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Title: Cant believe what I've read Post by jobes on Mar 25th, 2006, 3:39pm I'll try to be brief I am 31 yrs old and have lived with these headaches for a period of 3.5 years. My girlfriend, friends, family are all familiar with my "headaches". It was yesterday at about 2pm on my way home I had a "10" it was my 6th in a 24 hour period (i had 3 more the remainder of the day). At that point i decided to just research headaches and was shocked at what I found. It was truly a happy day for me and the first time I've had hope for this to be treatable. When i took the quiz and read the testimonials of other sufferers....I was estatic. I have spoken with migrane sufferers and knew we didnt truly suffer the same condition. My traits are as those that have been described in excellent detail here with a few exceptions that i've seen noted but aren't "typical" wich are: about 1 in 5 of my headaches are on the left side (once or twice they been back to back with a righty followed minutes later by a lefty) In 3.5 years I have never had a period of complete remission that exceeded 14 days. a typical week for me is 1 or 2 free days, 1 or 2 moderate days (2-3 headaches during awake hours) and 2 or 3 heavy days(4-8 occurances including the wake ups). 2 or 3 heaches a week are 8-10 on kip's scale. Most hit about a 7-8 duration is 20-40 minutes never shorter but sometimes longer. I can also identify the onset of an episode about 15 min prior to the onset of pain. About 60% of the time I drink alcohol I suffer a headache 30 or so minutes after my first drink. Because the one thing IKNOW is that it will go away is really the only thing that gets me through one. For whatever reason drinking ice cold water is helpful but is not an antidote. I was told by someone a long time ago they were clusters but discredited it due to the lack of a remission period. And truthfully thought no one really understood what "this" type of headache was. About three years ago during the onset i was going through a amiable divorve and was spending more time partying and going out than I had in years and thought my body was telling me something. But now that i am living a normal lifestyle for sometime I knew it wasnt that. That;s all I'll post for now. I'm happy to be here and look forward to learning more about my condition. What a wonderful feeling it is to know whats "this" is and that there is a form of relief and preventative measure. I am certain my quality of life will soon change. i feel as thought my fiance and I have been dragging a iron ball with us in all our activities because you never know when you may have to pack it in. The short duration of the headaches is the only thing that gets me through the pain. |
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Title: Re: Cant believe what I've read Post by Bob_Johnson on Mar 25th, 2006, 4:02pm The medical description of any condition is a statistical "average" of many peoples' experience. We all have variations from a common theme--often wide ranging variations--which make it difficult to make a diagnosis, at times. I.E., don't get locked in to one description plus CH often varies over time (the theme of many messages here). Urge you to put your energy into learning about the condition. Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor. It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. (2002) http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf MANAGEMENT OF HEADACHE AND HEADACHE MEDICATIONS, 2nd ed. Lawrence D. Robbins, M.D.; pub. by Springer. $59 at Amazon.Com. It covers all types of headache and is primarily focused on medications. While the two chapters on CH total 42-pages, the actual relevant material is longer because of multiple references to material in chapters on migraine, reflecting the overlap in drugs used to treat. I'd suggest reading the chapters on migraine for three reasons: he makes references to CH & medications which are not in the index; there are "clinical pearls" about how to approach the treatment of headache; and, you gain better perspective on the nature of headache, in general, and the complexities of treatment (which need to be considered when we create expectations about what is possible). Finally, women will appreciate & benefit from his running information on hormones/menstrual cycles as they affect headache. Chapter on headache following head trauma, also. Obviously, I'm impressed with Robbins' work (even if the book needs the touch of a good editor!) (Somewhat longer review/content statement at 3/22/00, "Good book....") HEADACHE HELP, Revised edition, 2000; Lawrence Robbins, M.D., Houghton Mifflin, $15. Written for a nonprofessional audience, it contains almost all the material in the preceding volume but it's much easier reading. Highly recommended. |
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Title: Re: Cant believe what I've read Post by Jasmyn on Mar 26th, 2006, 1:45am Welcome Jobes. Yes, you are not alone anymore and like Bob said, read and educate yourself, there are many medications and treatments which you can try, to make your life more livable. Good Luck and wishing you some PF times. |
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Title: Re: Cant believe what I've read Post by burnt-toast on Mar 28th, 2006, 8:02am The lack of a remission period does not rule out clusters. Chronic conditions exist and many have had no remissions for decades. In my case my longest remission (in about 12 years) was my first remission and that was about 90 days. Since then I have gone into remissions of 30 days or less every couple years. I'm currently in a remission that is nearing 60 days after a 3.5 year On-Cycle. Alcohol is a definate trigger for me. I have learned to steer clear even though I miss having a beer or three - terribly. If you haven't already done so - see a Neurologist, preferably one who is familiar with CH or is part of a headache clinic. You should go through the usual battery of testing to ensure that your headaches are not caused by physical problems. Treatments are generally broken down into three groups - abortives, preventatives, and alternatives. The following links will provide some basic treatments. There's a lot of good information out there and these treatment links will get you started in the right direction. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20050215/717.html http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/37974-8.asp If you are suffering from CH the news is generally that instead of an outright cure - you should expect to improve the symptoms of your condition with proper treatment. Good luck on your journey, Tom |
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