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New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Posts >> A CH poll.....again.....
(Message started by: Roxy on Jun 25th, 2004, 10:50pm)

Title: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Roxy on Jun 25th, 2004, 10:50pm
I know this has been talked about before, but as usual....my ability to work the search engine on this site is nonexistent... ::).  

Virginia and I got into a discussion a few weeks ago about the usual ch stuff....shadows, hits and the kip scale.  We are both chronic, but we both get hit in totally different ways.  She can go all day with a shadow (around 5-6 on the kip scale), she gets hammered too, of course, but her ch's can sometimes top out at lower levels.  Mine don't seem to work that way....if I get a shadow, I may have 30 minutes, or I may have two minutes....but it ALWAYS will go full blown (without an abortive).  Her's don't always go full blown.  There doesn't seem to be a (excuse the term) happy medium for me.

Is anyone else like this?  If I don't use an abortive, mine will always go to a 10...no holes barred.  If I can even 'feel' my head....I know I'm a goner.

What does your head do?  Is it like this, or will your's stop at a 5, 6, 7....etc?

Maybe I'm just f*cked up.....LOL.....

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Sean_C on Jun 25th, 2004, 11:48pm
Hi Rox,

My shadows when I'm in my cycle can last all day, even after I get the attack. But when my cycle leaves I still get them periodically, some for a minute or two, others for hours and hours.
Today I had shadows most of the day, my eye even watered but my nose didn't clog. I would put it on the kip one scale.
But to answer your question my shadows only bloom in my cycle to a kip 10.

I hope this helped

Sean

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Jayne on Jun 26th, 2004, 12:16am
Roxy I am the same as you...if I feel a "shadow" it's going to hit full force in a few minutes..every time.
Then I go running for the trex.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by JDH on Jun 26th, 2004, 12:17am

on 06/25/04 at 22:50:33, Roxy wrote:
Is anyone else like this?  If I don't use an abortive, mine will always go to a 10...no holes barred.  If I can even 'feel' my head....I know I'm a goner.
What does your head do?  Is it like this, or will your's stop at a 5, 6, 7....etc?

Maybe I'm just f*cked up.....LOL.....


Tracey,
I'm an ech but if you're fucked up then I reckon I am too.
Once I feel it starting and I don't do anything about it then we're going straight to the top within about a half hour.
I may get some lower hits at the begining and towards the end of a cycle but when it's established and I'm getting hit 3 or 4 times a day then yeah they can all get nasty.

Jim

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by purpleydog on Jun 26th, 2004, 12:46am
When I start getting shadows, if I don't do something about it within 2- 5 minutes, it will go to a full blown kip 10.
Every time.

purpleydog

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by don on Jun 26th, 2004, 12:50am
0 to 9 in 3 minutes flat.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 26th, 2004, 1:09am
Hey Roxy,

I think I'm kinda a fluke, too, but a bit different than Ginny.  Since I've had a continuous headache for 3.5 years, I have this baseline that for me is never below a 5 unless I get a good day with a strong abortive or a long hospital stay.  Once I got an official diagnosis of cluster headaches, my neuro goes back and forth between referring to my chronic daily headache as New Daily Persistent Headache and Hemicrania Continua.  If it is Hemicrania Continua, I do not respond to indomethacin.

So, the only real way I know that I'm shadowing is once the neuro symptoms start such as the watery eye and stuffy nose.  My continuous headache still rules during this time.  This can be a bad thing because it hides the fact that I may be soon going into a full blown CH from my being able to notice it.  I am trying to work hard at noticing these symptoms as fast as I can.  If the CH is going to hit, it's going to be a bad one.  By bad one, I mean at least a k7 or 8.

When not during a full out attack, my chronic daily headache rules the playing field.  So maybe it masks tinier kips for me?  I dunno.  It's a confusing mess sometimes!!!

Lizzie

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Mac on Jun 26th, 2004, 1:57am
My shadows start at about 2 kip. Sometimes if I just get busy and move around I can stave off a cluster attack for a few hours. It will still get me after I go to sleep however. My shadows don't normally last to long. I either kill it or get nailed with a full blown cluster. PFDANeh Glen

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Little Deb on Jun 26th, 2004, 7:59am
Hey Rox...

Out of cycle, I usually don't get any shadows.  Maybe an occasional one, very minor, just a subtle reminder that I should appreciate every pf moment in life.

But for the last few weeks, I have had mostly "1"s, then for the last 2 weeks, I have had shadows alot, but not more than a "3".  And a week ago today, I woke up with a "7", hit the Zomig and O2, and it lasted only 45 min.   Since then, only shadows again.  But I guess my cycle is just around the corner.  When actually in cycle, I can get shadows, any variation.  When I start to get this heat sensation at the base of my neck on the left, I know it is going to be more than a shadow, and I run for an abortive, which sometimes will actually abort it.  Othertimes, I don't make it in time.  And the ones at night, pretty much always a "9 or 10".  Hope that answers your question.  No, mine don't always go full blown.


dreading the inevitable...................little deb :(

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Karla on Jun 26th, 2004, 10:19am
I am very much like JDH.  When I was chronic I would shadow strongly for a half hour then get a kip 10 for 1 1/2 hours or until I would get to the imitrix.  Every time 8x a day.  For the last 14 weeks I have been blessed!

