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Is it Cluster Headache or not?

Three weeks ago, my neurologist N.P. diagnosed me as having cluster headache. I read many online sites about the symptoms of the cluster headache. Also, I read about many people's personal experiences with cluster headache. I am not convinced if I have cluster headache or maybe I have something else. My first experience was back in first week of August, when I was at dept. store all of sudden my vision became small and uncomfortable. I don't know what's going on. I have to go home and be in the bed and cover my eyes with wet towel. I don't know if that is vertigo or not. Then I suffered with sinus pain especially on the top of nose bridge and my eyes became very dry. But I don't see red eyes just regular white. I went to ENT and they told me I don't have any infection in the sinus after looked at Catscan. He said it is possible I have migraine and referred me to Neurologist. Because I have to wait for long time for that appointment so I went to my PCP and she said that I have atypical migraine because I told her that headache never go away.

I woke in the morning with dull headache all day to bedtime. Some period of very painful headache attacks especially in my both eyes but most of time in right side of my head. Dry eyes bother me most of the time. No matter what level pain of headache and it move around from top of head to sinus to face to back of my neck and my upper back. After that neurologist visit, she started to put me on verapamil even though I don't have blood pressure problems, indomethacin which does nothing for my pain at all, and muscle relaxer that gave me weird feelings. I am still taking verapamil as it does made a big difference for me. No more face pain, less headache attacks or less pain in my eye-ache. I need to mention that I thought I might have fungus infection because of cpap humidifier which I did not clean often. At the end of August, I felt the burning sensation in the back of my head, I thought it's shingles because I had rash in my back head at the end of July when my head shaved off and saw it. Most doctors told me that shingles not related to what I am having now.

I still have dull headache now. MRI negative ct scan negative, blood panel tests negative. List of symptoms so far in four months since that I experienced. I never have running nose but sometimes dry nose. 1.Dull headache that never go away. 2. Dry eyes almost all the time, but you don't see them in red vessels. But not so bad now. 3. Vision sometime like as if I have tunnel vision even though I can see wide. 4. Earaches Verapmil helped those symptoms below here to go away. 5. Pressure on head 6. Tickling sensation on scalp come and go for first two months. 7. Face pain (tighten muscles) 8. Blink right eye so often

  1. Hi Deafclusterhead,

    Thank you for your question. Good to hear verapamil is helping reducing attack frequency, as this medication can be used for migraine attack prevention.

    Cluster headache attacks are some of the worst pain possible and rarely described as "dull". One of the hallmark symptoms during a cluster headache attack is movement - people are unable to sit still, lay down, or relax during one. Many bang their heads on whatever they can to help distract them from the tremendous pain.

    From the symptoms you describe, it sounds more like migraine attack with aura, sometimes called atypical migraine. Facial pain, runny nose, congestion, cheek and tooth pain and many more can all be migraine attack symptoms. Let me share our information on migraine with aura here; https://migraine.com/?s=migraine+with+aura.

    I hope this helps! Keep us posted on how you are doing!
    Nancy

    1. Hi: I agree with Nancy, you definitely are NOT suffering from Cluster Headaches no matter what your neurologist has to say. You might want to consider going to a "Headache Specialist", which is a doctor, typically a neurologist that specialized in headache patients. Personally when I started getting my Chronic Cluster Headaches they were misdiagnosed for close to 10 years by many doctors before I found the "right one".

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