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        New Message Board Archives >> 2006-2007 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> A quick hello
        
(Message started by: marky_b on Aug 17^th, 2006, 12:16pm)

Title: A quick hello
Post by marky_b on Aug 17^th, 2006, 12:16pm

Hey all.. jus thought id say as a quick hello as im new here.. have been having what i thought was just really bad migraines for about 4 years now on and off and have only recently discovered CH. I have today been diagnosed with it by my GP. Have been reading here for a few days now as this is the worst bout of attacks i have ever had and although i do feel for you all it is kinda nice to know other people suffer from the same thing (that sounds worse than i mean it i promise!)

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by Shazza on Aug 17^th, 2006, 12:26pm

Hello and welcome,

Its always nice to know that your not on your own, and here there are loads of nice people with good advice. I am also new and it has been a relief to find this support group with the amount of caring and understanding people

Sharon xx

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by Bob_Johnson on Aug 17^th, 2006, 12:35pm

A couple of good sources of information:

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.
=======
Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor. It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S. (2002)

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

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by marky_b on Aug 17^th, 2006, 12:41pm

thanks for the replies ;;D i have been taking just all sorts of painkillers up untill now which has got to the point that they doing nothing at all. I have today picked up an imigran injection kit so will see how i go with that , The info i have found on here has been first class so thank you all!

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by roy21302 on Aug 17^th, 2006, 3:47pm

Marky,
Welcome to the site, sorry your going through it at the moment. You will find lots of useful info on here and support from people. I noticed you say you got Imigran injections today, just make sure you read the wad of paper that comes in the box with them, you need to be aware of how they are to be used. Here to some Pain free time for you-------------------------Cheers Roy

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by Sandy_C on Aug 17^th, 2006, 7:06pm

Marky

You have come to the best site there is with info on clusterheadaches.

Since your doc has given you Imitrex injection, please click on the box to the left of this screen called "imitrex tip". There is a wealth of info there that can and will help you, allowing you to take a smaller dose of your imigran, and still feel relief from the CH pain. Many have found this very helpful. Painkillers have been shown not to be very effective against CH.

Hope you can find PF. God luck, and best wishes

Sandy

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by LeLimey on Aug 17^th, 2006, 7:30pm

Hello Mark
Its nice to meet you, sorry I'm so late on the bandwagon but I've been running around like a muppet all day shopping for a kids party tomorrow ::)
I see you've been prescribed Imigran, how many have you been given? I ask because tomorrow is Friday and you don't want to be stuck medless for the weekend. I don't think I could cope with the worrying about how you'd be doing!
Can you tell us a bit more about your HA's and how they occur? How often? How long for etc?
Have you been referred to a neurologist?
You really need to see one and you need an MRI to rule out anything more insidious too. These are basic "must do's" for every new clusterhead.
We will help all we can, you're not alone with this okay?!
Helen

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by marky_b on Aug 18^th, 2006, 4:25am

hey helen..
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Ok a bit of info.. so i have been getting these headaches for nearly 5 yrs now,the first 3 years they seemed completely random with no real pattern to them untill last year when i got a bout that lasted almost a month,these were treated by my then GP and doctors at AE as migraines and was just prescribed painkillers. These cleared and i was PF untill 3 weeks ago when they came back much worse than ever. Since then i have been getting 2-3 a day,they start as a tingle behind the eye then very suddenly they evolve into an excrutiating burning pain always on the left side behind the eye and the whole left side of my face goes numb,my eye tears up and my nose starts running too.They normally last about 30 mins to an hour each time. Last night i awoke as usual around 2am with him back. I had my first imigran injection and within 5 mins it had completely cleared,i have never been so releived!! lol. As for my dosage the gp only gave me 2 shots as a tester to see how i got on with it,i have now phoned him this morning and am picking more up today. I know these aren't going to stop them but for the first time in 3 weeks i can actually get back to some sort of normality :D Here's to PF time to all

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by chopmyheadoff on Aug 18^th, 2006, 4:53am

glad to hear the imigran did the trick for you mate - its such a relief when you realise there is something you can to at last !!!

i nearly cried with happiness when i first tried an imigran shot !!!

the key now is to get on soem kind of preventative such as verapamil etc.
your doc will need to check you out as it can worsen some heart conditions but for me it has worked a charm.
i take 480mg daily and seem to be pretty much pain free !!

try and get referred to a neurologist as although your GP sounds better than most they dont really know much about the condition as it extremely rare !!

welcome to the nut house !!

chop

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by LeLimey on Aug 18^th, 2006, 5:00am

Hi Marky
I'm so glad you have found something that will give you some relief.
Since your cycles to date seem relatively short I'm going to suggest you stick to abortives rather than trying to use preventatives. The reason for this is twofold, one they can take up to 6 weeks to kick in by which time your cycle seems to be over and two, there is alot of anecdotal evidence from people that prevents seem to lengthen cycles and we don't want that now do we?!

Imigran injections are wonderful in that they act so fast but the downside is that they do have a relatively short half life of only two hours. Have a look into the Oxygen info here, I can abort using O2 in 5-7 minutes.

Other triptans that might be of use to you are Zomig which comes in a nasal spray (tablets are ineffective) and has a half life of up to twelve hours and

Frovatriptan which IS a tablet but is very good in that although it takes forever to kick in it has a half life of up to 26 hours. This means if you take it in advance of being hit it will block it and any subsequent ones. The downside is that it can take up to two hours to kick in and also that if you use it too often it can make hits seem to come back harder. For use to guarantee a nights sleep or to get through a busy day its invaluable though.

Triptans are vaso constrictors, they work by constricting your blood vessels, not just in your bonce but throughout your body which means that if you have any heart conditions they are not the drug for you. For this reason also you shouldn't exceed the stated dose of two in 24 hours.

Please ask your doctor to refer you to a neuro, you really do need to have an MRI and I won't stop nagging whining and generally creating until you get one.. I'm like that ;)

See what you think of the O2 idea, I swear by it, its the only abortive I use.
Take care for now
Helen

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by sandie99 on Aug 18^th, 2006, 9:35am

Welcome, Marky! :)

Wishing you PF time,
Sanna

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by Barry_T_Coles on Aug 18^th, 2006, 9:47am

Welcome, Marky

Cant help on the meds side of things but there are plenty of people here who can.

Wishing you some PF times.

Kind Regards
Barry

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by JimH on Aug 18^th, 2006, 2:50pm

Welcome Marky,
I'm new too, this is a fabulous site!
Read everything, you will get great tips!!!
JimH

Title: Re: A quick hello
Post by Marky B on Sep 4^th, 2006, 4:41am

Hey guys just an update on how im doin,
Been 4 an a half weeks now since it started again and although they are easing up a little,im still getting between 3-4 attacks per day. Am on imigran in injection and tablet form and so far seems to be doin a pretty good job,imigran tabs for when i can sense one coming and injections for when i wake with one and for real bad ones.. The only thing thats really getting to me now is the fact its hampering my everyday life so much. I hold a pretty responsible IT job and although they have been awesome with it all it can only go on for so long,and i Dj and produce music as well so have had a few sticky moments whilst dj'in lol.. (crowd must wonder why i duck off for 2mins under the desk to jab myself in the arm) hehe.. But they are on the decline every day so here's hoping it carries on like this. :)