Do you EVER get clusters like these?

[MoxieGirl]

Hi Gang,

I've had this experience (for lack of a better word) several times now, but hadn't until today thought of it as a possible variation of a cluster attack. So I thought I'd ask the experts, or at least the vastly experienced.

I sometimes get a series of quick, sharp, stabbing pains to my temple, eye and forehead region. These aren't anything like ice-pick headaches, a form of headache I know ALL to well. In total it can last an hour or two, but each stab can last anywhere from 2-15 seconds. Often the sensation is of an extremely cold knife being thrust into my head. It is always one sided, always in the same place and the same intensity of a cluster attack. It can have me wincing in pain for a couple of hours, although only for a few seconds at a time. Also, the pain free period in between can be from a few seconds to minutes.

They are starting to really become annoying. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

MG

[ThatHurtsMyHead]

Moxie,

Pretty sure I know what you're talking about.  I've felt a quick "pinch" of a sharp pain in my CH spot maybe 2 or 3 times, only for 1 or 2 seconds.  I do remember them though.  Nothing of long duration, just in and out, then don't feel it again for a few years, a very odd pain.

J

[didgens]

My Husband has this .. you might want to check out SUNCT syndrome.

[Ripper]

Hi MG,

I also get those, like a drive by jab real quick kind of painful and then their gone. They seem to happen to me similar to cycles, I get them frequently for a week and they disappear for months????

[MoxieGirl]

Yeah Didgens, I was thinking along the SUNCT lines too. Hmm.

Yep Ripper, I don't get them often, but they seem to come in groups, dare I say clusters. :/

[Ripper]

Ok I've seen this SUNCT mentioned here before I'll start looking in the search box.

Is this something bad? Life threatening? Or worse than having CH?

[MoxieGirl]

LOL - Worse than Clusters? ROLF - that's funny.

Cluster Headaches sit in a group of primary headaches called TAC - Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgias

Trigeminal, as you may know, is a major nerve in the face and the one that transmits the pain when we get an attack. It is also believed to be the nerve triggered when you get brain freeze from eating ice cream to fast, which may be why a cluster headache hits in the same place as brain freeze (more or less).

Cephalgias is the fancy term for headache.

TACs comprise of: Cluster Headaches, Paroxysmal Hemicrania  and SUNCT.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/72/suppl_2/ii19.full

That site also lists Hemicrania Continua, which I've not seen before. Always thought TAC consisted of 3 types of headaches. Curious.

More information can be found here, as Ouch.uk.org is well written.

https://ouchuk.org/paroxysmal-hemicrania

https://ouchuk.org/sunct-syndrome

I often have attacks that look like SUNCT, or even Paroxysmal Hemicrania, but I don't think I have either of them because they respond well to drugs like Topiramate and Indomethacin. I've taken both of those medications over recent years and they did nothing to improve my attacks. So I can pretty much rule them out. I just have weird clusters.

Also worth pointing out that my neuro struggled to put an exact diagnosis on my condition, just saying it is one or more of the three TACs, although more cluster like than anything else.

Hope that helps and doesn't overwhelm.

To answer your questions:

TACs are ALL bad, be it CH, PH or SUNCT. If you have one of these, consider yourself to have paid the ferryman, crossed the river Styx and are well and truly in Hell. Thankfully, the ferryman likes hallucinogenics and you can sometimes bribe your way back across the river, if only for the occasional visit to life.

Life threatening? No, no more so than CH.

MG

[TunaTugBoat]

Yeah I get these!  Never heard about them before till now.  When I'm in shadows I just figured it was the beast lurking and trying to take a shot at me. 

During an actual attack I will get spikes in pain.  It's never constant pain.  I'll be thinking, level 6, yeah level 6, Ahhh spike to level 7, back to level 6...

TTB

[MoxieGirl]

Hey TTB,

Yeah, mine fluctuate too. Can start to fade out, then come back in strong again. Sometimes, like right now, the pain fades to nearly zero, enough to make one think the cluster is over. Only for it to hit again a few minutes later.

Such fun.

MG

[didgens]

no not life threating ,, my husband has had them all his life .. they last for less than a minute or 2 and then are gone. and yes they seem to come in groups. ie. he will have 1 a day or every couple days for a couple weeks then not get them for months.  Since they are so short lived for him he just sits and waits for them to go.

[Fabalicious]

I have these little stabbies as well.  Sometimes mixed with the "normal" cluster pain but I have gotten them during my free time.  They always give me a good scare because it makes me think I am sliding into another episode, but sometimes they arent a signal.  Maybe Mr. Cluster is just giving us a reminder that he is still there...hiding and waiting to pounce at any moment.

[MoxieGirl]

I think they are kind of like when you are trying to strike a match, but all you get is a flash of sparks. So you try again, and again and eventually it lights.

That's what these things feel like. I get them a lot when I'm driving. Granted, I spend a lot of my time driving.

These aren't like 'ice pick' or 'shooting' headaches, which is an electrical shock across the forehead, these are very much the same location and feel of a cluster, but more like a micro cluster. Lately mine have been coming with a splash of watery eye, like someone has shot me in the eye with a water pistol.

MG