suicide headaches

22 Aug, 2010 - 5:41 pm

i have been getting these headaches for 20 years now - the only years i didn't was when i was pregnant. I have never heard of 'cluster' headaches and used to call my headaches - 'suicide headaches' so was quite spun out after reading about them. My doctor finally gave my headaches a name last week - that is how i found this site through looking them up. I usually get them from August through to December every year and they start coming once every fews days until they peak at 2 or 3 a day - and usually the same time. I may get 3 minutes warning if i'm lucky - time enough to take whatever pain killers i have on hand (dont know why i bother there as they usually dont work) or mercindal in the hope that it will relax me, and get a wheat bag heated up to extreme temps to place my head on and hope that my young children wont need me for an hour or so because i could not do a thing for them if i tried. my vision goes, my voice is slurred and nothing matters around me except the excrutiating pain in one side of my head and i just want to die. i have started taking rizatriptan this last week and if i take it immediately, it works within 5 to 10 mins - but those 5 to 10mins feel like 10 hours.... thank god i have finally found something that seems to work. thank god there are others who understand what i'm going through as i'm sure my friends and family just think i'm having bad headaches.

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23 Aug, 2010 - 2:52 pm

Hi Angee,
Welcome to the club no one ever wants to have to join! The people here are very understanding and supportive, you are no longer alone. There are some fabulous sources of information on cluster headaches around. It may be worth printing out some of the info on the site as many doctors are unaware of the severity of cluster headaches. There is a great letter for colleagues, family or friends who want to understand what your going through at: http://www.ouch-us.org/chgeneral/colleagueletter.htm
There are some other options in treatment available which may help such as redbull type energy drinks (with the combination of caffine and taurine) if consumed at the first sign of an attack, some people find they reduce the length and severity of an attack. The other big help is Oxygen, please check out the O2 tab on the menu. Please remember that information is power! There is no cure but there is certainly treatments out there that can help.
Are you seeing a neurologist? Its very important to have access to a well informed doctor who has knowledge of cluster headaches. I wish you pain free times and goodluck with your journey, If you have any questions or just need to vent feel free and drop us a line.
Regards Shell

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