HoosierK

What are cluster headaches?

Posted on 09/21/08, 04:25 pm

Everydayhealth.com describes them as rare but among the most painful of all headaches. They begin suddenly, almost always at night, usually about an hour or two after you fall asleep. "The pain is intense, sharp, and penetrating, and it usually occurs behind one eye, which may be teary and bloodshot...During a single attack, the symptoms will occur in either the left or right side, but never in both."

They tend to recur at the same time day after day over a period of 2-6 weeks then usually disappear for months or even years. 15% of sufferers have the chronic form which can last for a year or more with no remission.

There doesn't appear to be much known yet about the cause(s) but there has been some success in treatment. What have you tried and how has it worked for you?

• Reply #1 01/04/09  12:06pm
  
  SwedishDemo...
  Used to be that three excedrin would work for me after a few minutes. Then that stopped. Now I take codeine and tylenol tablets mixed together--they're designed for tension headaches but they work well for cluster headaches as well. They put me to sleep, but they're extremely effective.
• Reply #2 01/28/09  12:44am
  
  WanderingVet
  I am not being overdramatic when I say Clusters are best explained here:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clust...
  
  I have never found it so well described. I have episodic clusters, not chronic (thank God).
  
  I hope the info will help someone. I plan to print it and take it to the ER next time I go.
  
  I recently was given BUTALBITAL/ACETAMINOPHEN/CAFFEINE - ORAL
  BRAND NAME(S): Esgic, Fioricet
  
  and it seems to turn them off. I take one at the beginning, and it stops it before it gets too bad, . within oh, 5 or so minutes.
  
  I have had episodes for decades and always had to just wait 'em out until very recently when I got this medication.
• Reply #3 01/28/09  9:31pm
  
  HoosierK
  Thanks for the GREAT link. It is the most thorough discussion on cluster headaches that I've seen. I can't believe I missed it when I was doing my initial research.
• Reply #4 01/29/09  12:36am
  
  WanderingVet
  Yes, I totally agree. I think anyone with cluster should keep a copy of it to show ER. Good luck with yours.
• Reply #5 01/30/09  10:02pm
  
  allyratt
  yes wonderful explaination of the cluster, never thought I would consider suicide,,, well the pain is so bad that I finally had to tell my doctor that while in a cluster flare, I think of it. scarey thought, the pain is just so bad, and the reality of what the pain is doing to me, my blood pressure has gone to manic (extremely high) and I now have a-fib, my doctor believs that the nerve signal of pain are terrorizing my heart. I feel when I am in one I am going to have a heart attack because of the pain, narcotics do not help me they just add another headache to the cluster, I did have a cocktail at the er that gave me a milder week, they iv'd me with ativan, benydryl and haldol, yes I was out for a few hours but the daily pain was less and the flares were not as severe. I read that there is a gel with those ingredients in it to place on your wrist at the onset, havnt asked the neuro doc yet.
• Reply #6 03/02/09  12:23am
  
  WanderingVet
  I have spend a lot of my cluster minutes talkin to God. Just in the possibility it will help someone else, He sent me BUTALBITAL/ACETAMINOPHEN/CAFFEINE aka Esgic, Fioricet. I take one at onset and it turns it around in about 10 minutes.
  Hang in there people. They (clusters) are amazing in their own right.

Share information on what is known about and how to treat cluster headaches.