Tammy's Experience

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Cluster Headache arrived in October 1999 after a long and difficult migraine attack. I'd been dealing with migraine my whole life, so initially it was assumed that these new symptoms were merely a worsening of my migraine disease. However, these attacks were fundamentally different -- far more severe and debilitating than anything I'd ever experienced.

I was fortunate to be formally diagnosed and treated within the first 6 months. My family doctor referred me to a neurologist who happened to also suffer from Cluster Headache. That made the diagnostic process a lot easier!

I've learned a lot over the years and continue to learn new information all the time. Currently, I am experiencing fairly decent control thanks to Botox. Initially it was prescribed to treat chronic migraine, not clusters. It did work very well at preventing most migraine attacks. What neither my doctor or I expected was the effect it had on clusters. I received my first set of injections in December 2014. Since that time, my chronic cluster headache has transformed to episodic. The attacks are a lot less frequent and most are milder and respond better to treatment. That doesn't mean that I don't still get some nasty ones that drive me to pull out my hair and beat my head against the wall sometimes. Oxygen is my saving grace. I also have Toradol injections as a backup when cluster and migraine decide to party together.

I have a passion for making sure that cluster headache patients have access to good information and effective treatments. Few of us ever meet another patient, so online support groups are an essential part of our ability to cope. Those connections keep us grounded.