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        New Message Board Archives >> 2002 Posts >> new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA 
        
(Message started by: Racky on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 9:52am)

Title: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by Racky on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 9:52am

I just had what I believe to be cluster headaches for a week or more. I had the same experience about two years ago. I would like to share my experience and see if anyone else has had similiar experience.

1) For about a month I experience in the evening aound 6pm what appears to be a minor throbbing toothache.

2) I then appear to have a major toothache for about two or three days 24hrs long. I don't get any sleep because of the pain. I put water in the mouth and it helps relieve the intense pain. But it's not a cluster yet it just feels like a bad toothache with head throbbing.

3) Dentist looks at teeth and finds nothing wrong. I don't appear to have any sinus problems either.

4) My teeth and head go into excruciating pain simultaneously. It appears my toothache pain dies and is converted into a cluster headache.

5) Spend the next 2-3 evenings from around 6-11pm having cluster headaches. I get the ghost first and his friend arrives soon after. I pace around in a dark room and tell my family to keep away. I don't have any problem sleeping except when I first lay down I seem to have my last one.

6) The next few evenings I have baby cluster headaches that just never hurt like the days earlier.
I experience the ghost but pain is no longer excruiating

7) No longer experiece any pain but I do have a sore tooth for a couple of days.

8) I have an appointment again with the dentist to check the sore tooth but the last time they found nothing wrong. I'm assuming the same will happen again becasue my tooth is no longer sore.

So do I have a toothache that converts into a cluster headache? Or is really a cluster headache going on for months giving me a scheduled throbbing tooth that eventually leads to a fullblown cluster?

I also think I might have SAD. Every year I get major winter blues - I just purchased a sun lamp today on the internet. But I was wondering if anyone knew if there was a relationship between SAD and cluster headaches since they both seem to be seasonal?

Thanks for info in advance and good luck to all of you especially those who have to deal with the devil so often.

Jim.

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by domm on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 10:18am

Racky - my clusters don't throb. They are sometimes centered around my teeth on one side, but they always encompass my eye socket and temple area. They usually go from nothing to intense pain in a matter of minutes and they usually hit after I go to sleep, although I have had them during the day. Take the cluster quiz - buttons on the left - for more indications.
I also suffer from SAD, but this cycle, my clusters hit in July. ??? There are strong corrollations between the seasons and CH.
My advise to you is to get to a neurologist and get thoroughly checked out. I'm sorry you're in pain and I hope its not CH, but a good doc will help you sort it out. You can find a list of recommended docs over on the OUCH website.
Good luck
domm

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by Racky on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 10:52am

Thanks for replying dom - Ill take your advice. You metioned yours are in July that's when I first had mine two years ago. I'm pretty confident that I'm having clusters I also have the one side and eye socket along with teeth hurting.

It's all the pre week crap of my teeth hurting that just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of ch people. Not that I want to fit in :)

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by rumplestiltskin on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 10:53am

...uh shit! I dunno...this 3 day toothache thing is a new one on me....tell ya what...read all them links on the left about CH...and then...well ...you decide.

That trigeminal nerve is certainly the beast whippin post....

good grief
den

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by jonny on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 12:16pm

Fuck the dentist go see a Neurologist.

Theres no such thing as a "Baby cluster headache"

.......................jonny

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by pjbgravely on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 5:23pm

He means a shadow.......Duh....
PJB

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by Charlie on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 7:41pm

Welcome and they sound damn painful.

The need to sit in the dark and pace does sound right. You say you have then at bedtime? A cluster will wake you out of a sound sleep, not all that long after falling asleep. The pain is so intense that lying down or sitting still is not an option. Maybe we are having communication problems. How long are they and do they feel centered behind your eye? We need to know a little more.

In any case Jonny is right. A dentist will do no good and you should see a neurologist as well.

Charlie

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by jonny on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 8:45pm

on 11/23/02 at 17:23:52, pjbgravely wrote:

He means a shadow.......Duh....
PJB

I take it he called you and told you this, Shit-head?

Seems to me he mentions "Ghost" and then goes on to say "Baby cluster"

Wake the fuck up will ya!!!!

.......................jonny

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by eyes_afire on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 10:29pm

I would NOT say that there are strong corrolations between the seasons and CH. According to the cluster survey....

Episodic cycles usually start:

spring 13%
summer 9%
fall 15%
winter 7%
randomly 35%

That survey does not demonstrate a strong seasonal corrolation. I always cringe when it is said that CH is seasonal. It is more appropriate to say that CH is cyclical rather than seasonal.

