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Muzzychuck
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A newbie quietly enters...
« on: May 19th, 2004, 10:35am » |
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Hi there all.
As this is my first post I'd like to buy you all a virtual drink at the virtual bar with my virtual credit card so we can all get virtually drunk... 
Never having fully checked out what cluster headaches are all about, I thought I'd share my symptoms with you so you can let me know if I'm a sufferer:
I'm a 32-year-old bloke in the UK, and I've been getting what I've called migraines since I was about 16. At first these would develop every few days and last for a day or so before simply switching off altogether in the space of a few minutes.
For the first five or six years I never went to the doctor (for reasons I'll never know), but as the intensity of the headaches got worse as I got older, I eventually went. Since then I've tried a couple of brands of beta-blocker, which didn't work (unless you count the irregular heart rhythms I got). I've also tried hypnosis and acupuncture, none f which has worked.
18 month ago I identified that not eating breakfast was one cause of my headaches, and a bowl of cereal in the morning seemed to help for a while. Alcohol occasionally brings a terribly painful migraine on (during the hangover stage), so I've switched from lager to Jack Daniels which doesn't seem to affect my head. Stress also seems to occasionally bring them on.
In the last couple of years I've noticed the headaches coming less frequent, but recently I've noticed them coming in batches. For instance I can be totally free of headaches for three or four weks, then get three or four in the space of three or four days. They're not as painful as they used to be in my youth, but they still make my head feel as though it is being crushed.
Whereas once upon a time the headache used to be on the left of my head (making my eye close and water badly), they now seem to be spread across my forehead and occasionally at the base of my skull.
The reason I'm posting this is because I had one yesterday from about midday until 7am this morning when it vanished. I have another one coming on now and I expect it to last all night.
When it comes to drugs, the only thing I can find that (occasionally) works, is an over-the-counter tablet called Syndol which also makes me so sleepy it's untrue.
Anything else I need to add? Hmmm...
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| « Last Edit: May 19th, 2004, 10:36am by Muzzychuck » |
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john123
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #1 on: May 19th, 2004, 10:39am » |
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Hi, welcome,
Quote:| The reason I'm posting this is because I had one yesterday from about midday until 7am this morning when it vanished. |
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Have you been diagnosed with cluster headaches because they usually don't last that long. It sounds like migraines.
Lots of info here to find out more, see side bar
John
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floridian
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #2 on: May 19th, 2004, 10:43am » |
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Not sure if you have clusters (and we don't diagnose). An individual cluster headache usually lasts 15 minutes to maybe 2 hours, and the often occur in clusters of several per day. But their is variation from person to person. Having a headache from mid day to 7 am is unusual for a cluster. did you take the cluster quiz (button on left of these pages below the yellow "new visitors" bar) ??
I would say that migraines are more likely, but some one with an advanced degree needs to poke and prod you.
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| « Last Edit: May 19th, 2004, 10:45am by floridian » |
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Mac
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #3 on: May 19th, 2004, 11:39am » |
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I read your headache seems to be spreading across your forehead and occasionally to the base of your skull. That doesn't sound like clusters.Cluster headaches are unilateral(one sided). PFDANeh Glen
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Jeepgun
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #4 on: May 19th, 2004, 12:13pm » |
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Welcome to the list. If you want to know for sure, whether or not you have cluster headaches, here's how to tell:
Generally, they are unilateral, originate behind the left or right eye, and feel as though someone is jamming a red-hot poker into your eye and twisting it around and around, often leading to the pain radiating down the jaw and/or the back of the neck of the affected side. They generally last 20-40 minutes in duration, and then vanish, and one may have as many as 4-8 attacks per day, with the attacks being strangely punctual. (e.g. When I am in cycle, I know that every night, at 12:32 a.m., I'm going to awaken with one.)
These are the most classic symptoms, and may be accompanied by conjunctival injection (redness of the affected eye), ptosis (drooping of the eyelid in the affected eye), and when in the throes of a cluster headache, it is nearly impossible to remain still. Lying down in a darkened, quiet room will not make them better or provide relief. Most clusterheads tend to pace, grind their palm into the affected eye, and many end up banging their head against things to make the pain more diffuse.
Again, welcome to the board. Sorry to hear about your headaches. Read through the links to the left, and compare your symptoms to those found in the medical report found there.
Best Wishes,
-Frank
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Cerberus
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #5 on: May 19th, 2004, 12:36pm » |
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If you wanna know more about cluster headaches....
