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        New Message Board Archives >> 2002 Posts >> Cluster bombed
        
(Message started by: don on Sep 24^th, 2002, 8:54pm)

Title: Cluster bombed
Post by don on Sep 24^th, 2002, 8:54pm

The name of the article wriiten by Jim Soar for the Times in the UK was right on the money. Thanks for providing that info Bucko.

Is Simon aware of this guy Jim Soar? We need to get him on board. Literally and figuratively..

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by domm on Sep 24^th, 2002, 9:14pm

here's the article copied without permission. is this legal? hell, I don't know and don't care...... ;)
domm

September 24, 2002

Cluster bombed
by Jim Soar

It usually began an hour after bedtime. I would wake with a throbbing, intense pain from left temple to left eye socket and down the side of my nose. I would scramble for painkillers, then dance about the room clutching my head, cursing and moaning until the little cocktail of paracetamol and aspirin kicked in, only to repeat the whole performance the next night and the next.
Sinus trouble was the first suspect, but the pain was too severe for that. Could it be migraine? I had never suffered from this before, although my sister had, but the feverfew tablets she recommended had no effect.

If the root cause was a mystery, might alcohol be an aggravating factor? At the time, blaming a stressful house move, I was drinking (in moderation, as I thought) each evening, and began to wonder if this was some dire side-effect.

Eventually, prompted by fears of ballooning blood vessels or a brain tumour-in-waiting, I went to my GP, who suggested that as a first step I should abstain from drink for a week to see what happened. So after a Christmas of moderate indulgence and more headaches, I took his advice and stayed sober for almost three months. The nightly agonies continued.

When the attacks rose to an average of two per night and even occurred twice at work, I went back to the doctor. The pro tem diagnosis this time was “migrainous neuralgia” and I was referred to a neurologist. By then the headaches, with occasional short respites, had been a daily fixture for months.

Then I chanced upon a mini-reference work in a book sale (Understanding Migraine and Other Headaches by Dr Anne MacGregor, Family Doctor Publications, £3.50). Near the back, on a page headed “cluster headaches”, were listed all my symptoms in spookily exact detail. The pain that the condition causes was described as “excruciating” and the book mentioned that migraine is often misdiagnosed as the culprit.

A fortnight later I explained to the neurologist that although he was the expert, I thought I knew what the problem was. He tapped me all over with a small mallet, pronounced my reflexes fine and announced that in this case the patient’s self-diagnosis was correct. I had cluster headaches. Or rather, I had had them, for with typically insensitive timing they had chosen to disappear, for no obvious reason, the week before.

Cluster Headache Links

www.clusterheadaches.com
www.clusterheadaches.org
www.familydoctor.org/handouts/035.html

The facts about cluster attacks

What are they?
Cluster headaches affect about one in 1,000 people, and are five times more common in men than in women. The onset is usually in the late twenties or thirties. Medical science still does not know what causes them, although there may be some link with smoking as many sufferers are, or have been, heavy smokers.

As you would guess from the name, headaches occur in “clusters”, which last for six weeks on average, with one or two attacks each day, centring on or above one eye. Clusters often recur at particular times of year. Untreated with painkillers, each attack lasts for between half an hour and two hours. Attacks come on quickly and the pain is so intense that sufferers often pace up and down holding their heads or even bang their heads on walls.

Despite the apparent link with smoking, stopping smoking seems to have no effect on the symptoms. Alcohol may trigger attacks during a cluster, but abstinence from it brings no long-term relief.

What can be done?
Treatment falls into two categories: acute (quick fix during an attack), and prophylactic (taken daily to reduce the severity and frequency of attacks). Acute treatments may include inhaling pure oxygen or injections of sumatriptan. Over-the-counter painkillers also help, especially the faster-acting soluble varieties. Prophylactic treatments include calcium channel blockers, ergotamine, corticosteroids and methysergide.

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by SteveY on Sep 25^th, 2002, 12:46pm

Here is the link to the full article, I've written to the Times today asking to be put in contact with Jim Soar.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Steve

www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,589,00.html

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by Bob P on Sep 25^th, 2002, 1:54pm

I sure would like to know which over the counter pain killers he's found that work?

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by oringkid on Sep 25^th, 2002, 3:13pm

LOL BobP, I was thinking the same thing!

Sherry

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by don on Sep 26^th, 2002, 8:08am

A lot of USA prescription drugs are over the counter in other countries. Just a guess.

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by catlind on Sep 26^th, 2002, 8:12am

That's correct Don. You can buy tylenol with 8mg codeine over the counter in Canada. I know the UK has an OTC med that works really well, I think it starts with a P and has been effective for me (My good friend is from England and her mum brings em when she comes)

Cat

Title: Re: Cluster bombed
Post by Marshall_D on Sep 26^th, 2002, 8:18am

I think Paracetamol has a low level of Codeine in it. Most countries, the U.S.A. withstanding allow up to 15 mgs of Codeine (per Tablet) to be sold O.T.C.

The only O.T.C. drug I found here in the USA, that helps a Cluster is Excedrin dissolving tabs, and that only helps to a small degree.