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Confirmed User
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 1,671
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I have had cluster headaches for 20 years... and you know it if you get it... they are also known as "suicide headaches", and are well known as being the most painful thing a human can go through.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache
Quote:
Cluster headaches are excruciating unilateral headaches of extreme intensity. The duration of the common attack ranges from as short as 15 minutes to three hours or more. The onset of an attack is rapid, and most often without the preliminary signs that are characteristic of a migraine. However, some sufferers report preliminary sensations of pain in the general area of attack, often referred to as "shadows", that may warn them an attack is lurking or imminent.
The pain may be very sharp and may cause pain around the eye area and may also be a pain within the back of the eye. The pain of cluster headaches is markedly greater than in other headache conditions, including severe migraines; experts have suggested that it may be the most painful condition known to medical science. Female patients have reported it as being more severe than childbirth. Dr. Peter Goadsby, Professor of Clinical Neurology at University College London (now University of California, San Francisco), a leading researcher on the condition has commented:
"Cluster headache is probably the worst pain that humans experience. I know that?s quite a strong remark to make, but if you ask a cluster headache patient if they?ve had a worse experience, they?ll universally say they haven't. Women with cluster headache will tell you that an attack is worse than giving birth. So you can imagine that these people give birth without anesthetic once or twice a day, for six, eight, or ten weeks at a time, and then have a break. It's just awful."
The pain is lancinating or boring/drilling in quality, and is located behind the eye (periorbital) or in the temple, sometimes radiating to the neck or shoulder. Analogies frequently used to describe the pain are a red-hot poker inserted into the eye, or a spike penetrating from the top of the head, behind one eye, radiating down to the neck, or sometimes having a leg amputated without any anaesthetic. The condition was originally named Horton's Cephalalgia after Dr. B.T Horton, who postulated the first theory as to their pathogenesis. His original paper describes the severity of the headaches as being able to take normal men and force them to attempt or complete suicide. From Horton's 1939 paper on cluster headache:
"Our patients were disabled by the disorder and suffered from bouts of pain from two to twenty times a week. They had found no relief from the usual methods of treatment. Their pain was so severe that several of them had to be constantly watched for fear of suicide. Most of them were willing to submit to any operation which might bring relief."
Thus, cluster headaches are also known by the nickname "suicide headaches".
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I have tried the following with different levels of success: - Botox injections - seems to help, but have had to go back for a second application to help. Each application is about $250.
- Imitrex - I use the 6 mg injections, which seem to help, and always carry a stat dose "pen" with me in case I need an injection while on the road. Results are usually: injection, vomit, lay down, fall asleep, wake up without headache. But, the shots are about $100 a piece, so that may not be a good method for everyone.
- Oxygen - Like an old man, I now keep an oxygen tank handy at home if a headache comes. It's cheap, and it seems to help.
- Various pills - Imitrex, Treximet, Percocet, Fiorcet, etc. tried them all... usually take a pill right when I first have the "aura" of a headache, then if it turns out to be a bad one, I'll go with the injection. Not all of my headaches are "full strength", but the ones that are take me completely out of commission.
I'm actually in a cluster now, and just got home from a drive up to Birmingham. Didn't take the oxygen with me, and didn't get Botox yet, and as luck would have it I had a bad one two mornings ago. I took 2 Percocets and put a cold soda can to my head, and it kept getting worse, so I ended up doing the Imitrex injection, but I still had it for over 2 hours.
I think the combination of all of my methods keep mine in check now. They don't seem to be as bad as they used to be, except for two mornings ago... and I already made an appointment with the doc for Botox tomorrow afternoon.
Good luck with your headaches, and I really hope they aren't Clusters... |