'm just paranoid...