Headaches

So Eric found out yesterday why he has migraines this time of year. Unfortunately, it's not allergy-related, it just happens to be about this time, once a year, for weeks when it happens. It's called cluster headaches, also "affectionately" called suicide headaches. Fun, right? Basically the pain is so bad, usually behind one eye, that the people who have them would rather bang their head against the wall and some people have even committed suicide to relieve their pain. These people get depressed, etc., which does fit how he's been lately and the poor man gets them at night and then can't sleep. He's even thought of taking 2 weeks or so off from work until this subsides, which would severely hurt his work progress, so you know it has to hurt very badly for him to say that. He has an appointment with a headache specialist/acupuncturist today, referred to him by his father, so the two of them are going to go and see what that guy has to say. There's not much you can do for these except wait them out, unless you want to be doped up on morphine or lithium (!!!) and not be able to function! His doctor encouraged him to basically drink water constantly all day long for the oxygen in it and you can even breathe in pure oxygen to help with the symptoms. (think oxygen bar, i.e.) Nothing is guaranteed to work, there's no definite cause, no cure as of now. So we'll be researching this and seeing what we can do before it hits him again next year. Of course it hasn't ended yet this time, but it should soon. Pray for us, especially him, as this has been compared to pain worse than giving birth. We've both been very emotional, as he's not getting any sleep, I'm not getting enough, and it scares him to think he's going to have to live with this forever. And whenever he's upset, it makes me get upset, LOL. I'm just thankful it's not a brain tumor or something! Here's the link below on cluster headaches if you'd like to read more about it. I didn't know all of this about them and definitely didn't realize it occurs in mostly men. I'm just glad that now I know he's not being a baby, it really does hurt that bad! Keep us in your prayers and if you've heard of any research or anything that works, feel free to pass that along! Thank you!
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cluster-headache/DS00487/DSECTION=10