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by UN_SOLVED on Jun 26th, 2004, 11:18am
0 - 10 in 2 - 5 minutes ... unless i'm on a steriod taper then I might just 'shadow' for awhile.

Unsolved

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Rock_Lobster on Jun 26th, 2004, 12:14pm
Heya Rox...

ech

Untreated...
 0-9/10 in 5-30 minutes.  Only stops short the first few days of the episode.
 Any shadow typically indicates that the hammer will fall in 1-3 hours.
 Shadows here usually have enough pain to piss me off.

Treated... (Topa)
 Can shadow all day.  Typically not tied to a given CH.
 Shadows here are usually the 'you know your head exists' non-painful type.
 (Shadowing lightly every other day right now... been PF for two+ weeks)

Rock!

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by eyes_afire on Jun 26th, 2004, 1:34pm

on 06/25/04 at 22:50:33, Roxy wrote:
...no holes barred.  .....


[smiley=laugh.gif]LMAO, you mean 'no holds barred', right?   [smiley=huh.gif]

Mine are more like Virginia's

Don't know what I would do if all my shadows went full-blown... perish the thought!

--- Steve

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Root on Jun 26th, 2004, 2:01pm
0 - 10 in 5 minutes or less. Faster than a MS server crash.
Both of which really suck.
I will kiss in public whoever invented Trex.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Jeepgun on Jun 26th, 2004, 11:46pm

on 06/26/04 at 00:50:37, don wrote:
0 to 9 in 3 minutes flat.



Yep. When in cycle, this is exactly how it is for me.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by K. on Jun 27th, 2004, 12:01am
Without abortives....kip 9 or 10 in 5 minutes....every time.  :(

Karen

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by alleyoop49 on Jun 27th, 2004, 12:11am
Hi Roxy,

I too, am chronic. Shadow to kip 9 in 3-5 unless I abort.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Gator on Jun 27th, 2004, 1:54am
As was mentioned by someone else, if I feel a shadow while I am busy doing something I can usually keep it at a  3 - 4 by staying busy.  As soon as I relax a little, the pain will max out in about 5 - 10 minutes if not aborted.  Mine don't always go to 10.  I get a lot of 8's and 9's.  Either way I am thankful for O2 and Zomig NS.

Gator

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Rick_K on Jun 27th, 2004, 5:16pm
Without an abortive from shadow to 9-10 within 10 min.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Redd715 on Jun 27th, 2004, 5:47pm
I'm another like Virginia.  I've noticed that the shadows tend to build for a couple days before I get hammered again.  Sometimes I don't get hammered hard, sometimes I do.  There doesn't seem to be a corrolation between the intencity of shadows and number of days between full attacks.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Melissa on Jun 27th, 2004, 10:04pm
For me, episodic, it depends on where I am at in my cycle.  For the beginning till about midway through, I get hammered with high kips every single time.  BUT, after that I can ride a lot of them out because they are less intense.  Not all of them, but I'd say about 80% of them are "rideable" (meaning without trex) for me.

:)mel

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Donna H. on Jun 28th, 2004, 2:20am
Mine were always 0 - 9 in 5 minutes.  If I hit 10, someone would have to carry me to the hospital in a basket....but, we didn't have anything to abort ch's back then.  And again, naturally, by the time I got to see the doc, it was over, but when you're in that kind of pain, nothing makes sense so you go to the hospital without even thinking it won't help.  

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by BarbaraD on Jun 28th, 2004, 10:17am
I shadow almost all the time (Kip 3-4). My eye starts to swell, but sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't. Since I suffer "arthritic migraines" on top of the CH, I don't know which one is hammering at me.

I usually drink some strong black coffee and if I get above a 5 take three Excedrin ES (can't do this often cause they cause rebounds). Sometimes this will abort mine. O2 has quit helping most of the time, but I still hit it when I can get to it. If I go over a 5, I take cafergot and hope it works before I go higher.

Mine seem to change in pattern - used to, I just went from 0-10 in seconds without warning at all. Now I just shadow most of the time. Lately (think it's weather related) been getting hit more times a day than I can enjoy. Usually peak out at about an 8 or so.

Personally Rox, I don't think these things have a "real" pattern. 'bout the time you think you know what they're gonna do -- they change. At least mine do.

Hugs BD

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by thomas on Jun 28th, 2004, 10:36am
I always have to wait about 10-15 mins after feeling the first stages, because mine sometimes go away quickly.  When in cycle I usually get about 3-4 of those a day and 3-4 kip 7's+.  So I do have to wait a bit, would hate to waste a zomig on a 10 minute tease from the beast.

Title: Re: A CH poll.....again.....
Post by Superpain on Jun 28th, 2004, 3:53pm
Same here... I can get hit hard, but it might only last 5-10 minutes. Shadows linger with no ryhme or reason.

I'm never sure of how bad it's gonna be or how long it will last till it's over.

Before I found medication, any headache less than 20 minutes was a cakewalk. When it gets to 20-30 min's, that's when I knew I was in for a "good" one and just dig in and hold on.


Thank God for O2, imitrex and ch.com!!!



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