Search the Community

Hello fellow Clusterheads! This community has been super helpful in helping me to discover ways to better manage my chronic cluster headaches. Thank you! I've been in a great place with my cluster headaches now for a little over a month- which is huge for me. But, I am noticing I am starting to get more frequent migraines. I do have both, but I really haven't had migraines in years. Has anyone else noticed that a period of decreased/diminished clusters can increase migraine?

Has anyone ever tried antibiotics to treat cluster headaches? So, I thought I had sinus infections when I first started getting CH about 10 years ago. I wasn't diagnosed. I was in my 20's and I think my stepfather would get sinus infections so I came to the conclusion I had them too. I have none of the symptoms of sinus infections however, aside from the splitting headache. I also get migraines so I would confuse my CH for migraines, but the CH lasts for days, even about a week or longer. So I was going to a doctor about 1 every 2 months for these "weird headaches" other than my migraines. They would give me antibiotics and other meds. Unfortunately (and fortunately) they've stopped prescribing me the antibiotics because they didn't want my body to become immune or to form a dependency, BUT after 2 days on antibiotics, my CH is gone, dead, stopped in its tracks. Now, I DO NOT recommend this type of treatment because I believe I'm suffering some of the effects of this homemade "therapy", but has anyone ever heard of this? Tried this? Know why this would work so damn well? Thanks Jaymi

So, I started to get migraine headaches around the age of 12 or 14. My mom took me to the family doctor, who prescribed Vicodin and referred me to a neurologist. I took the Vicodin and immediately fell in love with it. I started to overuse them, running out early, and making excuses as to why they were gone. As I got older, my headaches got worse. In high school I started to buy drugs, and was in full blown heroin addiction by the age of 22. Around this time I got a car for my birthday, and while driving I nodded off and crashed it. I told everyone that I had swerved the car in order to avoid a deer and overcompensated with the wheel. They believed me, but were slowly becoming suspicious of my behavior. Being short a car, I started borrowing my parents' to get to work and school. 8 months later I got into another accident. This time I suffered a severe head injury and was in an induced coma for a week. The doctors did a blood test and disclosed to my parents that I was high out of my mind on heroin. They kicked me out of the house. Next I lost my job. First I started stealing to avoid the dope sickness. I stole from my parents and my best friends. One by one I alienated everyone in my life and ended up homeless. While at the shelter I met a girl thru a friend, who let me stay with her at the university. There I lived with 4 other girls. Soon I got her addicted and her roommates kicked us out. We moved into a small apartment and there we lived in squalor for 2 years. By that time I was supporting my habit writing fake prescriptions, and unbeknownst to me, my girlfriend was sleeping with the drug dealers for bundles in return. I should have known, when visits to pick up the drugs extended late into the night. She was absolutely gorgeous. It was only a matter of time until she would be propositioned. They even had the nerve to ask me first. I made her promise never to do that, and after acting offended for a few hours, giving me the silent treatment, she told me I never had to worry about that. The truth is, I never had to worry while we had money. But never underestimate how far an addict will go to avoid dope-sickness. One day I went to fill a forged prescription and the pharmacist told me that she knew it was bogus. Because I was high, I totally forgot, and one week later, I went back. The same pharmacist was working and she called the cops. I was arrested and went to jail, where I was forced to go into withdrawal. They refused to dose me with methadone. At the time I was taking 120mg of methadone and up to 10 bags of heroin a day. I had also contracted MRSA that same week, which left a hole in my arm. MRSA is incredibly painful. Methadone withdrawal is even worse. Combined, it is a nightmare. To give some perspective, in Orange County Florida, a women died after being denied her dose of 40mgs. I was taking 3xs that amount, on top of my heroin use. My body had stopped producing its natural endorphins, so I had no defense against the pain. During the next two weeks I lost 14 pounds, and went through the worst ordeal of my life. Meanwhile, my girlfriend was without any money, and she finally gave in to the endless propositions. When I was eventually freed 2 weeks later, she confessed. I was heartbroken, I broke up with her and we never spoke again. I got on suboxone and the withdrawals subsided. Next I went into rehab. I wrote a letter begging a certain foundation for help and they offered me a scholarship worth $60,000. I was in rehab for 6 months. At month 5 I was weaned off of suboxone. Again I went into withdrawal. This time it caused me to have a sort of mental breakdown. I started having flashbacks of my time in jail, which left me traumatized. They diagnosed me schizo-affective after I was found wandering around a New Jersey town, babbling on about September 18th, which was in my mind an obsession for some reason. They told me that it went undiagnosed because I was self medicating. I was kicked out of rehab. Not so much kicked out, but I was told there was nothing more they could do for me. They drove me to a psychiatric facility where I stayed for 10 days. I was then flown home and sent to a facility in Charlotte, NC, where I was treated for PTSD and S.A.D. I went back on suboxone but now that I was free from heroin, the headaches returned with a vengeance. I was sooo tempted to use again, but I managed to stay strong. I kept an open mind and went to neurologist after neurologist trying to find relief. I tried all the medications. Maxalt definitely helped as a rescue medication, but I was still suffering. I tried botox, chiropractors, and even flew up to chicago's diamond headache clinic, where I ate nothing but bread and water for a week and slowly introduced new foods into my diet. The idea was to figure out if I had any aversion to certain foods. I discovered that aged foods would trigger my migraines. Cheese, red-wine, left-overs from thanksgiving all contributed to my headaches, so I stopped eating those. My headache frequency slowed. However, I could not seem to rid myself completely of this curse. So here I am, reading about psilocybin, LSD, and other triptamine drugs. I would give anything to be rid of headaches, and I am very interested in the spiritual and mystical aspects of psychedelic drugs. But how do I go about finding them? How do I treat myself with these drugs? I am open to suggestions and would love to talk to anyone who has first hand experience using psychedelic drugs for migraine / cluster headache prevention. I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I never had headaches.

