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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004-2005 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> God damn it!
        
(Message started by: MaxPayne on Feb 4^th, 2005, 7:50am)

Title: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 4^th, 2005, 7:50am

Hiyas!

Looks like I came back sooner than I would have thought. Have anybody else experienced that the cycle has started sooner than anticipated? I came out of mine in August, and wasn't expecting it to return until end of March (That's when it usually revs up) Now it just quietly crept up and bit me a week ago, and it's only after I have fallen asleep this time. I mean what the fuck is this shit? Usually I get some kind of warning; some shadows and stuff before it hits me with #8's and 9's. But not this time, I am fast asleep and then just suddenly I am hit with a 9 that takes me from some erotic dream to the pits of hell in a nanosecond. And no attacks during the day at all, not even if am drinking myself into a stupor on a saturday nite... no no not until I pass out, then it comes. Has anybody else ever experienced this kind of shift in the condition?

//Robert

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by JJA on Feb 4^th, 2005, 8:15am

Yep, mine come early or late. I only know seasons (spring, fall) that I'll get hit, not the exact month, but even the season rule has been violated a few times.

Maybe you should get checked for sleep apnea. My understanding is that sleep only CH is sometimes caused by apnea and improves with treatment.

Jesse

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 4^th, 2005, 8:19am

What is sleep apnea?

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by E-Double on Feb 4^th, 2005, 8:22am

on 02/04/05 at 08:19:32, MaxPayne wrote:

What is sleep apnea?

http://www.sleepapnea.org/

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 4^th, 2005, 8:29am

Ah ok, then I know. Well I don't know if I have that really. I have heard that I snore pretty bad, but then again who doesn't huh? ;) Well I hope that if the cycle is starting up again now, it goes away sooner. Last year the whole bloody summer went coping with this shit. Couldn't even have a cold beer in sun.

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Bob_Johnson on Feb 4^th, 2005, 10:14am

All of our attention to "cycles" and "symptoms" tends to obscure the reality: Clusters are not as fixed and regular as we believe. Variation is all too common and the meaning of these changes is not understood.

We are also so strongly focused on finding medical treatments to abort and prevent Cluster that we pay very little attention to learning how our emotional reactions to having Cluster affect our experience of the disorder.

With any chronic or serious medical problem, learning how to develop "emotional toughness" is very important. Anger, anxiety, and depression may be "normal" but they are no less an impediment to our wellbeing. It is possible to learn how to deal with these emotional responses so that they don't become barriers to handling the Clusters.

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Valerie on Feb 4^th, 2005, 10:24am

I'm with ya - wasn't "expecting" another for 2 years. Mine just ended in Oct and now they're back. I'm going on vacation in a few days and I am trying to stay optimistic - I'm not going to let the beast rule my life.

Oh how I would love to have an adult beverage by the pool.

Valerie

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by EmpressJMB on Feb 4^th, 2005, 10:47am

Hi Robert! Sleep only CH's are pretty common. They hit when you get to the REM cycle of sleep. That's how mine usually start. I'm woken out of sound sleep with a kip 9-10 every hour to hour and a half. As for "shifts in the condition", the beast seems to have no rhyme or reason. I went for years with only night hits, then for many more years, they came day and night. Now I seem to only be hit at night again. [smiley=huh.gif] Have you tried Melatonin? It doesn't work for me but I know it does for many others. Wishing you PFDAN! Janet

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Frank_W on Feb 4^th, 2005, 1:59pm

Sorry to hear that the beast has thrown you a curveball.

For the past eight years, my cycles have come every autumn, like clockwork. The autumn before last, I skipped, and then got hammered with a cycle last February. Now it's February again, and I really don't know WHAT to expect. So far, nothing... *keeping my fingers crossed* It's like living with an anvil hanging overhead...

Hang in there.

-Frank

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Kevin_M on Feb 4^th, 2005, 2:42pm

on 02/04/05 at 10:14:52, Bob_Johnson wrote:

Clusters are not as fixed and regular as we believe.

emotional reactions to having Cluster affect our experience of the disorder.

Anger, anxiety, and depression may be "normal" but they are no less an impediment to our wellbeing. It is possible to learn how to deal with these emotional responses so that they don't become barriers to handling the Clusters.

