Post Attack Symptoms

[MoxieGirl]

Hi gang,

I'm curious what sort of things other people experience after the cluster headache has gone away. What fun little things linger after the raw pain is gone?

Here's my list:

• Prior to busting, I would have 20-30 minutes PTSD experience where my whole body would shake and I'd cry uncontrollably after every attack. But that essentially went away after I started busting.
• My body temp normally swings from very cold to very hot, and I spend an hour or so adding and removing clothes or blankets to regulate my temperature.
• Extreme energy drain that lasts for hours, even from a short, 15 minute cluster. It tends to wipe me out for ages.
• Sometimes I get left with a headache or a migraine.
• Foggy brain and it's difficult to concentrate or focus on anything for hours. 
• Holding a conversation can sometimes be difficult. 
• My body's balance can sometimes be off kilter. 

For all of these things, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a 10 minute attack or 3 hours. As long as it reaches a KIP 4 or 5, then I get all or some of those.

Mox

[FunTimes]

Definitely drained and in a fog for about 10 minutes or so and my eye will continue to tear up from time to time. Then I sit and think of what mean thing I have done to someone or something in the past that warranted that hit. 

[MoxieGirl]

This morning I had a cluster attack that lasted 15-20 minutes. And, it was maybe a KIP 4 or 5, nothing horrific. Bad enough that I curled up on the sofa for a bit. 

But, I felt totally drained for 2 hours afterwards and was in a brain fog for 4 hours. I couldn't concentrate or even look at a computer screen for more than a few minutes. Then, it just went away at the 4 hour mark, and I felt fine. 

Is there anything people do to help them get through these after affects? I find chocolate and caffeine helps a little. 

Here's my FaceBook post from this morning, might make 'ya chuckle. 

Random thought of the day.

If you had a choice between going to Hell to be personally tortured by the Devil himself for 1,000 years, or having one really bad cluster headache...

What would you say to the Devil after you spit in his face?

I'd probably say something like, 'well, get on with it you weak arse loser who thinks you understand pain.'

Yes, it's been that sort of a morning. Had a fifteen minute cluster headache at 9 this morning. 3 Hours later and my brain is still scrambled and I have no energy, my body temp is fucked and I'm not always confident which way is up.

Mox

[Siegfried]

Hi Mox,

Some things here after an exacerbation series:

• restlessness : like an extreme adrenaline rush, can go on for an entire night - like I do not know what to do with myself
• If it was bad and go to sleep, when I close my eyes, everything looks like lighten up (its not dark) and all kind of shapes start to appear, like crystals in blue, green colors. That can go on for a few hours after it wears off 
• Feel cold and unable to heat up

When I have the continuous background pain, suddenly out of nowhere, nose start to run and unable to breath through my nose like I am suddenly in the middle of a big cold. Can go on for an hour and that suddenly vanishes as unexpected as it came.

All the best !

siegfried

[igdc]

Completely exhausted. If I use Zomig to abort, then that may be a part of it (as the other triptans are for my migraines). Either way, though, CH attacks make me sleepy.

Edited August 23, 2020 by igdc

[CharleyN]

Yea, I would just feel drained and exhausted. And a small lingering headache afterward (coming from the side to the back of the head)... then I would feel a bit chilly so I would wrap myself in a blanket and fall asleep (since most of these came during the night). If I had a cluster in the day time, sometimes hunger, plus the exhausted feeling, and lingering head pain.