Cluster Headache Type Pain When In Midst Of Migraine

[blueskies]

A month or so ago I had the worst migraine of my life. In the past few years I have thought that I might be getting cluster migraines but they seem to get mixed up with 'normal' migraine. Not straight forward. Sort of switching from migraine to cluster and then back to migraine over a 3 day long episode. It can switch over to 'cluster' twice during these episodes.. At some point during the pain of migraine, my head pain will ratchet up to levels I've not experienced before.

For many years I was a more 'normal' migraine sufferer -- go to bed, head pounding, eventually sleep, and get over it. Then, about 8 years ago, I found my head hurt more when I lay down and I'd try to stay as upright as I could for as long as I could.

Now, when the pain gets intense I'm pacing the floor -- extremely restless --- until the OI makes me lie down and then the pain becomes the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. During this time blurring of my eyesight has gotten worse and my bp has spiked higher than it ever has before. And I didn't take my bp when in the middle of the most intense pain, I took it when the pain had settled back into 'usual type' of migraine.

My father suffered cluster headaches during his lifetime. But he was male, a very heavy drinker and smoker -- all implicated in cluster headaches. None of which applies to me. His pain would get to the point he'd be down on the floor banging his head against the floor. But my mother remembers him often waking and sitting up on the edge of the bed and then pacing around complaining of head pain. For him, his cluster headaches eventually stopped but not until he'd been the rounds with doctors and they'd discussed cutting a nerve in his face. I couldn't stand the thought of more pain by banging my head into the floor but I often do wake up with this pain in the middle of the night and sit on the edge of the bed and then pace.

I'm afraid of getting head pain that I had about a month ago, ever again. This new-ish pain does not 'throb' like the migraines I used to get. It's constant and piercing. And before I used to be able to relax my muscles to get through the pain - I had learned to handle pain and lessen it by relaxing muscles and breathing slowly and regularly but now it's like every muscle in my body is tensed and even though I try to relax them it's impossible with muscles tensed, hands clenched, like I'm bracing against the pain and my breathing comes in short sharp breaths. I seem to have no control over how I get my body to respond to the pain. I am completely vulnerable when in this state, can't help myself at all.

blue