I had cluster headaches after AZ vaccine

[TwoBreakingIntoOne]

WWYD?
I had my first vaccine in jan. I got a headache immediately but was OK after paracetamol. 2 weeks later I got a migraine which turned into 9 days of cluster headaches. Half way through i was so dizzy that I couldn't even crawl on the floor and I threw up. I have had migraines but not for several years. I spoke to the GP who gave me a prescription for migraine relief and advised soluble aspirin every day which I've been taking
The headaches/dizziness gradually improved. I have an appt for my second jab on Monday but I am now worried about the neuro symptoms

@JimmyGrimble sorry you have them. I hope the frequency isn’t too high for you. DH can years without but this byes he’s had the longest “bout” ever. Up to three times a day every other day. Thankfully the injections do help - before they were available nothing worked at all.

I’m currently in remission @SteveArnottsbeadyeyes but mine tend to ramp up around the summer solstice so I’m building up my sumatriptan stash! I get them during the night too - that’s fun! I’m a teacher so have a care plan but I have often been seen lying with my head down and my bottom in the air moaning in the library with the lights off! CH is a total bastard. They don’t know what causes it and it just comes and goes and causes havoc. Best wishes to your husband.

Surely the GP must have had some concerns about blood clots or they would not have prescribed aspirin?

@jimmygrimble do you think it's something to do with long days, light etc as per summer solstice or allergy associated as grass pollen peaks then?

@JimmyGrimble

I’m currently in remission *@SteveArnottsbeadyeyes* but mine tend to ramp up around the summer solstice so I’m building up my sumatriptan stash! I get them during the night too - that’s fun! I’m a teacher so have a care plan but I have often been seen lying with my head down and my bottom in the air moaning in the library with the lights off! CH is a total bastard. They don’t know what causes it and it just comes and goes and causes havoc. Best wishes to your husband.

You could set your watch by my DH during his last bout of them, 4:30am without fail. Like someone flipped a switch. It seems to have stopped for now, his neurologist wants him on daily verapamil and to have sumatriptan injections for attacks but the GP is dragging their feet so he only has the sumatriptan tablets which just don't work fast enough.

Glad to hear you are in remission. Long may it last!

Apologies for hijacking thread but 👋to other CH sufferers, I’m CCH & was finally diagnosed 2 yrs ago.....interesting to read others experiences something you don’t often come across given it’s rarity....luckily I’m under a good neurologist currently on the injectable sumatriptans / verapamil / topiramate regime, just waiting for my HOOF form for home 02 to go through

....& I wholly agree with the poster above....I’d take migraine over CH any day!...at least you can take pain relief for migraine....no form of pain relief is known to work for CH 🤬

@Tryingtryingandtrying it’s a well documented phenomenon that CH increases or reappears around the spring and summer solstice. I read somewhere that it has something to do with the hippocampus. CH is oft misdiagnosed as ENT related eg sinusitis etc I did read about a medical device that may help by disrupting pain signals ... last week in the guardian I think. I’ll not get my hopes up ... the last mooted cure was supposed to be Botox injections but it never came to anything.

Aah @DeadButDelicious ...sympathies to him. At my worst I have had attacks every two hours every other night for weeks at a time. If it had been every night I think I might have killed my self. It’s so awful to be in agony and not have any options. I too have a couple of injections but I’m mostly expected to rely on sumatriptan tablets ... which as you say just don’t work fast enough.
@missmeg3leg ... you’re very lucky to be offered oxygen therapy. My GP just laughed and said it was too expensive. My neurologist had a fit but it did no good and the answer is still no!

Here’s the guardian link:
www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/03/nhs-expands-use-of-device-that-zaps-away-cluster-headaches

@Tryingtryingandtrying ... the pollen thing could be related ... I get a weepy eye and nasal congestion during my attacks and I do get hay fever!

People hear the word 'headache' and immediately think it's like a migraine. It's not.

In the same way people hear the word “migraine” and think it’s like a headache. It’s not.

@FizzyTarte if you are a migraneur you have my sympathy. CH just presents differently. I’m not trying, at all, to dismiss your pain.

@FizzyTarte

People hear the word 'headache' and immediately think it's like a migraine. It's not.

In the same way people hear the word “migraine” and think it’s like a headache. It’s not.

I suffer from migraines (mostly ocular) myself and they are awful and in no way like a regular 'headache'. Cluster headaches however are an entirely different animal.

@JimmyGrimble as an aside my DH switched to Babylon for his doctors (so the online one) well before everything went online. He tends to get more expensive treatments much easier than he did with his own GP. Sometimes one will balk a bit at the injections (I think they cost £50 each and he gets them in batches of about 20) but he does always get them

@TwoBreakingIntoOne did you get your second dose? I hope it worked out ok and the headaches went away.