Help!! Husband having sudden, severe and frequent headaches

[azuresky]

Hi... well my husband is 48 yo, healthy, works every day. He has had headaches over the years, but this is a new twist.

Over the last two weeks, every night and now and then during the day, he will have up to 3 severely painful headaches, always behind his left eye, along his eyebrow sort of. They last about 30 to 45 minutes and tonight they are back to back. He says he can feel it coming on and then they fade... only to return.

These headaches seem to just take him out. He's frozen in pain so bad he cannot speak.

So far he does not describe any numbness or nausea.

What should we do? What is this?

All help appreciated.

[caback2FL]

Originally Posted by azuresky

Hi... well my husband is 48 yo, healthy, works every day. He has had headaches over the years, but this is a new twist.

Over the last two weeks, every night and now and then during the day, he will have up to 3 severely painful headaches, always behind his left eye, along his eyebrow sort of. They last about 30 to 45 minutes and tonight they are back to back. He says he can feel it coming on and then they fade... only to return.

These headaches seem to just take him out. He's frozen in pain so bad he cannot speak.

So far he does not describe any numbness or nausea.

What should we do? What is this?

All help appreciated.

It sounds like cluster headaches, migrane. I have them, and they can be disabling at times....

[azuresky]

Originally Posted by caback2FL

It sounds like cluster headaches, migrane. I have them, and they can be disabling at times....

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about if that could be it. This has been going on for a while. He says he can feel them coming on. I'm not sure what that means exactly.

How can a cluster migraine, if this is for sure what it is, be treated? Should he go to a doctor about this? It seems pretty bad. He is is such bad pain he doesn't want to move, even to take ibuprofen. When he does take ibuprofen it doesn't seem to have much if any effect.

[caback2FL]

Originally Posted by Christian77

Take your husband to a Doctor. Do not go to an internet message board for him to be diagnosed by complete strangers.

I agree, I only go on here to listen for any advice, and it makes me fell better knowing I'm not alone in this. But I would not be diagnosed by others on here. He needs to go to a doctor ASAP. That is very important.

Ibuprofen does nothing for my headaches. Excedrin for migraines does a little. I have an appointment in 2 weeks for this same problem he has.

[paigenfl]

I have had Cluster Headaches since I was around 23 or 24. I am now 38. It took the Dr.s forever to diagnose and find treatments for me. Clusters come in "clusters" multiple headaches that are excruciating over days and weeks or even months at a time. Then they can go away for a month or a year before they come back. There are preventative meds that you can take such as Calan or Verapamil and many others. Clusters are the most painful of all headaches to include classic migraines. Clusters are notorious for coming on at the same time of the day every day and also are know to wake you from a dead sleep the majority of the time. My nuerologist suffered from them too so it made for a nice relationship between the two of us because he understood. I have used successfully the Triptan drugs such as Imitrex, Maxalt and many others. Though these are not the safest drugs to take they worked for me. and still do when I have a cluster of headaches. Mine are so severe that I don't care at the time if the drug is dangerous. But there are other alternatives too. Such as pure oxegyn, and other drugs that can help that are not the triptan class. I have tried it all I think. I have now been over 1 and 1/2 years without a spell of the Clusters. I hope I have grown out of them which can happen. I feel for anyone experiencing this. It has got to be the worst thing in the world to feel and can affect your life adversly and emotionally, Most people do not understand it and will treat you as if you are a hypochondriact. But don't worry you aren't. It is real and also a good source of info is with the O.U.C.H. group. It is an organization that is made up of people in our shoes with cluster headahes. ****** OUCH and read their website. IT also has many links to other websites and information. But most of all find a neurologist that understands these headahes. If the Dr. understands your treatment will go much better. Also one word of caution. If you over medicate these headaches it can cause rebound headaches that are even worse if you can believe that they can get any worse. Your best bet is to get them under control and start a treatment to prevent them from coming on! Good luck!