Cluster headaches

i am 34 years old i have had clustur headaces scince i was about four i have tried every drug known to man legal and ilegal the thing about ilegal drugs is they only stop the pain for a day or two but have such a back fire on the headaces the pain you feel times the pain by a 100 ilegal drugs brought me 10 times the pain than what i needed to go through i respeact that you dont advocate for ilegal drugs i had to say something if it helps one from takeing the path of self medicating then its been worth it all i can say is trust in god and let the doctors due there jobs

Hi @mnvo96 and welcome to Connect.

I'd like to tag fellow Connect members @msb18 and @kristiesmith221 who have both mentioned cluster headaches int he past and may be able to provide you with support.

How long have you had cluster headaches? What do you do when they occur?

My daughter has them for past 12 years

Moderator, are there any discussions on cluster headaches? Thank you for any assistance you can provide. Asking for my husband who is suffering severe attacks right now.

Hi @elsie37 you my have noticed I moved your post to this existing discussion on cluster headaches so that your post would be seen by more people wth similar experiences. Simply click VIEW & REPLY in your email notification to find your post.

That must be frightening to see your husband have this severe attacks right now. @msb18, @mnvo96, @kristiesmith221 and @kariulrich may be able to offer you support as you search for ways to help your husband.

Back to you @elsie37 was your husband given any treatment at this time?

Yep been having them about a year now. There terrible. I'm sorry to anyone else going through this.

Oh I guess I'm suppose to put what I do when I have them. I cry pace douse that side of my head with ice cold water, I take the imitrex pills, and just try to get through it without disrupting the world I'm in at the time. Terrible things to endure.
Treatment right now for me is predinizone every six weeks to two months depending on headach onset. And sumatriptitan aka imatrex I believe. The ten days of predinizone typically kicks them and makes them go away for six weeks to 2 months which is good. The side effects of the predinzone ate a bummer but better then the headaches 8 to ten times a day.

My friend was put on oxygen to stop his cluster headaches.

@echom1, there is a possibility a thiamine deficiency may be causing your cluster headaches. Thiamine is subject to being diminished or destroyed by anti thiamine factors. The stuttersence link contains a comprehensive list. Thiamine also needs magnesium to activate it and like thiamine there are many causes of magnesium loss such as stress, pain and medications. The krispin link offers a list of others. The blood brain barrier poses a restriction on both magnesium and thiamine. Fortunately fat soluble thiamine forms such as TTFD, sulbutiamine and benfotiamine are not impeded. Magnesium threonate can also pass through the barrier. However, be aware that the amount of magnesium in the supplement is low and should be not be relied for total daily requirements. Always consult your health care provider before using any supplement.
http://stuttersense.blogspot.com/2014/08/these-factors-reduce-your-thiamine.html
https://www.krispin.com/magnes.html
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29850313/
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crinm/2018/3901619/

Has anyone tried Verapamil as a preventive for cluster headaches? It’s been known to help as an off label benefit.