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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004-2005 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> new here, foggy and dazed
        
(Message started by: April99 on Mar 10^th, 2005, 5:03pm)

Title: new here, foggy and dazed
Post by April99 on Mar 10^th, 2005, 5:03pm

Hi,
I'm new here, and new to (what my dr's are saying are) cluster headaches. It's been a confusing and painful week of rapidly changing diagnoses and myriad tests. My neuro gave me some RXs that seem to be working, so for now the dagger is out of my head.

Which brings me here, because I'm confused about the symptoms and diagnosis criteria. I'd been having the headache since last wednesday. It felt like someone was driving a nail into the top of my head near the back, and then yanking it back out, every 20 seconds to two minutes. I'd cringe and wince and cry out, but there was none of the head-banging that I've been reading about here.

the pain is bad, but what I'm really concerned about is that the skin on right side of my head (where the pain is) was excruciatingly itchy, and now has gone completely numb.

Full disclosure: I've had MS for a number of years, and that often involves numbness, but my neuro is skeptical that this current numbness is related, and wants me to go to a headache specialist. Said specialist won't see me for at least another week, so in the meantime, can someone tell me if this is normal in the cluster headache world? any ideas?

thanks for listening, folks
April99

Title: Re: new here, foggy and dazed
Post by guesst on Mar 10^th, 2005, 5:31pm

The pain location and duration is not normal to cluster headaches. See the specialist and see what he/she says.

Title: Re: new here, foggy and dazed
Post by Bob_Johnson on Mar 10^th, 2005, 8:12pm

Your experience with this kind of pain is too limited (in time) and the description so brief that I don't think we could tell you whether it's clusters or not.

It's is not unusual for the early episodes of cluster to be rather different in quality and location from the textbook description.

Try and be patient until you see the headache doc and then tell us what is happening. Perhaps, the hard part is being patient until this workup is finished.

Title: Re: new here, foggy and dazed
Post by April99 on Mar 10^th, 2005, 9:57pm

Yah, that's what I was afraid of. I don't seem to fit the symptom profile, but it's nerve racking (literally) not knowing what's going on. And the fact that two docs and a neuro are shrugging their shoulders too doesn't help.

I hope the specialist thinks my case is interesting enough to take on (I was told there's some sort of selection process?) and can tell me something. In the meantime, I'll try to manifest some Zen detachment on this one.

thanks for your comments.

Title: Re: new here, foggy and dazed
Post by jokrs2 on Mar 12^th, 2005, 6:59pm

Hi April. As a chronic for over 20 years with Clusters I can honestly tell you that your symptoms do not sound like clusters. I am sorry that you've been diagnosed with MS. Hopefully a new neuro can help you get an accurate diagnosis and the appropriate treatment to relieve your suffering. God Bless You. And please don't think that you have to leave us. Pain is pain, and we will support you no matter what. Blessings, Joe