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Topic: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines (Read 230 times) |
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LadyLuv
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Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« on: May 19th, 2005, 2:20pm » |
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The following article appeared in the Decatur Herald- Review Newspaper and was sent to me by a friend. It's nothing that we don't know..but at least we're getting some print.
Dr. Donohue writes for North America Syndicate...
Peace & Blessings
Lady Luv
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Cluster headaches rank near top of the pain scaleCluster headaches rank near top of the pain scale
By Dr. Paul Donohue
05/10/2005
Dear Dr. Donohue: I have cluster headaches. They appear approximately every two years and last two to four weeks with three or four episodes a day. Is there a cure? What is the best treatment?
Cluster headaches are one of humankind's most painful experiences. They come on suddenly and last for a relatively short time - 15 minutes to two hours - but each minute of the headache seems like a year. The headache is a one-sided affair, and often the nostril on that side of the head drips and the eye on that side tears.
People find the pain so unbearable that they cannot sit still, a feature that distinguishes cluster headaches from migraine headaches, which make their victims seek a dark, quiet place to lie down. Often cluster headaches waken people from sleep.
The headaches come in "clusters" of one to four a day for weeks to months at a time. Then they disappear as inexplicably as they appeared. Advertisement
Some find that the best way to end a cluster headache is to breathe pure oxygen for about 15 minutes. Since oral medicines take time to work and since cluster headaches are somewhat brief, oral medicines are not the greatest in terminating a headache. Sumatriptan, a migraine medicine, comes in a self-injectable dispenser, and it can bring an end to the headache. It also comes in a nasal spray, which works quickly.
To shorten the periods of recurrent clusters, prednisone, valproate, baclofen, Tegretol or lithium may be prescribed.
If the periods come frequently, verapamil and lithium are used on a more constant basis as prevention.
Headaches bedevil many people. The headache booklet details the more common varieties and their treatments. To obtain a copy, write to: Dr. Donohue - No. 901, Box 536475, Orlando, Fla. 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.
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BarbaraD
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Re: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« Reply #1 on: May 19th, 2005, 3:16pm » |
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Who is this doc and why don't we introduce ourselves?
Good article -- maybe some people will read it and the next time a Decatur resident has a CH, they won't be so shocked...
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vig
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Re: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« Reply #2 on: May 19th, 2005, 3:21pm » |
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Good find LL
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Jonny
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Re: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« Reply #3 on: May 19th, 2005, 4:18pm » |
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It is up to YOU to educate yourself and then help your doctor plan your treatment. If you just sit down in front of your doctor and say "make me better" you are setting yourself up for a great deal of pain.
- Guiseppi
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TxBasslady
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Re: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« Reply #4 on: May 19th, 2005, 5:30pm » |
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This article is printed in the NHF HeadLines ...Jan/Feb 2005. The title of the article was "CLUSTER SUFFERERS MAY NEED TO TURN UP THE OXYGEN FLOW"
There are 2 short paragraphs on 02 :
Oxygen therapy is considered the safest and most effective treatment for cluster headache sufferers who smoke and are at a high risk of coronary disease. A recent study found that patients in this group may require a higher flow of oxygen therapy than previously thought.
Typically, 100 % oxygen delivered at 7 to 10 lpm through a rebreather (high concentration) mask is suggested. In the study, patients who had tried oxygen at the recommended rate without success got relief when they received flow rates of 15 lpm. The study also found that women were less responsive to oxygen therapy than men.
(this part I found interesting...)
In other cluster news, research suggests that cluster headache often occurs with a heart defect called patent foramen ovale (PFO). The defect is a small hole in the heart that allows blood to flow from the right to the left of the heart without going through the lungs first. Italian researchers used ultrasound to look for PFO in 40 people with cluster headache and 40 without. They found evidence of PFO in 17 patients with cluster compared with 7 in the control subjects.
Further studies are needed to better understand the association between the two conditions, but the investigators theorize that blood that bypasses the lungs carries less oxygen than normal and that poorly oxygenated blood may trigger cluster headaches.
article reprinted from Neurology, August and October 2004*
J
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LadyLuv
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Re: Cluster Headaches Makes Headlines
« Reply #5 on: May 19th, 2005, 7:14pm » |
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BarbaraD...
The good part about this doctors article is that it appeared in numerous papers in several cities on that day.. I couldn't find a email for him only a snail mail address.. If any one find any thing let me know. I think that it would be nice if we could let the person up that wrote in, know about us. I know that until I found this group, it was a pretty lonely world when it came to headaches and someone understanding what I was going through??
Peace & Blessings
LL
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| « Last Edit: May 19th, 2005, 7:17pm by LadyLuv » |
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