Read the info in the buttons to the left....take the quiz, determine if you fit the general criteria...and if so print it out and take it to a doctor.
What you described does not sound like a text-book case of clusters, however, many of us find that little if anything is "text book" about them. the "all day" pain could end up being what some of us call "shadow" pain...but as one other here stated before, we do not diagnose.
best wishes,
Ramon
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bobkip
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #6 on: May 19th, 2004, 2:20pm » |
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Does not sound like CH but do check out the site.
Kip
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Killroy 2.0
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #7 on: May 19th, 2004, 2:30pm » |
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on May 19th, 2004, 2:20pm, bobkip wrote:Does not sound like CH but do check out the site.
Kip |
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Ditto and good luck.
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TxBasslady
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #8 on: May 19th, 2004, 11:02pm » |
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Sure hope you can get an accurate diagnosis.
Be sure to take the cluster quiz.....located on the left of this page in the links.
PF vibes,
Jean
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Charlie
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #9 on: May 20th, 2004, 1:32am » |
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Welcome and I sincerely hope you aren't facing this horror. The watery eye sounds like CH.....but:
Clusters are so bad that no one can sit still or rest. They will always wake you out of a sound sleep. That is my favorite test. Clusters come in bunches over several weeks, usually several times a day and then disappear until the next batch which can be months, even years.
I repeat that no one can sit still duing an attack. Pacing, even screaming is common. Here's hoping you fail the cluster tests.
Good luck and let us know how you are doing.
Charlie
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pubgirl
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #10 on: May 20th, 2004, 3:00am » |
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Many of the unilateral headaches have autonomic symptoms like the watery eye, I get a watering eye on the pain side with migraine, so it really isn't a defining factor at all
Wendy
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Superpain
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #11 on: May 20th, 2004, 4:03am » |
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No way. Definitely not clusters.
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Chris
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Aussie
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #12 on: May 20th, 2004, 4:29am » |
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Do the cluster quiz - if ever there was a test to fail, this is the one.
Quote:| so I've switched from lager to Jack Daniels |
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Great choice - Eat right, exercise daily, live clean, die anyway.
Steve
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Muzzychuck
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #13 on: May 27th, 2004, 3:39am » |
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Thanks all. I'll take the test later today and see what the results are.
For your info my headaches seem to have changed in their symptoms over the last, I don't know... year or so. They were once unilateral and terribly painful, and I couldn't sit still at all. I would constantly hold the side of my head that was affected and I would often cry with the pain. My eye would always close and water like hell.
The headaches these days (I've had another one now for the last 12 hours), aren't as severe although they are still very painful. They are more across the forehead and don't make my eye water so much.
Again, thanks, and I'll check the test out later.
Muz
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Muzzychuck
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #14 on: May 27th, 2004, 4:52am » |
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Well I've just taken the test and although I answered some of the questions that suggested I dohave CH, the majority of them suggest that I don't. My opinion is that I used to suffer them, as well as migraines, but they have subsided somewhat because my symptoms no longer fit those I used to have (unilateral, red/watery eye etc etc etc).
Many thanks for your help and I'll have a good look around the site later on when I get the time - because it's 0955hrs here and I'm at work 
From the brief look around I've just had, I see I should have posted my question in a different part of the forum, so apologies for that.
Oh, and one final thing - you're all so much more polite than the motorcycling website I'm on 
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Filbert
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #15 on: May 27th, 2004, 5:35am » |
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Muzzychuck
I think you are right.The headaches you describe in your past sound very much like clusters but the ones you are experiencing now sound like something else.[of course I'm not a doctor]. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news but if you have had CH in the past then it is very likely you will have them again sometime in the future so read up all the info and then at least you'll be ready!
Good luck and hope you're free from CH FOR MANY YEARS!
Filbert
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Turts
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Re: A newbie quietly enters...
« Reply #16 on: May 27th, 2004, 7:00am » |
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Gday Muzzychuck,
Well actually Im glad to hear your not a CHer, lucky bastard, however I do hope you seek further medical advise on the headaches you do suffer. Headaches should not go on undiagnosed for long as they are often indictors of something else.
Best of luck
Turts
I agree on the Jack daniels thing!! as well as Jim Beam, Barcadi, Vodka, all beers except stout the list goes on!!
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'I'm very brave generally,' he went on in a low voice: 'only today I happen to have a headache.' (Lewis Carroll)
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