Cluster headaches?

So after another miserable day last week with one of my "sinus attack" things (emphasis on the "attack" part), I finally Googled my nighttime onslaughts of stabbing-eye-pain/runny-nostril symptoms.

I found, to my surprise, not a list of Neti-pot home remedies, but instead many classic definitions of a cluster headache that described me to a T. Not totally surprising, since I have personal and family histories of migraines, but not encouraging, either.

Any other sufferers here in the hive? Any advice? Not liking the OMG that sux not much we can do attitude I'm finding among established doctrine, would love to know if anyone has found reliable relief. These things leave me feeling tender and afraid....

Margie

Margie,
BTDT. You need a "Headache Doctor." These are also referred to as "Neurologists." Go find one. I did. For extra points, start keeping a headache log. I can send you a sample if you want. Your neurologist will love you for it.

Thanks, Hess. Actually, yeah, that would be good. This is starting to get my attention to the point where I'll actually address it, and coming from a noncompliant like myself, that's saying a lot.

Margie

I'm a fellow sufferer. See your doctor. I got a prescription for Maxalt MLT that works great for me. I can even take it when the headache has started and it will still work. the "MLT" part means a pill that melts on your tongue. Maxalt has also gone generic recently so that brings down the cost.

All these migraine pills still cost a lot but getting rid of the headache is priceless.

For the benefit of the rest of the universe (and for eternity here in teh intr4w3bz, y0), here is a log format. I use a database because that's what pays for Lotus parts. That is, if your only tool is SQL Server, all the world looks like a database problem. A spreadsheet would probably work easier for most, but even "paper" logs would be fine.

Make columns with these headings:

Onset Date
Onset Time
Resolution Date
Resolution Time
Onset Location
"Migrated to" Location (where was it banging)

(the following columns are Y/N format)
Sinus Blockage
Throbbing
Cervical (neck) Spasm
Trapezius (Upper back/shoulder) Spasm
Photophobia (Lights make it worse)
Phonophobia (Sounds make it worse)
Osmophobia (Smells make it worse)
Aura (Do you have any visual "signals" happen before the headache? Like lights, spots, etc.?)
Nausea (Wanna puke? )
Vomit (Did you puke?)

Not Y/N:
Aura Description
Meds (What did you take? Did it help?)
Pre-Headache foods (what did you eat or drink that day, including alcohol?)

Fill it out for each headache, including the one you just had. If you can remember the last one, do that too. There are medicines available that work to varying degrees in different people. For some people, they take the medicine and it is like the headache is totally gone and they are back to "normal," whatever that may be. For others, it takes the edge off to where at least they are not in bed with a pillow over their eyes.

Jerry, there must be something in Glendale that causes migraines. I bet it is that big "H" on the mountain. Yeah, that's got to be it.

I actually saw a documentary just the other day about a man in Texas that has cluster headaches. Apparently they are much more common in men than women. This man grows his own illegal magical mushrooms, he takes a trip about once every two months and is headache free for those two months. According to him they where so bad he was going to eat a bullet until he learned about the mushrooms, nothing any doctors prescribed worked for him. Something to think about.

Cluster headaches are more common in men. Migraines are more common in women.

Hess, the "H" stands for Headache. Go Tornadoes.

Is GHS still the "Dynamiters"? I wonder if the PC police got them on that. Yeah H for Headache. "Beat The Bell out of Hoover!!!"

Grandma had them. Awful. They are really, really bad. I mean bad. They are known to lead to suicides. At the time (80's) there wasn't much the medical world had found to do for them.

My grandfather did some research on his own in desperation. He found a medical journal article about an experiment with cocaine. The sufferer would snort some cocaine and the pain went away, or at least became tolerable. After all, it was the 80's!

He took the article to her doctor, who was skeptical. The doctor read it, though, and was convinced it had merit. Not willing to prescribe cocaine due to its addictive qualities, the doc prescribed Lidocaine.

From then on, whenever Grandma had symptoms, Granddad would put a few drops of Lidocaine in her nose. It wouldn't necessarily kill the pain completely, but it would at least reduce it sufficiently that she could function.

Granddad was an Electrical Engineer and very methodical. Interestingly, given the charting instructions above, I still remember seeing the charts he penciled tracking the time, duration, and dates of her headaches. Which helped to establish the diagnosis.

I second the headache log. I kept one for my migranes until my doc found a medicine that helped. It's an extra tool the doc can use to help you.

I spent most of yesterday with an ice pack on my head, waiting for the blotches to disappear from my vision and the drilling through my eyeball to stop. At one point, I was prescribed Ativan but it made me high so I stopped taking it.

I'd be willing to try coke...

I get some nasty headaches here, too, so thanks, Dr. Hess, for the log.

David S. Wallens wrote: I get some nasty headaches here, too, so thanks, Dr. Hess, for the log.

