Cluster headaches are nicknamed
suicide headaches because they lead so many of their sufferers to desire that
end. Wikipedia describes them this way:
Cluster headache (CH) is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, severe headaches on one side
of the head, typically around the eye. There are often accompanying autonomic
symptoms during the headache such as eye watering, nasal congestion and swelling
around the eye, typically confined to the side of the head with the pain.
Cluster headache is named after the
demonstrated grouping of headache attacks occurring together (cluster). Individuals
typically experience repeated attacks of excruciatingly severe unilateral headache
pain. Cluster headache attacks often occur periodically. The cause has not
been identified.
While there is no known cure, cluster
headaches can sometimes be prevented and acute attacks treated. Recommended
treatments include oxygen or a fast-acting triptan. Primary recommended
prevention is verapamil.
Steroids may be used as a transitional treatment and may prevent attack
recurrence until preventative treatments take effect. The condition affects
approximately 0.2% of the general population, and men are more commonly
affected.
Migraines and cluster headaches differ in
the following ways:
Migraines: nausea, sensitivity to light, and vomiting; preceded
by an “aura” or visual disturbance; i.e. flashing lights, zigzag lines, or a
temporary loss of vision.
Cluster:
generally on one side of the head, watery eyes, runny nose; come on suddenly;
last for shorter period of time but they cluster for a few weeks to three
months.
Now,
after that simple definition (ha, ha), I will tell you the story of the three
men in my family who suffered with these suicidal headaches. I thank God
they were healed before they succumbed.
David Kline Shirley (headaches began in 1972 at age
51):
I married into the Shirley family
when my father-in-law was 47. Daddy Kline worked in the Property Department of
the Montgomery (AL) Police Department. He continued to work after these
debilitating headaches began but it was soon apparent that sleepless nights and
excruciating pain didn’t allow for a good work ethic the next day.
Eventually, he just stayed home and
sat at the kitchen table with coffee and cigarettes and nursed his head the
best way he knew how. We later learned caffeine would make the headache worse
and nicotine would help by opening the blood vessels and taking off the
pressure. I remember watching him hold his head with a wet washcloth and wiping
the continual dripping from his eye.
Since my
husband had already been suffering with these headaches for four years himself,
we knew what was involved. I’m sure it was horrific for my mother-in-law,
though, for she was there through the headaches, as well as the doctor visits,
the medication attempts, applying for disability, etc.
His
headaches finally ceased in his mid-sixties.
Ronald Kline Shirley (headaches began in 1968 at age 21):
My husband’s headaches began on his
third deployment to Viet Nam when he was in the Navy. We were engaged at the
time and he wrote me about his “headaches” but I didn’t have a clue of their
intensity. My own mother suffered with migraines and I knew what those were
like. We married within two days of his return but by then this episode of
headaches had ceased.
My first experience as the spouse of
a sufferer took place in Oxford, MS when Ron was attending Ole Miss (1970). I
believe he had two cluster series during that four-year period. The pain was so
excruciating that we would make a trip to the ER, always trying to convince the
doctor to give him something strong enough to knock him (or the pain) out. He would say this is so strong you may not get him in the house before he collapses. Two hours later we were back at the ER for another shot. The doctor just couldn’t believe that his dose of pain shot wouldn’t do the trick. We went through duo
trips to the ER so many times it was ridiculous—and sad that Ron had to suffer
so.
The second series of headaches came
after our daughter, Kristen, was born. Then it was pack up both her and her
daddy to go to the ER for a shot. Eventually, the doctors consented to give Ron
enough comfort for only one trip to the ER per night. Hallelujah!
Another cluster series happened
while in the Philippines (1977). The Navy decided they should do something
about this disability so they sent Ron to the hospital at Clark AFB, fifty
miles away from where we were stationed. I was pregnant with our second child at
the time so naturally went into labor while he was gone. By the time he got to
me, Russ was already born and Ron was admitted to the hospital in Subic Bay. At
this point, the Navy sent us all stateside to “get to the bottom of this.” The
result was a medical separation from the Navy . . . a short-circuit to the
career he loved.
