Cluster Headaches, anyone get 'em?

[jady]

I tend to get headaches a lot. I always assumed they were tension or sinus based but last night I got a headache that dropped me for 2 hours.

It was only behind my left eye and went through to the temple and ear. All i could do was lay in the dark with my eyes closed and wait for it to go away (about 1 1/2 hours to be bearable and 3 to go away completely).

Now I am sitting at work and can feel it creeping up again.

Dr. Google says it sounds like a Cluster Headache but I need a second opinion from Dr. OT.

[MakiSupaStar]

Are you diabetic?

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Are you diabetic?

Good question. Headaches was one of my syptoms before I got diagnosed. Headaches and extreme thirst.

[Relic]

Not cluster headaches, but I get killer migraines. They usually slowly creep up on me like that.

[jady]

Hmmmm, I do chug a bunch of water. I'll go down the hall and have my diabetic buddy check my blood suger.......

[jady]

It seems as though my blood sugar is 146.

I ate about 2.5 hours ago so thats pretty high...........

I see some blood tests in my future.

[Demon_Hunter]

I get the "ice pick in the head" migraines....they suck...

Go to your real Dr, not Dr Google and get some meds.....mine gave me a prescription for Imitrix. good thing we have good insurance....otherwise it would have cost about $125 for like 12 pills, but they work.

Another way I've figured out how to kill a migraine without meds, lots of sugary candy and CocaCola.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by jady

It seems as though my blood sugar is 146.

I ate about 2.5 hours ago so thats pretty high...........

I see some blood tests in my future.

There are many factors besides what the finger stab test will show. If you're having headaches and you're at 146, I'd get it checked. The headaches can be horrible. I don't get them at all now that I'm on my 4 meds and boring diet

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Demon_Hunter

Another way I've figured out how to kill a migraine without meds, lots of sugary candy and CocaCola.

I find lots of sugars can lead to a headache further down the line.

Luckily I don't get many bad headaches, the worst I get are occular migranes (tho only about 1/3-1/4 turn into full blown (painful) migranes).

[Relic]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I find lots of sugars can lead to a headache further down the line.

Luckily I don't get many bad headaches, the worst I get are occular migranes (tho only about 1/3-1/4 turn into full blown (painful) migranes).

are the migraines the reason you_got_a_mohawk? Just wondering.

On a serious note - I get the ocular migraines as well. I dont get them often but whenever I get the vision symptoms, it's always followed by a terrible headache. Oddly enough, the visual phase ALWAYS lasts almost exactly 30 minutes. Like clockwork, it's so bizarre.

[TheSuzie]

I get debilitating headaches that can last for days including sensitivity to light, sound and fragrances. They would often get bad enough that they induced nausea. Fought them for many years and when modern migraine medicines finally came out, they did help a lot but not always perfectly.

Eventually I found out that major contributors for me are exposure to certain everyday chemicals and mold exposure. I no longer have access to the migraine medicines plus I have other medical problems that may make them not the best thing for me. Still, I have managed to greatly reduce the frequency of the headaches by avoiding the triggers and getting better sleep.

Definitely get checked out by a good doc. Diabetes is a major concern but there are a number of other conditions that can mess with the body's fluid balance and contribute to headaches. I have one of those and it also contributes to my own headache issues.

Another thing is to make sure your vision is up to snuff and that the lighting in your work area is proper for you. Avoid florescents if possible. Also make sure your screen refresh rate is set as high as reasonable.

Good Luck,
S

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Relic

are the migraines the reason you_got_a_mohawk? Just wondering.

On a serious note - I get the ocular migraines as well. I dont get them often but whenever I get the vision symptoms, it's always followed by a terrible headache. Oddly enough, the visual phase ALWAYS lasts almost exactly 30 minutes. Like clockwork, it's so bizarre.

Har har

I've had a regular haircut for a bit over a year now

I'm the same, if the painful migraine is going to come, it's always about half an hour after the visual. If it doesn't, the visual distortions still continue and last for hours.

[Radical Edward]

Cluster headaches are when you get headaches right in a row, like 1 for about 10 minutes really bad then it goes away and comes back over and over and over again. In a cluster. Hence the name. I'd say if it was just a very severe headache it's probably a migraine. Drink lots of water, turn the lights off and try to rest.
My opinion.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by Mikaela Ellinger

Cluster headaches are when you get headaches right in a row, like 1 for about 10 minutes really bad then it goes away and comes back over and over and over again. In a cluster. Hence the name. I'd say if it was just a very severe headache it's probably a migraine. Drink lots of water, turn the lights off and try to rest.
My opinion.

