charl

Hi Chris, I was a young girl of 17 when I first started getting these headaches. Dr's back then in the 60's and 70's didn't have a diagnosis for me. Mostly they gave me meds for migraines which had no effect. In my mid 30's I paid $100 bucks to go to a place called the Headache Treatment Center and a very old Dr. from Sweden looked at me and said I know what you have and I can help you. Take Lithium 300 mg. 3x a day and Prednisone. I thought he was nuts and he laughed and said "you'll be back." I was. I took the Lithium and overnight it worked. I'm a believer. Since then, I've had periodic remissions, some lasting more than 10 years. I usually stay on the Lithium for just a month. Long enough to break the cycle and that has worked for me. I also tried oxygen once and that was effective. Maybe it's genetic as my father suffered greatly from headaches. LSD and mushrooms are throwbacks to my younger days and I've never mixed them with the Lithium..

Didn't realize it was seen as a last resort. I usually don't have to be on it for more than a month to break the cycle. Before I had the diagnosis of Cluster Headache I was prescribed numerous versions of ergotomines and other drugs I can't even remember when they thought it was migraines. I remember the Dr. who finally labeled it a cluster headache also prescribed prednisone with the Lithium. I will forever be grateful to him for ending my pain.

I'm new to this group, but have had cluster headaches since I was 17. I'm now about to turn 70. It wasn't until my mid 30's that a Dr. finally diagnosed me with cluster headaches and prescribed Lithium. It saved my life. Over the years I've tried the oxygen therapy and it too worked pretty well. For Lithium was a lifesaver.