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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> Thinking Out Loud
        
(Message started by: chrismo on Jun 29^th, 2004, 11:49pm)

Title: Thinking Out Loud
Post by chrismo on Jun 29^th, 2004, 11:49pm

So I just foung out today that I have elevated levels of estrogen. Apparently this could be being caused by estrogen-producing tumors in my Adrenal Glands. The Adrenal glands are linked to the hypothalamus.

I have CH, which is said to be linked to the hypothalamus.

I am gay, which has been linked to the hypothalamus.

I've always had trouble sleeping, which seems like it could be an "internal clock" issue, which is part of the hypothalamus.

Is it just that everything our body does is linked to the hypothalamus, or do I just have a really messed up one??? Or is it all coincidence?

just thinkin out loud, anyone here that knows more than I do about this sort of thing,( it shouldn't be hard) I'd really like some feedback.

thanks - chrisMO

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by Superpain on Jun 30^th, 2004, 1:55am

Gay... Hypothalamus...???

Hadn't heard that one before...

Even so, if it is true... [smiley=huh.gif] I guarantee it doesn't have shit to do with clusters.

Why do you say "perhaps"?

Do you have tumors?

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by miapet on Jun 30^th, 2004, 2:26am

Since the hypothalmus is a master gland . .I would guess there are lots of things that are linked to it . . .the whole endocrine system is so complex . . .anyway, guess this isn't much help, but it's what I know . .. 'master gland' . . .
*positive light and energy*
miapet

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by ave on Jun 30^th, 2004, 7:12am

I do hope the tumors are either benign or non-exitent.

This said, you but especially doctors should be careful with pronouncements about too high or too low a level of hormones. The last words on hormone levels hasn't been said by a long shot.

Individual levels differ, and they change during the day, sometimes quite dramatically. Should you measure at that spot in time, your level could be way too high or too low compared to the average
So, did you ever actually meet an average person?

I myself have probably too high levels of testosterone - I am getting a beard and since menopause my voice has dropped a few points. I have clusters since that time as well.

And linking estrogen with being gay and having clusters... There may be a link, dearie, but those links are never so straight, (pardon the pun) and certainly not so easily figured out by people who don't know all the ins and outs of body chemistry.

Keep well

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by don on Jun 30^th, 2004, 12:36pm

The knee bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone is connected to the...........eventually you link back to the hippopatamaus gland but the cause and affect relationship might not be there.

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by Samantha_Smith on Jul 1^st, 2004, 11:33am

Here's one for the next batch of possible SAT questions:

Gay is to hypothalmus as heterosexual is to________??

Anyone know the answer?

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by ave on Jul 1^st, 2004, 11:39am

Hippopothamus! Can't be anything else!

Either that or Hypothenuse! Yeah, verily!

Title: Hypothalamus and Gender Preference
Post by floridian on Jul 1^st, 2004, 2:15pm

Sleep and the internal clock have long been linked to the hypothalamus. Cluster headaches (aka 'alarm clock headaches' are obviously linked to sleep, the bodys clock, and the hypothalamus. Homosexuality has also been linked to the hypothalamus. I have not heard of any link between homosexuality and cluster headaches, but there might be a correlation (probably small if it does exist). My guess is that most doctors and researchers didn't think of this possible connection, and were uncomfortable with asking their headache patients questions about their orientation.

Quote:

Kay Larkin and colleagues from Oregon Health and Science University found the difference was in a particular region of the hypothalamus - the preoptic nucleus. The region is generally almost twice as large in rams as in ewes. But in gay rams its size was almost identical to that in "straight" females.

The hypothalamus is known to control sex hormone release and many types of sexual behaviour. Several other parts of the hypothalamus showed consistent sex differences in size, but only this specific region showed differences that correlated with sexual preference.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993008

The change in the hypothalamus that determines gender preference is believed to be triggered by hormone levels when a fetus is in the uterus. This would indicate that the change is not so much an injury or disease than a 'mix-up' of signals ... In the animal study, gay rams had what is a normal hypothalamus compared to female sheep. Reminds me of the discussion about someone being a woman trapped in a man's body.

