Byron Pitts Shares His Cluster Headache Journey

[berriosenid]

I'm glad you found help, that is big. You, me, so many other's but is not just a headache is BRUTAL.

[chrismendoza]

Shadow boxing cures mine within 10 min every single time. It has to be a hard core, make yourself sweat and breathe hard shadow boxing. Mixed with jumping Jax and jumping squats to get your cardio going. I’m sure it’s just the fact that I get my blood pumping and oxygen flowing heavy that helps, so try it and come back to let me know if it works. I’ve suffered from clusters for 15 years and this is the only thing that has helped demolish the headache fast.

[michaelsapienza]

I have Cluster Headache, and it is no headache... it's an assault on the human spirit.

[elizabethcat]

I am so sorry to hear that about him. I pray he receives healing. Cluster headaches are absolute torture. Please God help him. 🥺🙏🙏

[nc]

“The fear I felt, the sadness that overcame me as the pain worsened would often send me into a deep depression.”

exactly. the pain itself is excruciating. but add to that the exhaustion after a headache and the fear of the next one, the isolation of having to lock yourself away for weeks or months at a time, and the suffocating misery of doing this over and over again…

unfortunately i have yet to find a decent treatment.

[mikebilodeau]

I have suffered cluster headaches for decades. An occasional break, but mostly every day. My neurologist gave me Sumatriptan (Imetrix) injections and it has saved me...

[reginaldklewis]

This is so heartbreaking for me I'm 14 years in with this horrible body, mind and soul crushing disease, the signs should be so common with doctors and hospitals but we all have to find out through youtube University like this and ive pulled 2 teeth out in the last year because of miss diagnoses 😢 omfg!

[DefectivePieceofChalk]

Unfortunately, cluster headaches can have various causes and consequently, what treatment works for one person, may not work for another. My cluster headaches have likely been caused by frequent blunt force trauma to my head when I was a kid. The blood flow in my head, especially around the temples, is restricted. I have many triggers that can cause a cluster headache, from intense physical labour to extreme temperature shifts and several other things, though they can also come out of nowhere.

Usually I can feel a cluster headache come up around a minute in advance. At that point the only thing I can do is find a place to sit it out. I had one recently while I was grocery shopping. Now imagine that I'm a massive, burly, bearded guy. I'm the kind of dude who, at 2, 05 meters, towers over people. That massive, imposing figure I am, crumples up pretty much out of nowhere. Some people start realizing something is seriously wrong when I'm unresponsive, just slowly rocking back and forth, graspig my head with both hands. I barely even register people grouping up around me, poking me to see if I'm ok. Eventually one of them calls an ambulance on me. About an hour later I'm slowly regaining my composure, I call my sister, who lives in the same city, she picks me up and drives me home. Trust me, it sucks. The pain is so intense, it literally overtakes you. All you feel, know, are at that moment is a screaming, searing pain. I think anyone who suffers from cluster headaches knows full well why so many people with this condition try end it all. I want to say I'm strong. But during one of those moments, I'm nothing but a heap of misery. That pain is so intense that I need a day to recuperate. In a bad phase, I get a cluster headache nearly every day. For me, they last anywhere between an hour to half a day. Painkillers do absolutely nothing.

[johnnybizzle]

I can tell you they are excruciating and peculiar. They'll occur at the same time of day sometimes for days in a row, maybe longer. They'll come on fast and hit like a freight train, like a hot poker searing the inside of your brain from your eye to about your ear on one side of your head. Your eye may droop and water. Your nose may run. You may begin to rock back and forth and hit your head on something, maybe as a natural reaction to disrupt the feeling if only for a second. You might groan and moan and hit things. Sometimes it's hard to be still; it feels like you have to move and have to rock back and forth. It's very intense and very painful. I've used oxygen for the last couple clusters I've had, and I think it works to get the headache to go away more quickly. Not much else seemed to for me, but I may not have tried as many treatments as others. I get the clusters about once every 2 years, and I just started one last night - had a precursor headache around midnight that woke me up and then another a couple hours later that was more like a normal cluster headache. If you suffer from them, don't give up. I know terrible thoughts may enter your mind when you're having one, but remember, it won't last forever, and yes, you are stronger. Hang in there. Be tough. Love you guys.

[Wodenson]

im one of the 15% that get them 2-6 times everyday with only 2 days a month relief, the pain of a cluster headache is the most humbling agony ive ever had and i used to be a selfharmer

[Scottsumthinsay]

I brain freeze myself and it helps with Clusters better than any medication. It reduces the time spent suffering and kinda reduces the pain. Sometimes I alternate the ice with a hot rag. I wait till the brain freeze from my ice starts, than immediately replace it with the hottest rag I can stand. Repeat until Cluster headache is gone. This is better than any medication I promise. It’s not immediate, but definitely reduced the pain and time spent suffering. Also, as soon as you feel the slightest pain about to start, go get the ice. That is your Q to get your ice and freeze your brain.

[ClusterHeadSurvivor]

Hey Byron, there is many treatments for CH. D3 Regimine, Mushrooms, and last Stem Cell. Im the 1st person in the world to have stem cell for clusters and it worked. Im currently 4 years 4 months remission. Seem YT page for actual procedure filmed by my wife.

[shunobvlogs]

This is my first time suffering from cluster headache...and i dont want to live anymore...

[soulywomen]

Ive never felt a burning searing stabbing pulsating pain like this before. Every freaking Fall, here we go. It feels like the worst and relentless brain freeze is the only way i can describe. The only thing that helps is prednisone for me. Does anyone else have the headache all day but more of a low pain/migraine pain and then the cluster symptoms spring into action every few hrs and subside again into a low level "headache"? Mine switches sides too. Nose runs, is congested... i dont know. I do know i cant lie still at its worst.

[bjohnson]

Anyone who takes migraines lightly has never had one. I suffer from cluster headaches and it's debilitating.

[Brad-ls]

In my case it took 4yrs until being diagnosed with Chronic Cluster headache, by a professor of Neurology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham UK. Daily lithium dose helps reduce the cycle frequency, and Sumatriptan injections along with high flow oxygen helps keep the suffering to a more manageable level. More people win the lottery than being diagnosed with this condition. The condition needs to be renamed, as the word “headache”, does not correctly describe what sufferer’s have to entail.
It’s important to stray strong, eat well, and exercise when possible!
If you’re here because you’ve been diagnosed, then congratulations! With the correct medication It only gets better from now. You will get that life back you fought you had lost.
Stay strong everyone!

[barrykirsch]

Cluster is like a hot fire stoker going through top skull behind eyeball through nasal cavity into jaw

[troytroy]

Thanks...this means so much to me. I just started getting them 3 weeks ago.

[v.l]

psychedelics saved my life...i dont use meds anymore for 5 years now...just psychedelics and oxygen.. DMT kills the pain in seconds no matter how bad it is

[HinaM-pmvl]

Everyone suffering from cluster headaches needs to check vitamin d and magnesium levels!!!! It’s very closely linked!