Cluster headache

Family, Education, Health and Pets
21
Regular magnesium supplements can help with some headaches.

22
My father suffered from ch for over 20 years and at least for 8 hours a day. Luckily nowadays there are more ways and better medication to deal with it.

A friend of mine had to take shots when he felt signs of ch.

Then he had an operation, They implant an electric trigger in his head which he can control by remote.

It seemed to work pretty well.

If you need a contact I can contact him. But that would be in the Zurich/Lucern Area. First step is to see a specialist and decide what to do next based on your individual symptoms.

The Clinic in Basel that is specialized would be the "Schmerzklinik Basel":

http://www.schmerzklinik.ch/service-...rzzentrum.html

23
Though not with cluster, which is different from migraine-type headaches for which magnesium regularly helps.

Current procedure for CH is verapamil as a prophylactic, and various triptans in case of attack, combined with high flow pure oxygen. A neurologist will sort you out, we went to the ER when we had just arrived and verapamil / triptans weren't working - they set OH on O2 and sent us packing to a neurologist who connected us to LugenLiga.

I also heard about the surgery but for OH the medicine / O2 (chronic, daily verapamil; 2 bad outbursts a year) helps so he's not particularly keen on that. YMMV I guess

24
I'm not so sure about that. Here is a blog from one cluster headache sufferer who claims that magnesium really helped:

http://acandleinthedark.blogspot.ch/...-sufferer.html

"Since I've started taking the magnesium supplements, I haven't had any nighttime headaches. If I stay late in bed, I will still definitely get a morning headache, but it will come late. For example, today, I slept till noon and was awoken by a headache, but even now, it is very, very mild. A slight annoyance more than anything.

This is unique, as far as my memory goes, so I'm leaning towards attributing it to the magnesium. When I last had headaches, it was an off/on sort of thing. I either had the headaches, or I didn't. There were no real degrees of suffering of which to speak.

A further update on the Magnesium supplements. I feel confident that the Magnesium is having an effect..."

Also, here is a study that found many cluster headache sufferers to have magnesium deficiencies and that intravenous magnesium supplements helped:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8550360

"Measurements of ionized magnesium may prove useful in elucidating the pathogenesis of cluster headache and in identifying patients who may benefit from treatment with magnesium."

25
That's quite interesting. I always associated the magnesium link with migraines but maybe there's something in it. I'll tell my OH about it, maybe the neurologist will want to test out this theory next time a bad period hits.

26
I've read that a lot of people have magnesium deficiencies but don't know it. In general, it's good for nerve and muscle function. If I get "achy" (e.g. from sitting at the computer for too long ), I'll take some magnesium and it seems to work a bit like a mild muscle relaxer. It's also great for constipation. I do suggest taking it in the evening, though, because it can sometimes make you a little sleepy-ish (or just relaxed).

I'm not a doctor, though, so maybe I should throw in a disclaimer here that I'm not actually directly telling anyone to take magnesium supplements without first consulting their doctor.

27
Just thought I'd add I haven't had one since I originally posted.

28
Yeah! You've found the cure - posting on EF!!!!

Seriously though, hope it stays that way.