Good morning everyone. My name is Mark and I've suffered with CH since my early 20's, I'm now 59. I recall my very first CH, I was driving from LA to Vegas. I had never experience that kind of pain in my young life. It was as though someone had driven a spike into my right eye. Combine that with 115 degrees in the desert that day. From that point on it was downhill. The episodes came daily multiple times with no rime or reason, no triggers that I was aware of and no OTC meds would phase them.
No doctor I saw could diagnose with any degree of accuracy. I was told by doctors it was sinus problems, pinched nerves, stress and anything else they could pull outta their butts. I actually had 2 major sinus surgeries during that time and ate Percocet by the hand full. Nothing worked. I had a doctor about 15 years ago that was somewhat familiar with CH and he suggested a concoction of Ibuprofen, Benadryl and Vicodin. That was somewhat effective, but I never liked the way Vicodin made me feel. I was also told by the same doc that as some patients age and in some cases the episodes get farther apart and the intensity begins to subside. Until now my last CH episode was 4 years ago and 2 years prior to that. The CH episodes now last about 3-6 weeks with the headache duration lasting 15-45 mins. The intensity has also diminished somewhat as well. Odd as it is I've noticed a shift in time of day for my CH. Early on it was almost constant day night didn't matter. Now, my headaches only attack me when I sit down in the evening and begin to relax and, or at night. I know now from experience alcohol is a huge trigger. I am now 3 weeks into this current episode. I get perhaps 2 hours sleep a night if I'm lucky. I guess it's time to explore alternate ways to get rid of these damn things as nothing conventional seems to work.
Well thanks for letting me tell my story. I just found this site last week by accident and I'm so glad I did.
