Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSmoke
Glad the topamax works for you.
I just wanted to clarify for the people reading this thread and considering ways to treat their headaches - cluster headaches are *very* different than migraines, and usually the treatments are very different.
For example, if you have a migraine, you usually want to go into a dark room and get away from the light and lie down. The migraine may last a little while, or it may last hours or even days. There are a number of medications specifically aimed at ending migraines.
If you have a cluster headache, you don't care about the light, and you can't stay still - the last thing you want to do is lie down. And the headache will usually be over in 15-30 minutes, but during those 15-30 minutes, it's the worst pain anyone can possibly imagine. And there are very few treatments.
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Not so with mine at all...
In fact, my neurologist says I have signs of traditional and cluster migraines. Mine come in clusters... usually two or three times a year, and for 6-8 weeks at a time when they come. But, the severity is unbearable and debilitating... I can't look at ANY light, even the alarm clock in an otherwise pitch black room is too much. I can't hear ANY noise, and I constantly have a nauseous feeling... and they last for hours. The ONLY thing I could take that would work in less than an hour was the Imitrex injections at $100 a pop. But, there was a process that went with that... take the injection, throw up five minutes later, go to sleep. So, it's not something you want to do when you're in public, at work, etc... When I couldn't take the injections, I would take a couple pills (Percocets, Lortabs, etc.), but I would just feel loopy with a headache.
I have had these headaches for almost two decades, and the only thing that has stopped them (without side effects) has been the Botox injections. I'm sold on them...