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hey man, that's some rough stuff you have gone through in your life. you still came out on the other end so you know you're strong as hell, so don't give up hope for the better future. as others have suggested i would go to a psychiatrist and get checked out/tested, just to make sure. meanwhile i strongly suggest you don't touch any psychedelics, they could make things a lot worse. wishing you all the best and stay strong!

I'm 45 years old. I was sexually abused between the ages of 10 and 14. Also physically bullied and beaten at school during my younger years. Ch started at 16. Had both hips replaced age 30 and 32. Due for intervention. We had 2 miscarriages upon the time I was going through hip surgery. Had ganglion block done 2019. Lost my brother in 2023 through cancer. Age 41. And I'm sitting here wondering if there is a spot to go fishing where my car is visible to get to the tank should I have to.

Hey @Snowflake. Sorry to hear of the rough go at things! As for mental disorders, understand that they can manifest late in some unfortunate folks.. While late 20's is the most common, late teens are subject as well. As @Bejeeber and @Shaun brearley have expressly stated it may be time to sit with a professional. No one should have to deal with feeling like they are not in control of their own feelings or as if the feelings they are having don't belong to them. Your mention of not being in the "Driver's Seat", Folkes noticing a change in your behavior and the feeling of being watched are a bit of a red flag that something is out of balance (possibly a chemical imbalance) (Not uncommon). None of these things are incurable, but are best dealt with by professionals which we are not. We are all here, ready to help should you need.

Sorry to hear of this @Snowflake. Of course @Shaun brearley has called attention to a best immediate course of action.

Are you in your late 20's? That is usually when stuff like schizophrenia starts to show up.

I'd say go and get some Professional Help my friend,

Is there anyone in here that has this condition? I can't help it but feel like sometimes, well more so recently that I am not in the drivers seat anymore. I am behaving strangely. I have moments like this where I can feel myself. It feels like I'm hiding and typing this. But also that I'm being watched. People and everyone in my circle are noticing strange differences in my personality alot recently. I'm concerned. Feels like something else is saying and doing things I don't mean and the worst part is that I cannot stop this from happening. I'm scared.

Hey, has anyone had any experience with cervical facet injections? My migraines are super flared up right now, worse than they have ever been with nothing working that well for them, and I have finally decided to address the cervical spine. I have significant facet arthritis and done everything I could for it, but have avoided injections. Just call me "procedure adverse". Regardless, when you are desperate, you will try anything, which is both good and bad. But I digress. I am doing C3-4 and C4-5 on the right, hoping that it will help the facet pain which will lessen the migraines that it triggers. My question to my clusterbuddies is whether I should expect this to affect the CH one way or another? Has anyone else had these injections who has CH and did it help or not? Fingers crossed. Like I ever uncross them.

Every thought and opinion helps. I appreciate you sharing!

Whilst it sure does come in handy I’m glad you were joking about the WD-40!!! I had a chuckle reading that. I realize my reply maybe late but there is no contraindication between vitamin D3 and glutathione, I think you could add it to the regimen as a complement. I added NAC to the regimen before when I was on a liver detox buzz which contains the precursor to cysteine, one of the three amino acids that make glutathione, mostly in the liver for detoxification. A couple of the regimen cofactors are also cofactors for glutathione, magnesium and zinc and some of the B vitamins. I haven’t heard or read any reports in the community of it causing CH to flare. Take care and pain free healing vibes your way!

