All of this is wonderful advice and I've picked a couple of great tips so thank you to everyone!!
I just wanted to really stress - drink a lot of water daily and always stay hydrated. I was never a "thirsty" person so I never listened to anyone tell me this and suffered for a long, long time needlessly and I wish someone would have really made me understand how much this very simple thing would help. Water helps tremendously - I now drink little bits of it throughout the day and find I am actually thirsty again. My headaches are down from once or twice per month to once in awhile. As an added bonus, it's done lovely things to my complexion.
ALSO, when you start to get the first indicators that a headache might be coming, there's a very short window to try and stop or lessen it. Drink a couple of glasses of water immediately and take something or do whatever you do, but don't think "maybe it will go away" - those are the ones that last forever. Do something right away.
Good health everyone!
Quoting: scorpio66 If the pain is always on one side of the head
- behind the eye
- eye lid drooping
- nose running
- excruciating pain almost blinding
- attack lasts 45 min to 2 hours
- attack periods months then months pain free
- OTC pharma useless
Then it is most likely cluster headaches.
For those of you that have it and are mis-diagnosed.
If you do have them I can tell you what works for me (as a CH sufferer)
- go to bed and get up at the exact same time every day
- keep your head at a constant temperature (use something to keep head warm)
- keep really strong coffee without condiments ready in the fridge - it aborts or lessens attacks
- do NOT apply pressure anywhere: it will only escalate pain
During the time of the most severe attacks my nights looked like this:
2 hours of sleep
awake from the pain 45 minutes attack
2 hours of sleep
awake from the pain 45 minutes attack
2 hours of sleep
awake from the pain 45 minutes attack
1 hour of sleep
awake exhausted
This basically stopped when I started to use a fleece blanket wrapped around my head at night.
Also trying to lie down on the couch: within 5 minutes 45 minute attack.
It does get more controllable over time but 95% of the cases are for life.
The pain is worse than giving birth (women witness statement) and like being operated on the eye without anesthetic.
If you do have it try the CH forums - and remember my advice.