How would you know?? I thought women just GAVE headaches?? They also GET them???

[Phalex]

I've had a headache for three days now. I blame last weekends drinking binge.

Have a Dr. check you out man. My guitar players wife had a bad headache for a couple of days and it turned out to be an aneurysm.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

How would you know?? I thought women just GAVE headaches?? They also GET them???

They don't , it's all just a rouse to get out of putting out

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

They don't , it's all just a rouse to get out of putting out

That's true

[Angus]

Originally Posted by jady

I tend to get headaches a lot. I always assumed they were tension or sinus based but last night I got a headache that dropped me for 2 hours.

It was only behind my left eye and went through to the temple and ear. All i could do was lay in the dark with my eyes closed and wait for it to go away (about 1 1/2 hours to be bearable and 3 to go away completely).

Now I am sitting at work and can feel it creeping up again.

Dr. Google says it sounds like a Cluster Headache but I need a second opinion from Dr. OT.

It isn't cluster headaches. Real cluster headaches are horrifying- they can last for months on end and, in some people, can always be present. They're debilitating. They're also quite rare. I have a family member who gets them. Your headaches do not sound like they are even approaching the strength of symptoms seen in cluster headaches. Be glad about that.

It sounds like, well, a bad headache. Could be a migraine, but that isn't the most common presentation. But if they continue, see a real doctor. Dr. Google is a search engine that brings up what people most often click, which is ALWAYS the worst stuff and 99.9% of the time is way more severe (and rare) than what people actually have.

[68Goldfish]

I had cluster headaches for a few year spell when I was in my mid twenties to early thirties. Mine happened the same time of day every day. Allways about 2 or so in the afternoon and sometime in the middle of the night (would wake me up everytime). They were right behind my right and it it was serious pain. The only good thing about them is that they only lasted for about half an hour. But that half hour sucked. Every day and night at the same time for the same duration. IIRC they only came for about three months at a time and then were gone for the rest of the year. Closing my eyes and sitting in the dark did not help me at all. It was a blinding pain that no amount of relaxing would eleviate. The thing that worked for me was a new drug at the time Imetrex. It was in a shot form, had this little injector thing. You just stick to your arm and press the button. I'd get kind of sick feeling for a few minutes but then the headache was gone. I mean gone, no sighn of it. The kind of deal where you shake your head just to see if it's still there out of disbelief. Shortly after I started using the imetrex the headaches went away and never came back. That was years ago. I allways thought that they didn't come back becuase I had the cure in my back pocket. Sort of a mental thing. But from what I've read that's the deal with cluster headaches, they come out of nowhere and may leave and never come back. I wish luck my friend. I think they later on came out with the imetrex in pill form.

[MEKer]

Definitely try to remember your headache history; is there any pattern, something that pops up as an "almost every time" thing which could be a trigger. Try to see a doc about them. Migraines are a regular sort of thing as far as a history of the same feeling, etc, rather than, and much worse, than an occasional really bad headache.

I've have gotten for-real migraines for years. I know my usual triggers, but they can come anyway no matter how careful. Absolutely horrendous---talking is agonizing, movement is agony, noise is agony. Dark room, motionless, weight on my head, isolation for hours. Even had a couple that put me in the hospital on morphine, and before the shot was given I actually thought I would die.

After neurology visits and experimenting with all the newer, high-speed medication, nothing could even touch them. I was despairing.
Then tried one of the older, low level meds called Midrin. Nothing special---but it worked, for some reason I respond to only that (unless given a morphine knock-out).

I have to take 3 at the first 2 signs, which is when my brain feels like it rattles somewhat in my head, like a hard boiled egg, when I shake my head, plus a very low level headache. Then lay down, leave me alone and let me go to sleep. Only that keeps it from "blooming".

When I wake up the migraine should be gone, but then I have to be very careful for a day or so so it does not come roaring back. I actually feel "fragile" in my head. I've had a series of migraines last a whole week (but they are not, luckily, cluster type).

Hope that is not what you have acquired.