Dropping by to share a review article just published in The Journal of Headache and Pain which adds to the growing body of research suggesting microbial dysbiosis is implicated in migraine pathogenesis. It found migraine patients have less diverse gut microbiomes with elevated bacteroidetes, proteobacteria and firmicutes as well as reduced faecalibacterium, a butyrate producer known for its anti-inflammatory effects. This imbalance may increase gut permeability resulting in neuroinflammation impacting migraine onset and severity. Probiotics and synbiotics reduced migraine frequency, severity, and painkiller use (excluding triptans) in five randomized trials, though results varied by strain and population. Unravelling the gut-brain connection: a systematic review of migraine and the gut microbiome https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-025-02039-7 Could similar microbial mechanisms apply to CH? I suspect so. We know CH shares neuroinflammatory pathways with migraines and a couple of recent CH studies suggest there may be a systemic inflammatory component in CH as CH’ers, regardless of whether chronic or episodic (in or out of bout) were found to have elevated levels of oncostatin M and I believe it was the most recent paper that identified a distinct difference in inflammatory cytokine profiles between episodic and chronic CH sufferers. Elevated cytokine levels in the central nervous system of cluster headache patients in bout and in remission https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-024-01829-9 Distinct Alterations of Inflammatory Biomarkers in Cluster Headache: A Case Control Study https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.27205 So what evidence is there that perhaps diet may be a key therapeutic target for CH? We have the 2018 Lorenzo study to refer, where 15 of 18 chronic CH patients had a therapeutic response with 11 of those achieving clinical remission on a ketogenic diet with the author stating “we observed for the first time that a 3-month ketogenesis ameliorates clinical features of CCH.” Is it reasonable then to ask might its efficacy lie in shifting the microbiome towards a less inflammatory profile? Efficacy of Modified Atkins Ketogenic Diet in Chronic Cluster Headache: An Open-Label, Single-Arm, Clinical Trial https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5816269/ If you read into the literature on vitamin D3, I think there is a strong case for the vitamin D3 regimens use as a preventative therapeutic option to have in the CH toolkit given it’s unique role in modulating the immune response – notably in a dose dependent manner, as shown in one of my all-time favourite vitamin D research papers, somewhat supporting the proposed 10,000iu per day dosage as per the regimen. Disassociation of Vitamin D’s Calcemic Activity and Non-calcemic Genomic Activity and Individual Responsiveness: A Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Clinical Trial https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53864-1 The above paper was written by Professor Michael Holick, regarded as one of the pioneering vitamin D3 researchers, alongside others like Wagner and Hollis etc. He also wrote another paper showing that vitamin D3 modulates the human microbiome, increasing beneficial bacteria and decreasing pathogenic bacteria. The Effect of Various Doses of Oral Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Gut Microbiota in Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Double-blinded, Dose-response Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31892611/ The emerging “psilocy-biome” research is nothing short of intriguing too. Psilocybin may alter gut microbiota, increasing beneficial bacteria and reducing inflammation. It could act via the gut-brain axis with microbes metabolizing psilocybin to influence serotonin pathways or dampen neuroinflammation though this needs more study there was a fantastic paper recently published exploring this subject. Further, if the anti-inflammatory effects of psilocybin are in part derived from the interaction with the microbiome, might this contribute to variation in therapeutic response to psilocybin for CH? Mind over matter: the microbial mindscapes of psychedelics and the gut-brain axis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043661824002834 From my humble perspective it is an exciting time to be following the research. It is interesting as a sufferer to hypothesize where all this may converge in the context of CH. It is also tempting to speculate that a patient led vitamin D3 regimen dated as early as 2011 aligns nicely with what recent research is suggesting in respect of the underlying inflammatory component now suspected in CH, particularly given my personal success with the regimen since 2015. As always, anyone considering the regimen is encouraged to doing it under the care of a physician and the regular monitoring of labs for calcium, PTH and 25(OH)D vitamin D.

Yea but you need a brain first for that to work, so I'd say that a few of us on here have got No chance, what you think @Bejeeberand @BoscoPiko? Not mentioning any names

Actually, sunlight IS good for the brain and CNS disorders. https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=skneuro

I have had 3 bouts of shingles on the same side as CH (2 before CH started, one since), I do often wonder if that could be linked because the virus for Chicken Pox /Shingles embeds itself in the nerve endings within the spine (terminology there may not be 100% scientific but you get the idea). Luckily I've only had it once on my face but, when that did happen, it was as if someone had drawn a line from the middle of my forehead, through my left eye, down to the base of my left ear - ie. right where a lot of the frontal pain occurs during CH. When I had shingles on my back it was just to the left of my spine midway up mytorso - right at the base of where I feel the shoulder pain, frustratingly out of reach for self-massage during an attack. Due to the trouble modern medicine has with getting to the bottom of CH I think there's a mix of genetic and environmental factors that play a part but I would not be surprised to see this linked one day.

There are those that would argue that Chicago is on another planet.

I've not seen rain for 29 days in UK just pure sunshine

You don't have to go that far away. We haven't seen the sun in Chicago for months.

I'm just gonna move to a planet with no sun!!!!!!!

My ramp up in intensity and frequency was from the 11 th of May, so I peaked a little early .

Sign up for Clusterbusters 10th Annual #CureForCluster Virtual 5k, for U.S. residents purchasing a race bag, they can still be ordered to arrive on time if you order by the May 27th. Shipped Race Bags will only be available for purchase by U.S. residents as an add-on. We cannot ship outside the U.S. Our virtual 5k can be run or walked at any location, so you can join us from anywhere in the world. Registration is open through June 6th. The event will kick off on June 7th and can be completed any time in the month of June. We look forward to seeing photos and awareness raised for cluster headache. This year, we have partnered with Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) to support Headache on the Hill: A Visual Installation representing all headache disorders while our event continues to raise awareness and funds for cluster headache. For info and to register: https://runsignup.com/cureforcluster5k

Hi, I expected there to be a peak in intensity in CH. From studying records of CH patients, I noticed peaks corresponding to the dates when the Sun changes signs, and even more so if it is afflicted at the same time. In this case (mid May), it was afflicted by Mars. But this time, people didn't experience any noticeable peak, so I need to look deeper into it.

FDA Approves Auto-Injector for Migraine, Cluster Headache | MedPage Today It says, "DHE can relieve pain associated with cluster headache attacks, particularly when administered intravenously." Of course, this is not an IV autoinjector.

I did pretty good through this period but the cycle has been ramping down for a while now.

Same here. No real changes in frequency or intensity. Stijn ,Can you tell us what you expected to happen?