I'm pretty new to this migraine business, but since they started they're pretty frequent. Pain killers work, but they're short lived and do nothing to prevent the attack. Besides, i'm worried about what these medications do to my liver. I want to try and unconventional approach. I talked to some redditors and found out about this place. Someone mentioned microdosing shrooms would work. My biggest problem with my migraines is nausea. I can stand the pain, but nausea cripples me. I'm willing to try anything that works. So does anyone have experience/suggestions in what to give a try? Plus a guide on dosage for microdosing, if you know anything about it.

Yesterday afternoon around 3:30 I started to get a cluster headache. I've been running low on Zomig nasal sprays and my insurance is refusing to cover them so I opted for chugging a Red Bull. This has worked from time to time. Anyways, the pain began to increase and after about an hour and a half I threw up several times from the pain. Another half hour went by and the cluster headache subsided and I was able to lie down instead of my usual pacing around the house/rocking back and forth/kicking the mattress. However, The pain behind my eye turned into a different kind of pain, different from the shadows, almost like what I assume to be like a migraine. I could barely stand up without feeling really nauseous and my face was super pale and I couldn't stop shaking. My boyfriend was really concerned and we went to urgent care where they gave me some anti-nausea medication and sent me home. This lasted for 4 hours. I have never had this happen before, where a cluster headache shapeshifts into a migraine like headache. It was awful. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

Yesterday afternoon around 3:30 I started to get a cluster headache. I've been running low on Zomig nasal sprays and my insurance is refusing to cover them so I opted for chugging a Red Bull. This has worked from time to time. Anyways, the pain began to increase and after about an hour and a half I threw up several times from the pain. Another half hour went by and the cluster headache subsided and I was able to lie down instead of my usual pacing around the house/rocking back and forth/kicking the mattress. However, The pain behind my eye turned into a different kind of pain, different from the shadows, almost like what I assume to be like a migraine. I could barely stand up without feeling really nauseous and my face was super pale and I couldn't stop shaking. My boyfriend was really concerned and we went to urgent care where they gave me some anti-nausea medication and sent me home. This lasted for 4 hours. I have never had this happen before, where a cluster headache shapeshifts into a migraine like headache. It was awful. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

Hi Everyone, I've suffered from all types of headaches for a long time. I'm currently being treated for migraines. However, my headaches often present significant cluster symptoms. My doctors and I are having a hard time diagnosing the type of headaches I'm having and subsequently, how to treat them. I'm already on depakote for my bi-polar II. It doesn't have an effect. I've taken lithium and topiramate for my mental health and those also did not have an effect. I take treximet (sumatriptan and naproxen) as an abortive, and it usually works, but the side effects are miserable. ANY help, feedback, support, questions, or even if you have similar symptoms, would help sooooo much. Also, I don't know if it matters, but I'm a female and 29. These headaches started when I was 19 and have gotten worst since I've aged. I was diagnosed with MDD at 23, and then BPII at 28, but my medications don't seem to affect my headaches. Cluster headache symptoms -Headaches are seasonal and I will typically get 3-5 a week for a 1-2 month period every fall and spring. -During a headache period, headache will occur at the same time every day. Usually in the late afternoon or early morning (4:00 / 5:00 AM). -My left eye (same eye I experience pain) will water to the point that people think I'm crying. -Brutal, excruciating, stabbing pain behind left eye -Nose congestion Migraine symptoms -Headache (stabbing sensation) begins and pain increases over hours. Headaches last for hours until treximet works or I can sleep it off. They last longer than cluster headaches are supposed to (4+ hours) -Sensitivity to light, sounds, and smells -Nausea, diarrhea -Strong desire to lay down ??? Additional random symptoms, triggers, and things that help. -Excessive sweating is a random symptom -Heat and cold help, especially wet washcloths -Sleep and fresh air also help -Alcohol, stuffy rooms, scents, seem to trigger -Muscle tension is also a problem

Hey. I haven't posted much recently, but am still around. Guess my beast has gone on a bit of a holiday, and isn't troubling me much. Or it's been scared away by the nearly daily headaches and migraines. Actually, they are worse than that, getting 2-3 a day many days. Sometimes my head seems determined to not let me have a break. But hanging in there. Cannabis in the evenings is helping me sleep, which reduces the migraines so that most mornings, I only wake up with a headache and not a thumping migraine. I've even had entire days that were pain free, or nearly so. Am trying to count my blessings. Hang in there my friends. xx MG