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Atypical means that it doesn't have all the symptoms of the "typical" cluster headaches that most people have. What that article says is that atypical CH often comes from causes such as pituitary gland issues that are not the causes of "typical" CH. There is no identifiable cause of typical CH.

kat' -- Glad you got a diagnosis. Hope the steroids help. Unlike regular cluster headaches, atypical CH often has an underlying physiological basis, such as something going on with the pituitary gland. Have you had an MRI? (From a journal article: "Based on this review, I suggest that neuroimaging, preferably contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance angiography should be undertaken in patients with atypical symptomatology" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3928394/) Your doctor should prescribe it, particularly since you have the diagnosis and an apparently caring doctor (Yay!). It's listed in all the medical resources as the #1 abortive. If you can't get a prescription or run into insurmountable hassles with insurance, welding oxygen is an option that many people use.

Did he give you Prednisone? I've been on it before because I have asthma but I went to the dr. back in 2015 and thats what he prescribed me along with 2 Imitrex self injection shots which I can NOT do. I don't see how people do this especially with diabetes and stuff. Funny story. I was able to get the first shot off because I didn't know what to expect as far as the pain and the sharpness of it. But it IMMEDIATELY took my headache away. When I went to do the second one, I couldn't bring myself to do it because I knew what to expect, lol. Never took the 2nd shot. But yeah it doesn't seem like you're having full blown headaches so the D3 might be working more than you think. It doesn't always take them away but lessens the impact and duration for some people. Until you're basically writhing around in pain, holding your head, praying for it go away, its not full blown I don't think. When I describe the pain to some people, the best way to describe it to me is like a brain freeze that lasts from 15 min to up to 3 hours(rarely do mine last 3 hours, usually 15-30 minutes. How long have you been on the D3?

In the recent past I successfully trained for an Ironman. Understand completely the post training hit, it robs you of the joy of completing an event. I am strongest in bike and running isnt my thing but the outcomes are likely similar. I found taking salt and magnesium at intervals helped prevent post training hits. Generally most of my hits came at night so sleep disturbances had the greatest impact on training. Busting helped too ( I think). I firmly believe it is best to pursue everything you can and fuck the beast. If you alter your life for the beast the beast wins. Never let a bully win.

I've had luck with push ups holding them at bay. At 47 yrs of age it's not my 1st line of defense but it does help.

I've been testing things out and running pretty regularly this cycle (3-4 times/week). For the most part, no issues. So, I don't think it's a direct trigger for me. I did for the first time though, have an attack on Sunday; 10km into what ended up being a 13.5km run. I've never had a hit while running. Have had a few right after running. So, this was a first. I had zomig with me, but decided not to take it, to see how continuing to run would work out (another first for me). I did find that it never really ramped up to a full intensity hit. Only to around a kip 2. And went away after about 20 minutes (15 of which were running + 5 as a passenger in the car heading home). My attacks usually last an hour. So, this was really interesting for me. I had read the posts about aborting with physical activity. But I really never could have imagined being able to do it. Will definitely be doing more experimenting with this one. Side note - not sure if it's the verapamil (now on 120mg x 3/day); but I do find my runs feel harder than they do when out of cycle. And I've been running at a much easier pace too.