HElp 5am third day of cluster and need advice

Hi All,

It is 5 am here and this headache shows no signs of abating. It feels like a cluster, but it won't go away. every time the light changes it feels like someone is stabbing my left eye, even though the eye is patched. I am not sure what to do.

I know it is bad when my mom suggests sedation and staying down- which I will do. Pain meds help some. Strangely, C-PAP really helps- so I think it is a cluster. I am calling my neuro today to ask for an IV and also a script for oxygen cause it might take a day or two to get the IV set up.

Other than this I dont know what to do. I can distract myself a bit and watch something on the computer in a dark room. (Isn't you tube wonderful.} I dont know what to do about this one.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I'd love any ideas.

Pain free days,
sailingm

Sailing, you probably know this already, but when my son tried oxygen for his migraines I had read a lot about it, and some doctors said it was important to have the oxygen level turned up quite high when you are breathing it- so you need a tank that is able to be turned up to a high o2 flow. Some of the tanks they have (the smaller portable ones) don't allow for o2 to be turned up much. We ended up having a huge tank because we went through the o2 fast at that rate. You might want to check into that, because it sounded like a lot of people were helped by it only if the o2 was high enough. Just a thought!

SM - so sorry. I have no real ideas as I've never had a cluster HA. Would ice help at all? I know when my pain starts traveling down my face, cold compresses on that area can help. But that is not what you have.

I hope it passes soon as you certainly get dealt a lions share of complications.

Ok, so stupid question. How can one tell the difference between a migraine and a cluster headache? (and very sorry to hear you are having this problem. I hope you feel better soon)

Hi All,

Day four and the headache is still there. Unfortunately, I can't stay down today as we are doing family thanksgiving and one brother will never understand the migraine thing.

I did get in touch with my neuro and he did write for an IV. Unfortunately, the earliest I can get that is Monday. So I will have to stick it out until then. The IV center couldn't get me in today and is closed Thurs and Fri. Still, I would rather get it at the IV center than go through an ER because I won't have to convince anyone to give me depakan and because ERs are nightmares.

As I understand it the difference between a migraine and a cluster is as follows:
Clusters mainly center around the eye, last fifteen minutes to an hour, are extreley painful and come in "clusters"- say every hour or at the same time every day.
Migraines are well, migraines- usually centered on one side of the head, sensitivity to light and sound, and last anywhere from a few hours to days or weeks.
(Please correct me if I am wrong on the definition here.} I also think there is a good definition on the regular rondas page.

Right now, I have some weird combination of the two.

Pain free days,
sailingm