Posted by Trish Owen (194.9.188.1) on November 23, 2000 at 04:47:09:
My husband started getting cluster 'headaches' about 3 -4 years ago, following become a heavy drinker at a time of intense emotional stress - on stopping drinking, the headaches ceased....Every time he falls off the wagon (not drinking in a big way, just a few social ones here and there) he is rewarded after a week or so with the return of the Beast. It was only 'cos he went from drinking a lot to total abstinence that we realised alcohol was his trigger. He doesn't 'go into a cluster period' + alcohol sets him off, he gets them whenever he drinks, and at NO OTHER TIME. Maybe there are other sufferers who don't drink much at all, who have alcohol as a single trigger too, but just don't know it..... I know the link has been made before, but his pattern is a bit bizarre. (Headaches, then not one headache in 2 +1/2 yrs of not drinking, after drinking occasionally for about 3 weeks, the headaches returned. He'd stop again...6 mths later, have a few days of drinking over a week or 2, and sure enough, after a couple of days the headaches return)...