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        New Message Board Archives >> 2002 Posts >> Mosquito Bites?
        
(Message started by: Sid_Lewis on Aug 27^th, 2002, 12:33pm)

Title: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Sid_Lewis on Aug 27^th, 2002, 12:33pm

If Cluster Headaches is also known as "Histamine Headaches", does this mean a bite from a mosquito can trigger an episode?

I ask as a sufferer of CH for around 5 years. Five years ago it started and indeed coincided with a mosquito bite and I now have them back again following another.

It may sound ridiculous but I just wondered if there was a possible connection.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Sid Lewis

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by echo on Aug 27^th, 2002, 12:37pm

Not sure. I can concure that my CH's started when I lived in the mosquito capital of Minnesota and having been used as a blood bank for the little bastards for nearly 30 years. Very few of the little pests here in central US and I still get headaches.

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Karla on Aug 27^th, 2002, 12:38pm

The first ch I ever got was in the middle of winter when it was 40 degrees below zero. There was no mosquitos around then. I get ch in the winter months so I don't think it is a factor just a coincidence.

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Ted on Aug 27^th, 2002, 12:57pm

Come to think of it, I was bit by a mosquito the first year I had CHs. And every year since. Coincidentally, I also listened to some Jimi Hendrix and Grateful Dead all those years too.
Sorry Sid, I doubt there's a relationship. Have you only been bit by mosquitoes twice in your life? The timing is do to your inner clock and your hypothalamus.

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by kelly_dawn on Aug 27^th, 2002, 1:02pm

i was in cypress with my work last year and i had a particularly nasty bite and i found i had a really bad headache that night however it was really hot and i couldnt sleep and i found that lack of sleep brings on more and more head aches.....
kelly_dawn

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Jim R on Aug 27^th, 2002, 2:18pm

I think there is a histamine component to CH, but not due to mosquito bites. Injection of histamine has been shown to bring on CH's in CH sufferers. I used to treat my CH with antihistamines before I sought medical help years ago. Good luck... Jim R

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Drk^Angel on Aug 27^th, 2002, 2:21pm

I've never found a relation between bug bites and CH. This cycle is my longest ever, yet I've received very few bug bites this year.

PFDAN................................ Drk^Angel

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by ave on Aug 27^th, 2002, 2:30pm

And I am the one the bugs don't like to bite. My bed partners get stung, bitten, stuck, whatever. Not me.

Still I have this strangest of headaches...

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Slammy on Aug 27^th, 2002, 4:03pm

on 08/27/02 at 14:30:55, ave wrote:

My bed partners get stung, bitten, stuck, whatever.

Where do I sign up for this?
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Slammy 8)

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Drk^Angel on Aug 27^th, 2002, 4:09pm

Slammy's into that kinky stuff Ave... Watch out...

PFDAN..................... Drk^Angel

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by 2late on Aug 27^th, 2002, 7:43pm

yrs.ago i never would have thought a damn mosquito could carry a deadly virus, who know's? ...............2late

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Kilo on Aug 27^th, 2002, 9:16pm

Just trying to picture what my home state of Minnesota would look like if mosquito bites did cause cluster headaches..........

:o YAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o

Kilo

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Charlie on Aug 27^th, 2002, 10:43pm

Lived around the lake and have been bitten a hundred times, stung and bitten by other creatures. I doubt that any of this has a bearing on CH because everyone would have this horror if true.

Charlie

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Ueli on Aug 27^th, 2002, 11:37pm

Histamine Headaches is one of the many outdated, obsolete names for CH, from the archaic times when clusterheads all were heavy drinkers with a rugged leonide face and orange peel skin (and the male/female ratio was 1000 to 1).

Histamine is one of the many neurotransmitters and enzymes that vary in daily and seasonal patterns, and whose over/under- shot may be responsible for a cycle or a single attack. True, for some a histamine shot can precipitate an attack, but by no means for every clusterhead.

Histamines are involved in allergic reaction. If someone is allergic to mosquito bites to the point to make him a candidate for an ER visit, it may have an influence on CH. Otherwise you can find a correlation to anything, from the proverbial black cat coming from the left to a quarrel with the mother in law. I am sure, I cut my fingers peeling onions, each time in the month preceding the start of a bout.

