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I have both UC & I am CCH since 2012 - ask me any questions you have. And yes I have found stuff that helps. Nothing makes them go entirely away, but I have found ways to lower the intensity and number of attacks, and manage life with this condition. And my other health issues. Feel free to ask me anything.

You are definitely not alone, I also have a 'weird' migraine/CH co-existence that differs a bit from yours. If I'm in a cluster cycle I will have no migraines, however the final dose of a 3-dose bust will often trigger a migraine. If this happens then 90% of the time it means the bust has worked and my brain has flipped back to migrain mode. I'll then have a few migraines over the following months until CH rears its head again. So in my case it's a bit of flip-flopping, I can only recall one instance over the past 17 years where I had a migraine during a CH cycle. The moral of the story is I guess that both these conditions are pretty complicated and not very well understood, and there is almost certainly come cross-over in causes that leads to our individual circumstances. By accepting our individuality it also opens the mind to expermenting with the different busting regimes/tactics and finding something that works for you if the standard regimes aren't quite working or that may go against current thinking. Good luck with your journey...

Well welcome @sanderson. Glad you decided to join us but sorry you needed to. Some of the symptoms you describe do sound a bit like CH. The "don't you dare try to rest attacks" are pretty common amongst us. I didn't notice any mention of unilateral symptoms? I see the comment about the occipital pain which I don't think is as common but definitely not unheard of. The fact that O2 worked for you (and that you have access to it) is great and is something that works for most cluster heads. Although many of us have experienced O2 not working during a full attack so I wouldn't let that rule out the possibility of CH. From my experience with CH, the pain is typically one sided with the daunting and very uncomfortable/uncommon side switch but it's usually always on one side or the other. I am not sure what you have tried to eliminate the occurrence of your pain but I would highly suggest the D3 Reg which you can read all about on here as it has been know to help with various headaches head attack types migraine included. Hope you get some answers and relief soon!!

thanks everyone, it just helps to hear that these things aren't necessarily outside the range of "normal"! the validation means A LOT, thanks!

I sure am no diagnostic expert, but the fact that your CH-like attacks do respond to oxygen, you feel them behind the one eye, and they are fast ramping makes them sound to me like yep, some CH really could be mixed in there with the migraines.

I've been to a few new dentists/oral surgeons lately. They give me a big form to fill out asking whether I now have or have ever had any of a whole lot of medical conditions. Of course, CH is not on the list. I have been urging them to add it, or ask about it, since they could save people a lot of misery by not using epinephrine with patients who have CH. Will they do that? Probably not. But unlike virtually all of the conditions that the form does ask about, knowing that a patient has CH could actually matter. Just recommending that maybe you do the same with your existing dentist or any new ones.

Just checking in. - 5 years cluster free after being chronic 8-10 daily and seconds away from ending it all. This site saved my life and I'm grateful. - took 17 tries of MM dosing every 5 days to finally get relief. ( learned about dosing here) -low histamine diet . I literally don't eat any foods with high histamines. Stopped eating meat as well. -stopped drinking alcohol (major trigger) - lost a lot of weight Initially but I have found foods I can eat to maintain a healthy diet -still maintenance dose at least 1-2 times a month. -if my d3 gets low or I don't maintenance dose I feel signs of pain. (Sickness, allergy season) - I realize food is a major trigger so I'm very cautious and eat very limited items which can be very very difficult at times but I'll rather eat blackberries for example then have a cluster any day. other triggers include - smoke of any kind (this sucks because everyone smokes and this includes hookah smoke) - extreme heat overall, the d3 regimen, avoiding histamines, dosing consistently and avoiding triggers have helped me be cluster free. Ironically, MM helped me with bipolar disorder. I stopped taking all of my bipolar meds. They're truly magic. Am I cured, ABSOLUTELY NOT but am I able to live a normal pain free life yes. At times I am very isolated from the world as I fear being triggered which sometimes is difficult but the fact I can be father to my kids is more important . Clusters have taught me to appreciate everything. Truly living between the headaches. I don't take a day for granted and wanted to send hope to anyone who may need it. -