Good stuff Bob.

Kevin M

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by E-Double on Feb 4^th, 2005, 2:45pm

on 02/04/05 at 10:14:52, Bob_Johnson wrote:

Drill it into our heads...."IT IS WHAT IT IS"....

That has helped me get over tons of the anxiety and emotional pain! When I stopped for the most part questioning the nature of it I began living life!
Physical pain we can deal with ...it is the other stuff that comes along that really shuts us down.

Hang in there and try to stay positive!!!

LIVE!

Best,

Eric

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by TonyG1 on Feb 4^th, 2005, 10:03pm

Hi Robert --- I'm one who usually gets hits while I'm asleep and dreaming (REM state) [smiley=sleep.gif] -- Usually those are Kip 8 or 9 for a while ... who knows how long ... time stands still in hell ... kinda like an injection of molten lava in the brain. [smiley=yikes.gif]Sorry to hear you shifted to my universe !!!

Wishing you many pain free days and nights.

Tony

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Dog on Feb 10^th, 2005, 2:09am

Hey dude:

New here, but just to let you know how crazy the beast is. I started at 23 years old having them at work. Then it shifted over the years to only when I was trying to relax, watch TV, read, etc. Now at 35, I only seem to get them while I'm deep asleep. The beast knows no boundries it seems. My doctor did tell me that they usually go away in your 40's. I'm gettin there!!
Darryl

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by RichardN on Feb 10^th, 2005, 2:17am

Ther're plenty of GHOF's (gray haired old farts) here who're [/i]way[i] overdue

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by BobG on Feb 10^th, 2005, 2:27am

Hey Darryl,

see my tag line.

And hey Richard

Quote:

Ther're plenty of GHOF's (gray haired old farts) here

Smile when you say that. ;;D
Please.

Old-wrinkled-gray-bald-fat and cranky BobG

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 10^th, 2005, 4:21am

Fuck me blind! The bastard shifted again, going into the usual shit with attacks in the evening and during sleep. m*th*rf**k*r! And even if it starts sooner this year am betting it's gonna last atleast as long as it did last year (March - August) Now it's back to the Imitrex shit again I guess... Getting pretty desperate to try the shrooms to be honest......

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by Dog on Feb 14^th, 2005, 12:59am

To all gray haired old farts, I'm still holding out hope! ;;D

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by RDJ on Feb 14^th, 2005, 2:02am

ok, well lets hope that my response does not jinx my luck, but 2 weeks ago I was having a beer or 6 and boom ch time, delt with them at night for a week, get all down and out because of em, then pissed then say the hell with it and see the new doctor agian in town, ( we get a new one every 6 weeks it seems, any ways did the eye doc, the general practice, and the chiroprator, the combo of verapamill, 3x the water off here, and the chiropractor twisting the heck out of my neck, and no headaches for 3 days now!! Cross my fingers and say a nice prayer before bed tonight, hope this can help more of you!

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 22^nd, 2005, 1:43pm

Now this is really interesting, just had a beer and the bastard responded right away s'funny because two weeks ago it didn't matter if I drank or not it still came @ nite. There some kind of pattern here, seems to be cycling up. Weird thing is it's always come in the spring but this year we have had an unusual mild winter, heck flowers were in bloom in january, which is pretty weird since I live in Norway. Maybe it's mistaken and thinks it's spring already. Today winter finally came here and it's bitching cold out. Gonna be interesting to see if it cycles up to full blast and ends or if it just continues towards summer. An ideas?

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by nani on Feb 22^nd, 2005, 1:54pm

Yes. I do have an idea. Please look at this:

http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=meds;action=display;num=1107368408

It's helped some of us. Read the whole thread and pay attention to possible meds interactions. I think it's worth a try. :)

Title: Re: God damn it!
Post by MaxPayne on Feb 22^nd, 2005, 2:39pm

That was interesting, there is a note of olanzapine which is a substance in zyprexa I think, I took that once when I was getting divorced and I had trouble relaxing. It's really a drug for treating ppl that r psychotic. But that spring I only had 2 or 3 attacks all together....