I have been having excruciating headaches for the last two weeks. They are not consistent, but instead I have these episodes that come and go. Until 2 days ago, they would start between 3-5 and the excruciating portion of them would last about half an hour. Then yesterday, I had two of the episodes. Then today, I went to work at 8am and by 8:45am I was paralyzed in pain. It is my entire skull, face, temples and even my teeth that are in extreme pain. I was sitting in my office in the dark when I decided I couldn't take it anymore and had to get to the ER. I went to NW ER and they determined that they wanted to do a cat scan in order to rule out bleeding of the brain or tumor. This scan came back clean - thank God. They have referred me to a Headache specialist at NW and told me they think it might be Cluster headaches and sent me home with a script for a pain med. I felt an episode coming on tonight so I took one of the pills and to my horror they didn't help one bit. I want to stress that I have a high pain threshold and can tolerate a lot before I would tell someone that I am hurting. But no joke, this pain is comparable to labor pains inside of my head during the height of the episode.
Has anyone experienced this? Or been diagnosed with Clusster headaches? Thanks for any advice or help that you ladies can offer.
What about possibly getting a second opinion? The fact that the pill didn't bring any relief might not be a bad idea .....hope you feel better.
I don't know anything about clusster headaches but I had horrible headaches that were horrible. I felt like my skull was going to split it turned out I had an absess tooth and needed a root canal. If all else fails go see your dentist or it could be your eyes but I don't think bad eyes would give you a headache like that. Good luck.
If other things are all clear, then I would highly suggest acupuncture, massage therapy, and also a look at food allergies. Worked for me, including finding a source of gluten intolerance (not celiac, but results in some same things). Hormone fluctuations plus reduced sleep can cause a lot of ish.
i get these and several things cause them an asthma flair up. myneck needs to be popped i take a hot bath in epsom salt and it will usually pop if not chiropractor. or sinuses. hope this helps
I do not have cluster headaches but I do have migraines & have for years. I understand the pain. I did not cry during labor but I have cried during migraines because the pain has been that bad. I started seeing a neurologist almost a year ago. She has helped a lot. Of course we did the MRI to rule out anything else. She has had me trying different medications and also has me doing some things (including medication at times) to prevent the migraines. They are not gone completely but I definitely do not have them as often and they are not as severe when I do. Some medications definitely work better than others so I would tell your doctor right away that the medication did not work and hopefully he/she can try a different medication for you. Hopefully you will find the right one soon. Good Luck to you; I know how awful those headaches can feel.
Mel - Bad eyes do the same thing!! Being stressed out can do it, tight muscles in the back and neck can do it, when I try to quit caffine I get them.
As one of my problems is Migraneur Syndrome (Migraine) I can certainly empathize and say yes find a headache specialist. The best one will be a headache neurologist (I love mine so much that even though he moved his practice dh will drive me the 90 minute trip)
And yes I have had the clusters too. Also high pain tolerance. A lot of times people at the ER don't believe I am at the '9 and 10' on their pain scale. Because 17 illnesses and many pain issues they think since I am not screaming and crying I am not hurting like the migraine mama next to me who can't stop crying and crying out .(and often you just want to hug them and tell them it will be okay and try and get the dr to go to them first.) Is there some way to get hold of the prescribing doctor and let them know this didn't work and you need SOMETHING that will work until you can get it. If you like you can PM and maybe I can help a tad more.
This can be so debilitating! It sounds like they just managed the pain temporarily (which I know ER 's do too many visits myself) They also needed to give you a small script for rescue meds/prevention. It isn't like you can always get into a specialist soon yk? And throw teeth pain-now if there is something going on with the teeth that too can cause headaches.
Now I know you live far, far, away from me. But I am going to post up the information for my migraine neuro. There are a lot of helpful things and links.
http://headachecenterntx.com/
Also keep a medical log/journal. Write down the intensity of the headaches, does it feel like pressure? or Stabbing needles ? that kind of thing. Any of the regular medication you take on a daily basis. When you have to take a pain med, does heat help? Does cold help? If you had the flu one day right that down too. It will save a lot of time and could help you identify the trigger. Mine last year were every time the barometric pressure dropped. My mother and her sisters were triggered as well by this.
You can rub true vanilla *not the extract* but cooking vanilla on your gums to help the tooth pain.
I feel for you there. After 44 kidney stones and 4 live births give me those over tooth pain anyday. *and that includes the stones that require more heavy duty pain medication ER trips.
I hope they get in soon. In the meantime call the ER and let them know the medicine isn't helping.
~J~
Excedrin for Migraine. I don't know if you have migraines but I do and they are the only pills that work for me. In 20 minutes your headache is so gone that you forget you had a headache.