The Earth is not flat. Darwin was right. Homosexuality is biologically determined. Deal with it, fundamentalists!

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by D on Jul 1^st, 2004, 2:57pm

floridian - Excellent presentation! Too funny! (gay rams huh?)

Any day now I expect someone to make the correlation between sadomasochism and cluster headache sufferers; The Marquis de Sade Syndrome, causative

hypothalamus.

Peace and Positve Energy

D

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by don on Jul 1^st, 2004, 4:58pm

I believe two of those gay rams were married on the State House steps up here in Boston.

Mitt thought it was a petting zoo and joined right in. It's good for the KIDS he said !

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by FZfan on Jul 1^st, 2004, 5:34pm

LMMFAO don!

floridian - outstanding! Your depth of knowledge continues to amaze me.

from floridians research...

Quote:

ok, call me curious...would the opposite then be true for lesbian rams? ;;D

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by chrismo on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 4:36am

first of all the reason i got my hormone levels checked is because i have gynecomastia (female-like breasts in men) and they had to do hormone level checks. now that said....

Top three things that have bothered me most in my life:

1) my homosexuality
2) cluster headaches
3) ugle, embarrasing, female-like breasts caused by high estrogen levels.

All three are linked to the hypothalamus. It seemed interesting to me and obviously funny to others. Im not trying to make some impossible link, just trying VERY hard to understand the difficult things in my life, all of which i had no choice about.

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by don on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 6:19am

Thats all fine but whay we tend to focus on around here is Clusterheadaches, dispelling myths associated with them, and disposing of useless treatments. In this way people new to CH are spared the frustrations and indignities other longtime suffers have endured seeking appropriate treatments.

You will also find that without a sense of humor it is difficult to survive on these boards.

If you have CH you will be helped here. It does not matter if you have breasts, are gay, striaight, young, old, black, yellow or white. We haven't made up our minds about the Canadians yet.

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by catlind on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 2:00pm

Watch it, us Canadians are taking over the world and you will soon be assimilated - Take off eh!

The hormone connection is one that certainly hasn't been established with any sort of definitive correlation that can be addressed as far as causal relationships as far as I can tell. This is of course my opinion and not scientific or medical fact.

That being said, back in December of 2000 when these damn things kicked into high gear for me, the CT scan showed that I had no pituitary gland. That was of great concern as I had given birth to a bouncing baby boy 5 months prior. The subsequent MRI showed what they called a 'non technical' empty sella. The pit. gland sits in a bony structure called the sella turcica, just down the way from the hypo gland. During child birth, the pit. gland swells to more than twice it's normal size. A true empty sella is when the pit. gland is gone. Mine is still there, but the sella turcica is filled with cerebal spinal fluid that isn't supposed to be there and it's squashing the pit. gland. The good docs believed that during childbirth when the pit. gland expanded it forced CSF into the cavity with the hypothalamus gland and the pressure is what triggered the cluster headaches.

There is absolutely no evidence in the medical world that I have found to support this theory. The finding of the empty sella is considered incidental. My point to all this rambling is that the hypothalamus and pituitary glands govern every body function from hormone levels to internal clocks to hair growth. While each of us can find things that may contribute to our own case of clusters, there does not seem to be any one correlating factor that is known to cause clusters other than it has something to do with a deformity of the hypothalamus that is only present in episodics during an episode. Not sure about chronics.

While in one case, sexual disposition may play a part in cluster headaches, I personally suspect it comes from the deformity in the hypothalamus rather than the disposition or the clusters. All CH's are not gay/lesbian, and all gay/lesbians are not CH'ers. All people with empty sella do not suffer CH and all CH'ers do not suffer empty sella. The best we can do is to continue to explore the various aspects of this damn affliction and hope that our questions will lead the researchers to find a connection. I'm not aware of any one common denominator that is consistent among all cluster sufferers other than what has been published regarding the deformity of the hypothalamus.

