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This is pretty accurate to my experience. How common are these [discussed]? I only ever heard shadows in reference to migraines, but I’m very new to CH literature. Mine can persist for many hours. Very low level pain. They haven’t preceded any actual CHs.

Drinking is fine when I’m outside of an episode. I can enjoy a ton of red wine, have a normal headache or hangover, and be fine. However, during an episode it’s a “nuclear level trigger” as @Bejeeber eloquently writes… basically guaranteeing my emerging CH will be a minimum 8/10, and stretching its duration way out. Sucks because CHs make me very nervous and caffeine amps me up. Although caffeine doesn’t help much.

I know this is thread is old but this is my #1 question — I always forget to ask my neurologist. She recommended this community so I searched for it here! I sometimes develop ‘phantom’ headaches that are dead on my CH spot. The pain is always very subtle, but it appears and disappears just as a CH does. I find mine are triggered by illness (eg Covid) and classic seasonal timing (which is when my real clusters appear). It always generates anxiety that I have an upcoming episode, but I don’t think that’s true for me. I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this! Perhaps I’ll repost in a new thread in case anyone has insight; I just joined and will search around some more.