PFNADs
Ueli

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Sid_Lewis on Aug 28^th, 2002, 4:00am

Thanks to everyone who has posted a reply.

My primary aim with this posting was to try and establish if there was a possible link to CH and mosquito bites as this was one aspect that had me wondering about my own CH. Naturally, everyone has their own experiences but it is interesting that some of your replies indicate there could be a link but, as yet and as far as I am aware, this has not been positively established.

I do react very violently to mosquito bites in as far as the said bites rendered me unable to walk because of a very large "swelling" on my leg following a mosquito bite and could not see out of one eye for a week because of a swelling resulting in another mosquito bite.

It was just a thought at the time but judging by your replies, it now seems there could be some link between the two but obviously not for all sufferers.

I too love Jimi Hendrix and have been listening to his music since 1966 but the headaches only started in the late 90's so I am happily confident, there is no link there! :-)

I was also particularly intrigued to find that alcohol can be a trigger for CH but I have never been a "drinker" save for the very odd glass of wine at crimbo. However, I do from time to time, indulge in the odd cannabis "joint" which for me, has had no effect on my CH. Again, any other comments/experiences would be welcomed.

Thank you all again for your kind replies and good luck with your endeavours at a "resolve".

Sid

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by NancyMcFree on Aug 28^th, 2002, 4:56am

Actually SID, when the Resp. Therapist came to my house after the O2 was delivered she told me that the old canibus was being used to abort headaches (out in CA). So I would hope it wouldn't give you one !!!! I thought at the time .... well, thats not unreasonable since they use it for other pain management. Smiles.

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Charlie on Aug 28^th, 2002, 6:51am

Sid:

Sorry about your insect sensitivity. That sounds awful. So far, so good for me. Be careful.

I'm not allergic to much. There is only one thing that gets to me and that is cat dander. However, I'm not sure if it's a proper allergy as after two days visiting friends with more than one cat and waking up with them sitting on my lap, I find that it doesn't bother me. Maybe that's not unusual.

See Ueli? I can stay with you so long as you feed me and let me stay long enough :D

Anyway, alcohol, sometimes tobacco, (but rare) MSG for many, and other foods may be triggers. None of that is a problem for me. I spent years trying to find a trigger and had no luck. CH is a hard thing to pin down.

I do know that CHers as a group are nearly twice the national average for smokers. I'm not sure what that means. I don't know if it's a trigger. I quit 22 years ago but my headaches hung on for another 11 years. It isn't good for you and too expensive anyway.

If I think of more, I'll let you know.

Really verbose old Charlie

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by oringkid on Aug 28^th, 2002, 10:50am

Tobacco for me is not a trigger, but when I have an attack it will speed the attack up. The pain is not any less but it will move from the beginning stages to peak and then fall away more quickly than if I don't smoke a cigarette.

The cannabis WILL trigger a CH in me just like the alcohol but the more of it you smoke, the more it seems to dampen the pain and, like the cigarettes, it moves the attack along at a quicker pace.

I think that histamine may be just another "trigger" like alcohol. I don't think there is any real connection other than that. I too thought for years that my condition was allergy related due to its seasonal appearances.

I wonder if the body anticipates seasonal changes and ups or lowers production of certain chemicals which in turn causes the episode. Or if you are chronic, you either have this (or these) chemicals already at an improper level and when the body tries to prepare it causes the chronics "bad" phase.

Sherry

Title: Re: Mosquito Bites?
Post by Kilo on Aug 28^th, 2002, 6:39pm

Charlie:

The best neuro I ever had (;)) told me that he believed smoking was related to CH only in that smokers and clusterheads had very similar personalities. (Y'know, contentious, bitter, prone to inappropriate displays of humo[u]r...) Made sense to me. My own smoking has no effect one way or another on the beast. I've had bad episodes when I was smoking, and equally bad episodes when I wasn't smoking.

I've always wondered if nicotine sensitivity and CH have a common origin. Not really all that far-fetched when you consider that today I ran out of verapamil and I dashed frantically through the house, checking in old coat pockets and handbags and under sofa cushions, just as I do if I run out of smokes!

Kilo