Anyone else been given the 'gift' of cluster headaches?, page 2

Originally posted by jeramie
I know for a fact that you are not exaggerating when you say you pace and hit your head on the wall. My brother-in-law gets cluster headaches and he told me before that he has hit his head against the wall quite a few times. He said he would do that because the pain of hitting his head actually let him forget about the pain from the headache for a few seconds, which in a sense was actually kind of a relief.

My he and my sister lived with us for a while before moving to the East Coast, and I remember numerous times seeing him sitting outside with a tiny Tupperware container against his right temple. He filled it with water and kept it frozen just for that purpose. He's a smoker, and he said that sometimes the cigarettes would bring a bit of relief, which shows how odd cluster headaches are, because cigarette smoke and ice cause blood vessels to contract, which would make just about any other headache worse. For some reason they bring him a bit of relief.

My sister has told me that she doesn't know how many times he would try to get some sleep at night, but would suddenly jump out of bed, cursing like crazy, and just pace up and down the room. He has told me he gets practically no sleep when he goes through a spell. I don't know how long a spell usually lasts for him, but I remember it seemed like one spell he had lasted for at least 2 weeks, probably longer.

As for myself, I don't get cluster headaches, thank God. But, I do get what is called migraine with aura. It starts out with me seeing a small rainbow-colored squiggly line in the middle of my vision, and then the line grows bigger and bigger as it works its way outward in my field of vision. The odd thing is, when the line works its way out of my field of vision, that is when the pain comes. The only way I can begin to describe it is, just imagine a headache made out of lead. That probably makes no sense, but that what it's like. It is a very thorough pain, that feels like it goes from the outermost surface of your head, all the way to middle of your brain (I'm not saying that's what it is, but that's what it seems like).

It is a very heavy, hard, almost debilitating pain. One good thing about this type of headache is I have about a 20 minute warning, beginning when I first see the little squiggly line. My wife is a certified holistic practitioner, and she made a tincture out of Jamaican dogwood for me. It sure makes it more tolerable. Because of the tincture, I don't get to where I am nauseated to the point where I have to meet the toilet face-to-face, and I more easily lie down and rest until it goes away.

I know cluster headaches are far worse. My wife has told me before that Jamaican dogwood has been known to help with cluster headaches. She made some tincture for my brother-in-law and mailed it to him, but thankfully he has not gone through a spell in a while, and has not had the chance to use it. I wish I had a first-hand account from him about whether or not it works, but at the same time I'm much more glad he isn't going through that pain.

The reason vasoconstricters work so well is because they relief pressure on the nerve caused by blood vessel inflammation. Same with migraines, only migraines don't force a nerve plexus up against your skull.

Sumatriptan, Rizatripan, Eletripan, Zomitriptan, cafergot, butalbatol, chlorpromazine, all relieve migraine pain.

They are vasoconstricters. Because of the severe nerve involvement with clusters, almost nothing truly brings relief, hence the suicide watch when you go to the ER.

There is really nothing on this earth more dreadful than looking at the clock and counting down the hours until your next attack.

Thanks everyone for your remarks, great responses!