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by domm on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 10:48pm

I always took the data to mean that folks started their cycles at the start of the season listed, meaning 65 % of the folks noticed that their cycle started at the change of summer to fall, fall to winter, etc... while 35% said it happened randomly.
At least mine had until this year. My two previous cycles started at the start of fall going into winter.
I don't want to mislead folks and I see your point Eyes...but now I guess I am just cornfused ??? But why would there even be a question on the survey unless some felt there was seasonality involved? ???

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by eyes_afire on Nov 23^rd, 2002, 11:32pm

Based upon the way the results are presented, to me it more specifically says that:

13% of the respondants' cycles normally start during the months of March, April, or May.

9% of the respondants' cycles normally start during the months of June, July, or August.

15% of the respondants' cycles normally start during the months of September, October, or November.

7% of the respondants' cycles normally start during the months of December, January, or February.

For 35% of the respondants, the start of a cycle is equally likely to occur during any one of the four seasons.

The 'Random' category has the plurality of votes by a long-shot over any one season. I don't think you can analyze the survey by adding all of the other categories (65% of cycles which start during any of the 12 months of the year) and saying that for 65% or respondants CH is seasonal. What that really says is that for 65% of respondants, their cycles start at a consistent time throughout the year (so that they can easily predict when the cycles are likely to start, possibly indicating that CH is merely cyclical). To demonstrate seasonality, one or possibly two of the seasons should have a statistically significant higher vote total than the other categories. In my opinion, it doesn't appear that any one season has an impressively high enough vote total for me to say that CH is seasonal.

Why this question is in the survey I cannot say for sure, only the authors can answer that question, but I do have some guesses as to why. It seems that alot of info on cluster headaches states that cycles are most likely to start during fall or spring. But is this really true? One way to put it to the test is to have a survey. Perhaps the notion that cluster headaches are seasonal started due to them previously being referred to as histamine headaches. But if it were found that excessive histamine release occurs during CH, would that histamine release be a cause of CH or an effect of CH? Also, it is human nature to want to assign a cause to a mysterious biological condition, and the changing seasons make for an easy target. It's just like how people blame thier colds on rainy or cold weather, when it is really a virus that is the cause of thier colds, not the weather. So I would guess that the question was put in the survey to put to the test the notion that CH is seasonal. By my interpretation, based upon the survey, CH doesn't appear to necessarily be seasonal.

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by domm on Nov 24^th, 2002, 9:25am

Eyes - very thoughtful reply. Thanks. I guess the better word is cyclical or predictable in start time (65% of us indicate we can predict the onset). I think this drives at the very thing we are looking for - what causes these things. There is a need to put a reason to them. The desire to have a cause and effect relationship has me following the signposts that seem to point to a cause, the arrows saying "this way". The predictability of CH should lead to a cause. The unpredictability of CH confuses and frustrates efforts to find it. The reality is far more complicated than my feeble brain can comprehend.

And Jim - thanks for letting us use your post as a sounding board. Good luck with the neuro.
domm

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by pjbgravely on Nov 24^th, 2002, 12:51pm

on 11/23/02 at 09:52:08, Racky wrote:

6) The next few evenings I have baby cluster headaches that just never hurt like the days earlier.
I experience the ghost but pain is no longer excruiating

Jim says the same thing two(corrected by *****)different ways, how hard is that to figure out. PJB

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by jonny on Nov 24^th, 2002, 1:14pm

on 11/24/02 at 12:51:16, pjbgravely wrote:

Jim says the same thing too different ways, how hard is that to figure out. PJB

Gee, I usually say what I mean the first time and not describe the same thing two different ways, but thats just me......I cant expect everyone to be like me can I?

......................jonny

BTW:......Its "TWO"::)

Title: Re: new guy looking for advice - Jim/spfld-MA
Post by RevDeFord on Nov 24^th, 2002, 6:12pm

I don't know what the answer is necessarily, but I do know it is not possible to sleep while having a Cluster Headache, unless you get your wife to wail on you with a big freakin cast iron skillet and she knocks you into lala land. Maybe that is why it hurts like the dickens when you first lay down, and then it is easy to sleep after a bit.

;D

Sorry to hear you are in pain. You are amongst good company. If I had to make a guess, I would say it is sinus related, even though you say you aren't having sinus trouble. As a singer, I learned that we have hundreds of sinus passages , even though we think we only have a couple. You may have some kind of sinusitis, or - have you taken any shots to the jaw lately? You may have a bruise to the jaw bone or other structure in there that is causing swelling pushing on a nerve.

Just my absolutely non-professional, ill informed, non judicial, hey I don't really know anything assessment.