In May
1980, when I was pregnant with our third child, Aaron, we walked the aisle
together and accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
In
1981 Ron experienced his last cluster series while working at the shipyard in
Pascagoula. We were new residents to the Gulf Coast. I found an Assembly of God
church in Biloxi, MS. The associate pastor and his wife, Don and Lee Ann,
visited one afternoon when Ron was at work. She asked if there was anything
they could pray with me about and I described Ron’s cluster headaches.
That
next Sunday I was sitting in the third row from the stage when Lee Ann stopped
the whole service and explained Ron’s headaches to the congregation. Then she
asked Pastor Broadus to pray for Ron and everyone joined him. (This was quite a large church and I'd never seen them stop the service to pray for someone.)
That
night Ron had the worse headache he’d had in a very long time. He told me,
“Please don’t pray for me anymore!”
The
next night he didn’t have a headache—unheard of when experiencing a cluster.
The next night he didn’t have a headache, and the next, and the next. I asked
him every morning, “So you didn’t have a headache . . . huh?”
He
would never give God the credit or the glory for his headache relief and thought,
Wait and see if they start up again.
Finally, after about two weeks of no headaches, they were gone forever. Thank You, Lord!
Aaron Matthew Shirley (headaches began at age 11):
My
son’s headaches began in 1991 when we lived in Vancleave, MS. Vomiting from the pain would finally give him some
relief. After that I would read healing scriptures to him and would pray after
each one, applying it to him personally. This helped him fall asleep. I
still have these scriptures in my Bible:
Psalm 6:2
... O Lord, heal [Aaron], for [his] bones are troubled.
Psalm 41:2-3
The Lord will
preserve [Aaron]
and keep him alive, the Lord will strengthen
him on his
bed of illness; You will sustain him
on his sickbed.
Psalm 103:2-3
Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits: Who forgives
all your iniquities, Who heals all [Aaron’s] diseases…
Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely,
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by
God, and afflicted. But He was wounded
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by
His stripes [Aaron is] healed.
Malachi 4:2
But
to [Aaron] who fear[s] My name the Sun of
Righteousness shall arise with healing
in His
wings…
Matthew 18:19
“Again
I say to you that if
two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for [Aaron] by
My Father in heaven.
Luke 9:1-2
Then He called His twelve
disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and
to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal [Aaron] the sick.
John 15:7
If [Aaron] abide in Me, and My words abide in [Aaron], you will ask what you desire, and it shall be
done for [Aaron].
Acts 3:16
And His name, through faith in His name, has
made [Aaron] strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given [Aaron] this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all.
1 Cor 12:28-31
And God has appointed
these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that
miracles, then gifts of healings [for Aaron]…
2 Cor 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that [Aaron] might become the righteousness
of God in Him.
Gal 3:13
Christ has redeemed [Aaron] from the curse
of the law, having become a curse for us for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs
on a tree.”
Heb 10:36
For you have need of endurance, so that
after you have done the will of God, [Aaron] may receive the promise...
Heb 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
James 4:7
Therefore [Aaron] submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you.
James 5:13-16
Is anyone among you
suffering? Let him pray…Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders
of the church, and let them pray
over [Aaron], anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord. And the
prayer of faith will save the sick,
and the Lord will raise [Aaron] up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that [Aaron] may be healed.
The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much.
1 Peter 2:24
...who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness—by whose stripes [Aaron is] healed.
We
moved to Japan in May 1992 when my husband was selected to work on a Navy
contract through his company. On one of Aaron’s overnights at a friend’s house
he had another debilitating headache. The poor mother called me the next day
frantic about what she should have done. That was Aaron’s last cluster
headache. He was twelve.
My two older children,
Kristen and Russell, never developed these headaches. We learned the earlier
one develops cluster headaches the sooner they will dissipate. Thank you, Lord,
for Your mercy and healing virtue over my husband and my son.
I’ve heard it said
that only the intelligent suffer with headaches—
I’m so glad I’m
ignorant. 😊
