IDENTIFYING CLUSTER HEADACHES
I had three major episodes happen between 4 and 7 in the morning and last for two hours. I cannot walk for a couple more hours and don’t feel normal until about 8 pm. I wake with a headache or head pressure, very hot, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, heart racing, muscle weakness, loss of consciousness in and out, vomiting and difficulty speaking. I cannot get up to get help. The first time it took an hour to get to a phone which was right by the bed. I am very hot for about an hour. I then begin to shake and have extreme pain in the cervical area and lower back. It is horrific to experience these episodes. They checked my brain for stroke, tumors, seizures, and then placed a heart monitor on me—with nothing found, no diabetes, no cervical problems. My GP decided they were cluster migraines. I refused the calcium channel blockers (because he seemed uncertain and I felt he had overprescribed proton pump inhibitors and ignored me when I complained of side effects). I had discovered they deplete the system of magnesium. I have been taking 800 mg. magnesium and b-complex and a low dose premarin. I have done very well for 7 months. I started having major acid reflux again though my diet has been greatly altered. I sporadically started taking protonics again. – Sandy H.
headaches, cluster attacks may indeed be as short as 2 hours, but the muscle weakness and shakiness and the impairments in speech, swallowing and consciousness are not seen with cluster. A variant of migraine known as basilar-type can be associated with a number of other symptoms such as difficulties with speech and swallowing but these typically begin at a young age and the attacks almost always last for many hours or days. The headache may merely be a secondary symptom of another medical condition, and it appears your physicians have considered options such as seizures, stroke-like episodes, or problems with your heart. Other possibilities can include unusual reactions to medications or metabolic/hormonal imbalances. I have seen several cases similar to yours which have eventually been diagnosed as panic attacks. Often patients are surprised to learn such attacks can awaken them from sleep without any cause, and these can provoke a number of different symptoms beyond the expected sense of fear or anxiety.
Robert Kaniecki, MD
The Headache Center University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA
IDIOPATHIC STABBING HEADACHE
headaches. Why do people get this? – Rosemary C.
I have what they call stabbing or icepick
The episodes do sound alarming and given the assortment of symptoms in addition to headache they may represent any number of diagnostic possibilities. The headache may either be primary (migraine, cluster, tension), as the source of the problem, or secondary, merely a symptom of another problem. Of the primary
I wish we knew! These sharp pains in the head have carried a number of different labels over the years, including idiopathic stabbing headache, needle-inthe-eye syndrome, and jabs-and-jolts syndrome. The “idiopathic” term is illuminating since this implies the cause is unknown. Now known formally as primary stabbing headache, I have always preferred the term you used, “ice pick” headaches, since patients immediately identify that term with their own experiences. Such head pains are brief, lasting seconds with perhaps minutes of lingering pain, and may be isolated to a single location in some people while others experience
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