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        New Message Board Archives >> 2006-2007 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> tip on treatment
        
(Message started by: jlk on Feb 24^th, 2007, 9:38pm)

Title: tip on treatment
Post by jlk on Feb 24^th, 2007, 9:38pm

Hi! I'm new to this site and have been exploring. I have had continuous clusters since age 20. I finally found something that worked at age 45 and wanted to pass it along but don't want to repeat if it's been mentioned. It turned out that I had a vertebrae out of place in my neck that was putting pressure on the spinal cord. When that vertebrae is in place I get few or no headaches. My doctor of osteopathy says she has treated many people with clusters and migraines successfully.

Title: Re: tip on treatment
Post by BB on Feb 25^th, 2007, 9:02pm

Cluster headaches that people suffer from here are caused by the hypothalamus malfunctions, leading to a neurovascular events where the blood vessels in the neck and head swell up and compress the trigeminal nerve causing pain along its branches, and leading to the autonomic symptoms of droopy eyelid, tearing, brow sweating and constricted pupil. It causes the headaches to occur at a certain times of the day like clockwork and it happens regardless whether there is any compression on the muscles or cord. The majority of people here dont have a problem with their vertebrae I believe.

The trigeminal nerve is part of the autonomic sympathetic nerve branch which runs along the cervical spinal cord. Pressure on the ganglions of the cervical spinal cord can trigger symptoms similar to that of cluster headaches but without the round the clock timing ( circadian rythm )

There are many different types of headaches with similar symptoms but different mechanisms and different treatments.

If you have true cluster headaches, you will have attacks when in cycle ( at repeatedly certain times of the year and days ) even after your chiropractor has reset your vertebra. My guess is that you have a form of headache with similar symptoms to cluster headaches but yours is a musculoskeletal event and not a neurovascular event.

I am glad you found the cause out and got effective treatments though.

All the best.

Annette

Title: Re: tip on treatment
Post by jlk on Feb 25^th, 2007, 10:22pm

Thanks! Interesting points. So far the neurologists I have been to have diagnosed them as atypical clusters. My headaches that are on one side, with that side of the face aching. I have 2-3 attacks per day when things are particularly bad, other times days go by without them. However, I don't just get them seasonally, they are a constant. I have the dilated pupil show up as well. When my neck is 'in' I still get some headaches, just not as much.

According to the doctor of osteopathy who fixes my neck, she has treated quite a few people with migraines and a few with clusters that have neck problems. Maybe the neck issue aggravates the headaches. I still think it might be worth looking into for people with headaches since many headaches have multiple causes.

Title: Re: tip on treatment
Post by AussieBrian on Feb 25^th, 2007, 10:31pm

on 02/25/07 at 22:22:20, jlk wrote:

Maybe the neck issue aggravates the headaches.

Certainly worth a thought but for me it's exactly the other way round, especially after the 'cluster bump' is taken into consideration. Still, there's no two of us the same.