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Topic: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer! (Read 370 times) |
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SKYPyr8
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I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« on: Jul 9th, 2004, 2:54pm » |
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I suffered from this horrible malady from the age of 13 (my first series of clusters) until I was 37 years old. I am now 56, and have been free of them for nearly 20 years. Let me briefly tell you my story:
When I had my first bout with clusters and then up until around the age of 20, I was scared stiff, as there wasn't anything really much written on this type of headaches.
Nothing seemed to suppress the headaches or give me any relief, and I thought I was doomed to a life of torture, as I would get two or three clusters a day for about a 6 to 8 week cycle, three times a year.
I tried any and everything doctors suggested, as most of them didn't seem to understand what cluster headaches were in those days. One ENT specialist put me on caffergot for about a year, and that didn't do much but make me feel sick on my stomach. He later injected me above the eye socket with pure grain alcohol in an attempt to destroy the nerve endings "wrapping" the occipital nerve. All it did was bring on one of the worst individual headaches I'd ever experienced, besides making that side of my face swell as if someone had hit me in the head with a ballbat.
Finally, in 1982, a friend of mine who suffered from migraines told me I should try one of his 1/4 grams of Inderol (beta blocker), and while the drug did not make the cluster disappear, for the first time since a young teenager, the headache pain actually became "manageable". I told my physician about the experience and he prescribed Inderol, I believe, 1/4 gram. The cluster diminished fairly rapidly.
I did not get another cluster until approx. 2 years later, and asked for another prescription from the doctor, and this time, the clusters did not reappear.
Thank God, the headaches have never come back, and I still believe that inderol was the cure (along with some healthy praying.)
I've read many of the messages on this board, and I can fully empathize with many of you who are current sufferers of this dreaded form of headache. (For those of us who have suffered, mere "headache" doesn't do justice to the excruciating pain and livestyle changes most of us made to do anything to try to avoid them.)
I hope this message might give some hope and help to some of you who are currently besieged by this malady.
God bless you.
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thomas
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #1 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 3:10pm » |
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Glad to hear that you have been pf for so long, that is wonderful. 
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floridian
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #2 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 3:51pm » |
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Beta blockers have been used for CH, although they are less popular now than ten years ago. Some studies showed they are no better than placebo, but others found some beneficial effect. Great if it works!! Glad your pain free.
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Superpain
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #3 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 6:08pm » |
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Knock on wood.
I'll never say I'm an "ex ch sufferer"...
I found out that really pisses the beast off!
Hopefully he lost your number! 
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Chris
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BlueMeanie
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #4 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 6:28pm » |
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Glad to hear you're PF. I tried Inderol for a few years worth of cycles years ago. Didn't do squat for me though. With these frickin' CH's you never know if you're lucky and the Beast just leaves you alone, or if the meds work until next time around. Hope you stay PF forever. Good luck !!!!
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miapet
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what doesn't kill me makes me stronger
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #5 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 10:23pm » |
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*YAY* *happy dance* . . .I'm glad you are p/f . . .and have been for soooooooooo long! Hope it lasts forever!
*positive light and energy*
miapet
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Clusterbusters Rock
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Tim_Z
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Re: I'm an ex-cluster headache sufferer!
« Reply #6 on: Jul 9th, 2004, 11:32pm » |
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I thought that once too. My cycles are every four years. I once went for eight, I skipped a cycle. I thought they were over, wrong again.
I hope the best for you and glad to hear it.
Tim
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