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Title: please explain shadows? Post by snook on Oct 21st, 2004, 12:58pm [smiley=huh.gif] Some of you know me, my tomato has sufferd for 5 months and we think hes at the end of his cycle. He gets the burning on the side where his chs hits, and as you all know he prepares for the worst. also when ever he eats anything his right side burnes and the eye starts to water. He hunkers down and (by the way he tells me it feels like a chs is coming) and maybe after 20 to 40 it goes away. Last night he got up in the middle of the night and had acouple chocolate cookies with milk, and that triggered the burning and what he describes to me the on coming of a ch. Are these shadows???????? I was corrected by my hubby its the left side, he hasnt had a full blown ch since 6 or 7 days. Im praying this could be the end for awhile. Oh please endulge me for a minute,,,,,,, are thier foods that effect any of you guys. what are shadows and is that what my bill is having, there, not full blown chs, so my ? is are these shadows?????? One more thing Id be interested what foods effect fellow chs, thanks snook |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by E-Double on Oct 21st, 2004, 1:07pm I think shadows are just the term used by everyone here as a kind of phantom HA not a full blown CH attack... also on different levels but not full blown attacks. Low levels might just be twinges Mid level might be pacers but nothing agonizing higher levels might be worth aborting. It's an individual scale sorta. I named my HA's tweakers or crankers (low), rockers (mid), Pacers (higher), scissors (just kidding)& killers or bangers (ABORT!!!). Rocka papa scissa go... lol |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by dafreeman on Oct 21st, 2004, 1:12pm When I heard the term "Shadows" it reminded me of a characteristic that I exerienced for the first time last week. The sensation was a sporadic, dull pain on the side I get the CH. It was also accomanied by a mildly stiff neck. This lingered throughout the day with occasional "twinges" (like the pain sharpened slightly but only briefly then back to mild and dull). Maybe I've misunderstood the term, but it seemed to oddly describe my sensation. Sort of like the CH was "in the background", "waiting" to come out. :-/ |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by kcorrigan on Oct 21st, 2004, 2:03pm I have nicknamed my "F**K-you" headaches. They give me little twinges of pain but never go full-blown, instead they stay between a K2 - 4. They may last from 20 minutes to all day and that's how I know I'm at the beginning and end of a cycle. |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by nani on Oct 21st, 2004, 2:56pm For me, shadows are a mild kind of cluster. They can last all day, with tiny moments of no pain. I also get twinges of higher kips, but not a full blown cluster. |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by Bob_Johnson on Oct 21st, 2004, 3:27pm The medical term for shadows is "prodrome". It refers to a nonspecific set of signs/feelings/conditions/???? which signal to the person that "something is wrong". These are not a set of signs which all of us would agree upon, I suspect, for each person learns what set of signs are specific to him/herself. But we learn to trust them because--if you come to see that your signs usually lead to an attack, then you can trust them and take an abortive before the attack fully develops. I think there may be a difference between shadows which signal an attack and shadows which are a distant warning that a new cycle is about to begin. That's my experience: I've been able to tell weeks in advance of the start of cycle. (BUT there is no way I could describe this awareness in a way which would mean anything to another person!) The trick, I think, is to learn to let them guide you but not let them trigger an anxiety attack--what, in the trade we call, "anticipatory anxiety". |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by thudpucker on Oct 21st, 2004, 3:57pm My ha's feel like they're made of two components: one is a background pain, a steady burning or cutting kind of pain about the size of a quarter right on my left temple. The other, much more intense but not steady, feels like someone is trying to drive a nail into the center of the background pain. Usually, when a ha goes away, both the central pain and the background pain go away. But sometimes the background pain doesn't, and it can remain for 12-18 hours at a level of intensity not much lower than the central pain--or it may be so weak that I can effectively ignore it. And I will sometimes have the background pain without the central pain's ever manifesting. Applying the terminology I've seen here, I've assumed that the background pain is the "shadow" and that the central pain is the "spiking"--one spike for every hammer-blow trying to drive in that nail. (Pain in the eyeball, teeth, and neck at base of skull disregarded for the purpose of this discussion.) thudpucker |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by don on Oct 21st, 2004, 7:10pm Black things on the sidewalk that follow you around on a sunny day. 8) |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by Connie on Oct 21st, 2004, 7:33pm The sensation was a sporadic, dull pain on the side I get the CH. It was also accomanied by a mildly stiff neck. This lingered throughout the day with occasional "twinges" (like the pain sharpened slightly but only briefly then back to mild and dull). Maybe I've misunderstood the term, but it seemed to oddly describe my sensation. Sort of like the CH was "in the background", "waiting" to come out. :-/[/quote] That's exactly the way my hubby describes it. |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by eddie on Oct 21st, 2004, 7:55pm Quote:
good one i like that [smiley=laugh.gif] |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by Gator on Oct 21st, 2004, 8:20pm I think the concept of the shadow has been fairly well described here. To answer you questions about specific triggers; each person is different, but some commonly recognized triggers are: Alcohol tobacco histamine stress decreased blood oxygen levels (hypoxemia) relaxation exposure to heat or cold glare hay fever attacks chocolate eggs dairy products foods that contain nitrates, like hot dogs, bacon, etc. Nitroglycerin has been used to induce a cluster attack. Someone who suffers from a heart condition that has CH basically gets screwed coming and going. In order to treat a ch attack, triptans are the weapon of choice, but they can cause troubles in heart patients. Nitroglycerin is used to treat heart attacks, but it triggers ch attacks. There are several people here who suffer from both. ClusterChuck and Svenn immediately come to mind. I hope your tomato is coming to the end of his cycle and never has another one. I also hope you stick around to share your experiences with others. You may be someone's "Cluster Angel" someday. Gator |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by Kris_in_SJ on Oct 21st, 2004, 8:54pm Gator's right - it's all been explained pretty well already. I do like the description of the "background headache" though - it's pretty right on. When my cycles are winding down, I usually have that "background" thing pretty constantly for a week or so after the "Imitrex" HA's are gone. Then they gradually wind down to the occasional "twinge." Sound like the tomato just might be getting there too! Sure hope so - for both of your sakes. Biggest Hugs, Kris |
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Title: man you hit it dead on Post by snook on Oct 22nd, 2004, 10:33am :-* I find myself blown away everytime I ask for help. I want to thank each and everyone of you guys. As you might have gathered by now Im deeply in love, and come hell or high water Ill do anything I can for my tomato. Hopes for a ha free day to all :-* snook ps this is not the last you will hear from me, but I think you know that already ;;D |
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Title: Re: please explain shadows? Post by ArCane on Oct 22nd, 2004, 1:34pm on 10/21/04 at 19:10:58, don wrote:
[smiley=crackup.gif] [smiley=crackup.gif] [smiley=crackup.gif] |
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