Monitoring the beast

[robbinn]

Hi all.

My name is Robert and I have been having Cluster attacks since I was 17. I am 41 now.

I link it to a car accident I had and I got a whiplash on my neck and hit the window with my head.

First time the beast visited I did not understand what was going on. I thought I was dying. Then I thought that I had a brain tumor. Common thoughts for first timers. Anyhow I got scanned and nothing was found.

Later I was diagnosed with a Migraine and got medicine called Anervan in tablet form. It works ok if you take it when you feel the shadow coming. Then it is preventive. When the beast visits at night, the Anervan tablets take about 25 or 30 minutes to kick in so I have to walk the beast around until they are effective.

I did not believe that it was Migraine as I did not have the normal symptoms of migraine and got another opinion from a neurologist. He asked me few key questions about the Cluster symptoms and I answered all with yes.

Then I got Immigran, a nasal spray that works a lot faster. I have also used Zomig Nasal which is more expensive but come without recept.

I hope that the medicine list helps someone out there.

Regards,

Robert

[CHfather]

Robert, thank you for sharing this.  Imigram is inhalable sumatriptan.  Most people with CH get even better results with injectable sumatriptan, known as Imitrex in the US.

If you do have cluster headaches, you really want to have oxygen.  You inhale it at the first sign of an attack.  It's important to get oxygen with a flow rate of at least 15 liters per minute and a non-rebreather mask.  Your doctor should prescribe that.  You can read more about that at the CB oxygen page, which you can find under the black and white MENU tab on the left side of the page.  Many people here would tell you that oxygen is the most important thing you can have.

There are many, many other things you can do.  Some are relatively small, such as drinking an "energy drink" such as RedBull or Monster at the first sign of an attack.  Some are larger but relatively inexpensive, such as the "vitamin D3" protocol that you can read about here: https://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1314134804.   There are many other pharmaceutical medications used to treat CH.  And you should also consider the methods used by many people here, known as "busting."  You can read more about that here: https://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1290127865.  If you have questions or further observations, please visit us again.

[robbinn]

Thanks. I have not tried Oxygen other than going out on the balcony and breath cold air. I never thought about drinking energy drinks. I will will try that out next time I get an attack. It has been couple of months since last attack. I created an app to monitor what triggers it and what remedy is effective. These will be on my list.

Great website. Surprised how many sufferers are out there.

Regards

Robert

[Bejeeber]

Hi Robert,

I've seen plenty of other CH'ers over the years report onset following a head injury, so as you may know, you're definitely not alone there.

Glad to see our preeminent CHfather is right on the case with his trademark condensed and spot on advice pointing to the most effective treatments. 

[robbinn]

I would like to share the app that  I created to monitors the attacks. How often they occur and how much time is between them. I hope that this tool can be of help for somebody else.

http://paintimer.com/how.html

Regards,

Robbinn

[CHfather]

Thanks for this app, Robert!  I will check it out.

You might want to start on some possible preventive routines now.  The D3 one that I linked you to above is almost certainly worth starting.  And many people find that preventive busting can keep cycles away.

Note that oxygen is the medical standard for aborting CH attacks.  Any capable neurologist should prescribe that.  It would be good for you to have it set up in advance, and be comfortable using it.  If your current neurologist will not prescribe it (for who-knows-what reason), either get a different/better neurologist (generally, they're better at headache centers) or try to persuade your current one with the peer-reviewed materials in the oxygen page under the MENU tab at the left side of the page here.  You will be thrilled by the difference it makes to have O2 on your side. I'd recommend ordering the O2ptimask, which makes oxygen even more effective.  You can read about it, and see where to order it, at that oxygen page.

You've gone way too many years with too little help for your CH.  I hope it's a long time before your next cycle, and that when/if it does come, this time you'll be better prepared.

[robbinn]

Thanks CHfather.

I am going to try out the oxygen and thanks for the advice. I didn't realize that the oxygen approach was so effective.

It has been three months since my last cycle. Keeping my fingers crossed.