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Topic: New Kid In Town (Read 198 times) |
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Fig
New Board Newbie
Let It Be
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New Kid In Town
« on: Mar 12th, 2005, 2:33am » |
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Hello! I just found this group tonight. I couldn't believe it! It's terrible that so many have to suffer but it's comforting to know that I'm not alone. You know what I mean. I come from a family of "Headache Heads". Everyone on my father's side had crippling migraines--my sister does, and so do her kids. Me too. I have Tension headaches and Clusters on occasion. Phew!! I suffer from Chronic Depression and anxiety--I've had the depression since I was quite young--I'm 59 now. Yup, it's been a real party. I don't take any specific meds for the headaches other than Vicodin--I take a lot of meds for my depression and Inderal for my heart. Sometimes a long hot shower helps. I try relaxation, but you all know that sometimes nothing works......... I'm glad I found this group and look forward to getting and giving support and advice. Thanks, guys! Marion 
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Gator
CH.com Alumnus
New Board Hall of Famer
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Re: New Kid In Town
« Reply #1 on: Mar 12th, 2005, 3:47am » |
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Hi Marion. Welcome to our little corner of the web. sounds like you are no stranger to the wonderful world of headaches. Anxiety and depression seems to be a common theme with a lot of us as well. Why don't you tell us a little about your cluster symptoms. How long have you had cluster headaches? Were you diagnosed by a doctor or self-diagnosed? How often do the clusters strike? How severe on a scale of 0 - 10 with zero being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you ever experienced. How long do your individual attacks last? How long and how frequent are your cluster cycles? I'm just a nosy so and so tonight ain't I? LOL
I notice you said you were taking meds for your heart. I guess that means you can't take the standard triptan based abortives like Imitrex or Zomig? One thing that a lot us can use that works very well on most of us is Oxygen. Cheap, effective and few to no side effects. There is also a thread on the Medications Board about Kudzu. It is a plant that grows wild in the southern US. It has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine. Many people are testing it's efficacy for CH and having very promising results. There are people with heart trouble that cannot take the triptans that are trying it and are all but totally pain free.
You say you take Vicodin for your ch pain. Many of us have discovered that the narcotics and other pain killers do not work well for CH and possibly cause more pain in the form of rebound headaches. While they are used in some cases to manage pain, they do nothing to prevent an attack and not real effective at stopping the pain for most people.
The best advice anyone ever gave me was to read everything in the links to the left, info and links in IM's that people will send you and read the threads on the various message boards. Tons of good information. More almost daily.
Here are a few links to get you started.
Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor. It describes preventative, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH.
http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf
Here is a link to some non-prescription alternatives different people have used to help with the pain:
http://www.clusterheadaches.org/resources/non_script_treat.htm
If you are currently taking medications, I would suggest you talk with your doctor before taking any of the nutritional supplements. At the very least check for interactions at a website such as:
http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Home/AllAboutDrugs
Nutritional supplements can interact with prescription meds just the same as some prescription meds interact with each other. Better safe than sorry where your health is concerned.
Oxygen is an excellent abortive. Works for most people when used properly. Defintely try this. As well as it works, I have a hard time understanding why more doctors do not prescribe it. If your doc won't prescribe it for you, you might try welder's O2. It's the same pure oxygen used by medical suppliers. Many people here use it and would be more than happy to help you set it up. Here are some links that tells about using O2:
http://www.headachesupportgroups.com/oxygen/oxygen.htm
http://www.headaches.org/consumer/topicsheets/oxygen.html
http://www.chhelp.org/mhni.html
Here is a link to a letter that may help explain things to your friends, family and co-workers.
http://www.clusterheadaches.org/Cluster%20Headache%20Syndrome.doc
Again, welcome to CH.com. There's no better place in the world for info and support of cluster headaches.
Gator
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jokrs2
New Board Old Timer
Eventually He will make us pain free!
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Re: New Kid In Town
« Reply #2 on: Mar 12th, 2005, 6:50pm » |
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Wecome to our little outpost for support, hugs and encouragement. I can't add a thing to what Gator said as he is most wise. We'll see ya on the board. Take care.
Joe
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Given strength, courage & a sound mind!
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