Keep asking questions. Keep your sense of humo(u)r. Keep offering suggestions. Even the simplest of thoughts or connections may end up leading to the key that opens the door :)

Cat

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by chrismo on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 3:45pm

big smiles and hugs to all, got everything i've been looking for. ;;D

chrismo

I realize i sounded snappy in my last post, i really do have a great sense of humor! im gay, with CH, and girl boobs, i HAVE to!!!!

thanks

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by chrismo on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 3:45pm

PS, though girl boobs gone sep. 1st... plastic surgery, yikes. last resort kinda thing, but very excited.

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by don on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 5:33pm

Can you mail them to me?

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by firebrix on Jul 2^nd, 2004, 5:52pm

Good to meet you chrismo!
Now catch this oar and start rowing with us!!
Welcome!
firebrix

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by Jayne on Jul 4^th, 2004, 12:09am

I agree with Ave, I believe I have high testsoterone levels.

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by CJohnson on Jul 12^th, 2004, 4:48pm

on 07/02/04 at 15:45:51, chrismo wrote:

plastic surgery, yikes. last resort kinda thing, but very excited.

Have you tried nolvadex (tamoxifen citrate)?

PFDANs

-Curtis

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by bluesunshine on Jul 12^th, 2004, 11:16pm

on 07/02/04 at 04:36:28, chrismo wrote:

Top three things that have bothered me most in my life:

1) my homosexuality
2) cluster headaches
3) ugle, embarrasing, female-like breasts caused by high estrogen levels.

Hi chrismo

1) don't be bothered with that. Out in the ''real world'', don't let anybody feel you sad about what you are and the choice you made to live it (if you're out)

2)We are all bothered with that, and we are all here one for each other. CHers must be very open-minded I think.

3)That matter is in your hands (oopps) ;-)

Deep inside , I know you have a great sense of humor !

HUGS ((((chrismo))))

nice to meet you chrismo

Title: Re: Hypothalamus and Gender Preference
Post by pam s on Jul 18^th, 2004, 1:27am

on 07/01/04 at 14:15:39, floridian wrote:

The Earth is not flat. Darwin was right. Homosexuality is biologically determined. Deal with it, fundamentalists!

Correlation is not causation. Even with CH. Who knows how we got this way.

(BTW, if Darwin was right, then where's the adaptiveness?)

Just making trouble,

Pam

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by pam s on Jul 18^th, 2004, 1:35am

on 07/02/04 at 14:00:21, catlind wrote:

All people with empty sella do not suffer CH and all CH'ers do not suffer empty sella.

True, but I do. Odd. It's not something that people would tend to know about themselves -- I found out only because I was being tested because I was having trouble getting pregnant.

Pam

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by pam s on Jul 18^th, 2004, 1:39am

on 07/02/04 at 04:36:28, chrismo wrote:

All three are linked to the hypothalamus. It seemed interesting to me and obviously funny to others. Im not trying to make some impossible link, just trying VERY hard to understand the difficult things in my life, all of which i had no choice about.

I think you have made an interesting contribution to our collective knowledge here. Made me think about other symptoms of wacko hypothalamus I have.

Don't worry about people here taking every opportunity to be silly -- I once asked a question about a possible Candida-CH connection, and people started making Canadian jokes and singing Tony Orlando songs. :-)

Pam

Title: Re: Thinking Out Loud
Post by Biker on Jul 18^th, 2004, 10:10am

If a male sheep is called a Ram, and a donkey is called an Ass, Why is a Ram in the Ass called a Goose????

I learn alot on this board, and hope to learn more. Im sure the wife is questioning my orentation right now. Since this set of clusters have kicked in, I seem to have lost all sex drive, lost all desire to socialize with anyone, and seem to be devoted to my oxygen bottle. She thought it was right strange when she caught me attempting to attach a little Q size bottle to the motorcycle.