As long as you correct the spelling mistakes. Jeez, Hess, were you absent the day they taught spelling at Glendale High?

They're the Nitros now.

A guy I work with "had one cluster headache once". I put that in quotes since he was full of E36 M3. He often claims rare diseases or afflictions to get a day off of work... Of course he was Miraculously!!!!!!!! cured of cluster headaches somehow.. When he called in sick to work that day, we immediately internet searched Cluster headaches.. He was reading word for word the Wikipedia page for it... We printed it off and left it sitting around work!! That seems to have cured him..

Dr. Hess, Could you please define "Aura Description" in your sample log. My son in law has Head aches constantly, He thought it was normal and everyone had them. I told him it was definetely NOT normal. My brother suffers from Migraines, he finds regular Chiropractic adjustments helpful.

I had migraines as a child and very rarely today. Never had a cluster headache that I am aware of.

The visual aura is my first clue a headache is coming. To me it means you look directly at something and you cannot see it but can see what is around it. Its like the object has been erased. Look to the side and you can see it in your periferal vision. AS a child it was harder to dtect. If you are working on the computer, its a piece of cake to tell.

TRoglodyte wrote: Dr. Hess, Could you please define "Aura Description" in your sample log. My son in law has Head aches constantly, He thought it was normal and everyone had them. I told him it was definetely NOT normal. My brother suffers from Migraines, he finds regular Chiropractic adjustments helpful.

with no firsthand experience … I have heard that Chiropractic care can help (note the emphasis on can… not necessarily will … YMMAV )

Hess's headache log is good, but it's focused on symptoms and ignores possible causes or "triggers." I would argue that it's much better to prevent an episode than to treat it after it's begun. I've been experiencing infrequent migraines since I was in high school. In 30-odd years, I've been able to identify certain factors which seem to be present at the onset of a migraine.

At the onset of your headache, make notes regarding your physical and emotional condition and your recent food and water intake. Over time, you may find a pattern.

The following things, for me and in no particular order or combination, seem to be present at the onset of a migraine: Dehydration, Irregular consumption of caffeine, Skipped meals, Stress--or more precisely, sudden freedom from stress, skipped BM.

This may not be particularly scientific, but it has helped me. YMMV. Good luck!

Edit: I'll second the chiropractic thing. My wife started getting migraines a few years ago, and seems to get them far less frequently since she's been getting semi-regular adjustments.

Lesley wrote: I spent most of yesterday with an ice pack on my head, waiting for the blotches to disappear from my vision and the drilling through my eyeball to stop. At one point, I was prescribed Ativan but it made me high so I stopped taking it. I'd be willing to try coke...

Blotches? What kind of blotches?

I get sporadic migraines. Sometimes there is an actual headache, sometimes it's just blurred vision. It's starts as a small blurry blob slightly off-center and slowly gets larger in a sort of "C" shape until it expands outwards and goes away. Unfortunately, when I do get the headache, it can last for days.

I first started getting them about 30 years ago in middle school. Part of me thinks it was stress related as middle school was a very bad time for me and I went through most of high school without getting them.

The worst is when I get the visual thing when I'm driving. I'll usually have to pull over and wait it out since I'm essentially half-blind when it happens.

I'll have to make a Excell blog as Hess recommends. Thanks. I've never gone to the Dr about them except once when they first started. However, they seem to be happening with more frequency, so I may have to look into it.

I'm not a headache sufferer, but my wife is, so I kinda am.... I regularly see a neurologist and have been seeing a chiropractor. Back alignment has helped my wife's headaches.

When dealing with a neurologist you have to keep in mind that a lot of their work is hit and miss. They have to look for very specific things. I know there have been quite a few roadblocks including two misdiagnosis...es.es.es due to a lack of information.

The journal or notebook of who, what, whens, and wheres can be the best thing to give to the doctor. When I was having trouble with possible simple partial seizures, it was mine and my wife's observations that took me off volume and on the proper anticonvulsant.

That and its fun to have a notebook to write down the goofy dreams you have and share them with the GRM crowd.

I began to have debilitating headaches in 2000. I tried several prescription strength medications which gave very little relief. I picked up some Excedrin Migraine and found that if I took two of those at the first indication that a headache was imminent and sometimes took a break and relaxed my body and my brain that it would pass and I could continue functioning as normal. Not long after that I tried Walmart's Great Value version and it works as well as Excedrin did.

If you want more details of what I experienced send me a PM.

The best too you and I wish you quick recovery.

I'll go ahead and guess Margie's headache log:

Onset Date - Monday - Friday

Onset Time - 8 am EST

Resolution Date - Saturday - Sunday

Resolution Time - 5 pm PST

Onset Location - GRM Forum

"Migrated to" Location (where was it banging) - Forehead/Desk

In reply to slefain:

You have a desk?!

N Sperlo wrote: That and its fun to have a notebook to write down the goofy dreams you have and share them with the GRM crowd.