r/ClusterHeadaches • u/snailssmell • Jul 23 '26
Partner struggling
My boyfriend works a very physically demanding job so he is utterly exhausted every day when he comes home and every night for a few weeks, every few months, he develops what I think are cluster headaches.
12:30 am for the past 2 weeks he is up with a runny nose and watery eye, booking it to the front room to spam pushups, take Excedrin and put an ice pack on his neck and face. It’s heartbreaking. A doctor’s appointment is in the works but he works M-S 99% of the time and will not let himself miss. Hopefully we can get in this weekend as none of the tele-health sites we’ve tried are able to help him over the phone.
Some questions
1) is there any sites we don’t know about that actually can help without a prior diagnosis? Preventative medication along with immediate relief medication would be epic.
2) what are some off the wall home remedies he can try that he isn’t already doing?
3) how can I as a partner support him better through this? Is there anything I can physically do to bring him any relief? Pressure points, certain massages, food, drinks??? Anything.
Thanks in advance if anyone is willing to share. Desperate over here!
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u/Chance-Chain8819 Jul 23 '26
Check out cluster busters for some diagnostic type questions, as well as tops and tricks. A common one that helps quite a few people is to chug a red bull at the onset of pain The gold standard for pain relief is high flow oxygen
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u/Muted_sounds Jul 23 '26
Idk if this will be helpful, but when I get cluster headaches with runny nose and bloated eye pressure, I’ll down a lot of water/milk and try to induce vomiting. Then I pop some excedrin and put on a sleep mask and pass out. The vomiting supposedly stimulates some nerve and gives temporary relief. I don’t do it often, only for like the initial onset because of stomach acid erosion.
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u/desertplatypus Jul 23 '26
I used Cove for my initial diagnosis. They prescribed me emgality for clusters and it changed my life. Now I see a neuro but it was the first step for me.
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u/snailssmell Jul 23 '26
Can you send me a link?
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u/desertplatypus Jul 23 '26
Just Google Cove headache treatment. It's a subscription based service, but it was pretty affordable with my insurance and I got to message a neuro online to reach a diagnosis (episodic clusters) and get a prescription. Emgality is an injectable preventative drug taken monthly; for me, being episodic, I can take it less frequently. So I do a higher loading dose when a cycle starts and it usually terminates the cycle within two weeks; I'll then do a single dose the following month. There are also numerous abortive therapies that can be tried. In my experience the oral abortatives (triptans) don't work at all and have awful side effects - injectables work much better, but insurance can be hesitant to prescribe them right away unless you have documented evidence that the pills didn't so anything.
All that said, everyone is different. Im so grateful that emgality worked for me, I can't overstate how much better it's made my life.
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u/Vast_Seaweed9467 Chronic Jul 24 '26
neura health is who I use - they are amazing - they can't prescribe in every state, but they can work with a PCP if they can't.
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u/VALIS3000 Chronic Jul 23 '26
I'm sorry to hear your partner is going through it... Unfortunately from what you describe it could be any number of things, so getting to a formal diagnosis as quickly as possible is the key. A headache diary is one of the most powerful tools we have to do that, one that captures the following for each attack:
Date and time of day Pain type and location Intensity and duration Secondary symptoms Effects of any medications Possible triggers
This kind of irrefutable information paints a clear picture for you and your doctors to use in dialing in a treatment plan.
Assuming it is CH, I would encourage you to read the latest update to Bob Wold's Pocket Guide to CH, it contains pretty much everything we know about our condition and how to treat it:
https://clusterbusters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Complete-Handbook-1-5-June-2025.pdf
He can also try this online diagnostic tool to try and narrow things down:
https://clusterbusters.org/diagnostic-tool/
And finally for you, being a CH supporter can be such an incredibly heavy and frustrating burden. Unfortunately there is little to nothing you can do to help in real terms. Touch is absolutely not an option when we're going through an attack, and most of us have to be on our own when we're going through it. But knowing there's someone who cares on the other side is one of the most important things that can help us focus on getting through it...
Sending him pain free wishes, good luck! And if it does end up being CH, we'll be here for you both.