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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004-2005 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> New guy in town.
        
(Message started by: thumperak on Nov 20^th, 2005, 4:32pm)

Title: New guy in town.
Post by thumperak on Nov 20^th, 2005, 4:32pm

I guess this is where I should introduce myself to the community of Clusterville. I just discovered last year what it is that hit me about every four years in the late fall/early winter. Well, every four years until 2002, then it moved to every two years. And now I am in a cycle just one year after my last one. So this is number nine. Thank god I am not a chronic. I had my first CH at 17 years of age, and about every four years since it would happen again, though twice it happened in the late winter/early spring. I didn't know what it was, only that it felt like I had an ice pick in the back of my eye with the eye being crushed around the pick, and half my head felt like it was trying to contain the pressure from a nuclear blast. The episodes only lasted about two weeks, with a full blown CH occuring twice a day. During the episodes I could feel it lurking, just waiting in the background to wash over my brain (what is called here "the shadows", an apt description). After a couple of weeks they would go away and I would move on and forget about it. Well last year I paid attention. Tears running down one side of my face, it felt like crying, but I knew it wasn't. One side of my nose plugged up, wrapping my hands around my head trying to contain the pressure within. Vacillating between wanting to remain motionless, yet needing to pace. Needing absolute quiet and solitude, but wanting someone there to help.
My mother had a history of migraines, and I started researching and discovered this thing called Cluster Headaches. That is when I pieced together my prior episodes and discovered what I had been dealing with. During last year's research I found out about the lidocaine in the nostril, talked to my mom about our families history with headaches (just her and I as far as I know), and put it behind me again. Until this past Saturday....WHAM. The lidocaine trick did blunt the worst of it. Knocked it from a Kip 7 to a Kip 5 (very good scale, thank you Mr. Bob Kipple). Right now I am at K2, with brief periods of K3. Biofeedback pushes the shadows back a little when I am able to concentrate hard on relaxing. I picked that up about five years ago when I thought I was just having a period of really bad tension headaches. But when a full blown CH hits I am unable to will it out of my head. I work two weeks on two weeks off at a remote job site in Alaska. I go home to Anchorage tomorrow and am making a beeline for Kudzu. I will report back on how I fare with it.

Gee, I hope I don't turn into one of those long winded new neighbors.

Title: Re: New guy in town.
Post by unsolved1 on Nov 20^th, 2005, 6:26pm

Welcome to the club, sorry you had to be here. Do alot of reading here, maybe you'll find something that helps.

http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf

Goodluck

UNsolved

Title: Re: New guy in town.
Post by Jasmyn on Nov 21^st, 2005, 12:58pm

Welcome and you found THE place to be when you suffer from CH.

Jas

Title: Re: New guy in town.
Post by BobG on Nov 21^st, 2005, 1:24pm

Welcome to the board thumper.

We've visited your city of Anchorage a couple of times. Beautiful place. Nice people. My granddaughter was born up in North Pole.

One request, can you do something about the mosquitoes? Those suckers make the Texas bugs look like flees.
::)