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Cluster headache?


Johndoe

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First up I'll start by saying I'm no wuss and have a high pain tolerance...............after all, I am married (sorry girls)................I am not one for going to the GP if I can help it.

 

The last 3 days I've had a headache that literally had me nearly screaming. I had one last wek also and one the week before. It came on without warning............instantly............with a piercing pain above my right eye which radiated as an ache down the right side of my face and my rt eye was bloodshot and tearing. It came on more or less at the same time each day, give or take half an hour. I took 3 paracetamol and after about 30 mins of puragatory the pain eased as if nothing had happened but the last episode has left me with a "residual lurker" somewhat akin to a mild tension headache which it may well be as perhaps I'm tense waiting for another attack. From googling it is likely that the paracetamol did nothing (if it is a cluster) and it was likely that the pain passed of it's own accord. It's not a migraine as there is no aversion to light or noise and no nausea but it isn't "stereotypical" cluster as it is a singular daily attack. I am normally fairly healthy (considering) and rarely suffer a headache and these are entirely different from any that I have suffered before.

 

No change in meds and the only changes from prior to the attacks are change of environment, stress, and more physical activity which a google tells me can be contributory to cluster attacks. Anyone suffer from them or think they may be something else? How do you avert/treat?

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Have suffered for years. This could be trigeminal neuralgia (the nerve to side of face/ear inflamed) but I am worried when you say the eye is also bloodshot though, it would be best if you had a quick check up just to put your mind at rest? I am of course no expert at all, just a migraine sufferer for 20 odd years. My sympathies...

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JD, get to a Doc to have it checked out. Do not leave it hoping it will go away. Reason I say that is that I had a minor stroke about 6 years ago. Scans showed that I had been having what the specialist called "blind strokes" for some time, and when I queried how I would recognise that I was having one of them, he said that it could just be a bad headache. Further to that, only yesterday I called an ex workmate who I had heard had taken ill 3 weeks ago when we were away. He had had a bad headache for a couple of days, so went to the Doc. Turns out that hehad suffered a stroke. It hadnot affected his body in any way, only his memory. He goes for another MRI tomorrow. Good luck. I hope that it is nothing serious, but it is well worth getting it checked by the right people.

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I heartily agree with CDU. I don't want to be alarmist but you want to rule out anything serious like a blood clot or tumour. Just for your own peace of mind. Better to be safe than sorry, mate! :wubclub:

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Haven't told her yet. BTW Fi, she finally, (after 3 yrs of applying), got a rotation to EMU............starts in August http://www.health.qld.gov.au/tpch/documents/emu_brochure_gp.pdf

 

Sounds great! Well done Bridget. Now make sure you do tell her because I'm sure her advice as a nurse (and wife) with advanced assessment skills will be better than ours!

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Have suffered for years. This could be trigeminal neuralgia (the nerve to side of face/ear inflamed) but I am worried when you say the eye is also bloodshot though, it would be best if you had a quick check up just to put your mind at rest? I am of course no expert at all, just a migraine sufferer for 20 odd years. My sympathies...

 

My sympathy to you too. My first wife suffered from migraines and was unapproachable when she had an attack.................used to bang her head agaibst the wall some days...............add that to bi-polar and she had it pretty rough.

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This sounds like neuralgia in terms of the pain level and down one side of the face, a friend suffered with this in recent years.

 

Had that before....................it followed on from a bout of Bell's Palsy that I had recovered from

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Agree with other posters on visiting a doctor. I have suffered from CH for over 20 years and your symptoms have similarities with CH, painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen do not work as they take too long after the onset of a cluster, in fact I have not found any painkiller even prescription ones to work. If it transpires that it is CH then http://www.clusterheadaches.com.au/ is a great site that offers advice and support that is invaluable. It also states CH aware doctors and detailed information on medication but the support of fellow sufferers is what I found invaluable.

 

Good luck and with the best intentions I hope it is not Cluster Headaches but if it is there are many of us out there.

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Any other symptoms such as scalp tenderness or blurring of vision? It could be a cluster headache, they can be exacerbated by some painkillers so a different painkiller might be worth trying. I would definitely recommend seeing the GP or maybe an optometrist for a sudden onset symptom like this.

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Guest Guest66881

Kev i had those symptoms a few years ago, i had an eye test and they found i was suffering with intracranial pressure, a build up of brain fluid the back of my eyes - it was treated with a lumber punch and meds, been ok since but get it checked just in case mate.

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Hi I'm a doctor - whilst your are right common things are common so probably nothing alarming but you really do need to go to your gp ASAP to be assessed and examined - I don't want you to panic but I really want you to seek medical advice!

 

Good luck!

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I get quite a few headaches..got woken up with one last night, still have it..they tend to last a few days behind my eyebrows around my temples...feels like a dull throb, like a tension headache....hubs always telling me to go to Drs but not necessary...they are a pain though. I hope you get it sorted soon Kev, needs medical opinion though as severe and sudden...probs all that heavy duty garden work!

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my mum suffers with headaches like those. She gets migraines aswell as the cluster headaches though, been going to the doctors for years about it. Might be connected to high blood pressure, might not, who knows? She's been told to take one ibuprofen every day even if she doesn't have a headache, it seems to have helped a bit.

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Any other symptoms such as scalp tenderness or blurring of vision? It could be a cluster headache, they can be exacerbated by some painkillers so a different painkiller might be worth trying. I would definitely recommend seeing the GP or maybe an optometrist for a sudden onset symptom like this.

 

Nope, just a sort of sensation in my right eye and ache to the rear of my ear on the same side.

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I get quite a few headaches..got woken up with one last night, still have it..they tend to last a few days behind my eyebrows around my temples...feels like a dull throb, like a tension headache....hubs always telling me to go to Drs but not necessary...they are a pain though. I hope you get it sorted soon Kev, needs medical opinion though as severe and sudden...probs all that heavy duty garden work!

 

And here's youtelling me to get mine sorted..................Sort yerslf out gal! how are they today?

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my mum suffers with headaches like those. She gets migraines aswell as the cluster headaches though, been going to the doctors for years about it. Might be connected to high blood pressure, might not, who knows? She's been told to take one ibuprofen every day even if she doesn't have a headache, it seems to have helped a bit.

 

yep, am giving ipuprofen a go as paracetamol or tramadol don't seem to help.

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