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        New Message Board Archives >> 2006-2007 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> Newbie clusterhead
        
(Message started by: Lecxi on Jun 14^th, 2007, 6:30pm)

Title: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Lecxi on Jun 14^th, 2007, 6:30pm

Hi everyone,

I'm Lecxi, Lex for the friends, age 29.
I got diagnosed in january 2006. When the first attack started I thought I was gonna die. I went from perfectly well to immense pain in no time. I didn't know what was happening to me but by the second day I was a wreckage and went to the doc.
Diagnosis: infected sinusses. I was sent home with some painkillers and the advice to rest. "If you don't feel better in two days ... come again ..."

I don't remember how I passed those days. I lived in the hallway (it's so cool there) and in the bathroom. When the pain went down I ate just to give it up again 30 minutes later. After two days the doc send me to a specialist. It didn't took him long to see what was going on.
Complaints: Blury view of the right eye. The lid half closed, non stop tears, dripping nose, numb feeling of the right side of my face, every bit of light and movement hurts same goes for every sound, nausea,
vomitting, feeling ice cold one minute and the next way to hot, an immense pain centered at my temple and behind my eye like someone is pushing it from the inside out and it is gonna pop ever second, even my teeth hurt.
He stuffed some cotton, dragged in a kind of strong menthol solution, up my nose. And I could feel the pain going away in waves after a while. All I could smell, taste was menthol and I felt high but who cared? The pain was gone and that was all that mattered.
I hoped/thought I was save after that... at least I was untill november. It came like the first time, I woke up in the middle of the night with a head that was about to exploded I took one of the pills the doc gave me but an hour later I still found myself running up and down the stairs, screaming, pushing my head, thinking of ways to hurt myself so I would feel something different then the pain in my head. Desparate.
When the morning came I was exhausted but the pain had gone to a bearable level and since it was a working day I pulled myself together and thought I would survive the day. I went to work, arrived there got just in time to the bathroom and went back home. Again the doc stuffed the cottons up my nose and in addition he gave me a shot of Imitrex. I was walking on clouds and the world was a happy place again. It unbelievable how tired I am afterwards.
My last attack up till now was april. I have Imitrex pills now and they seem to work. Thx god.

I hoped that at some time the attacks just would go away to never return again but by now I have realised it's something I'll have to learn to live with. I've tried to explain my friends what's going on, they are nice and listen but I can see on their faces they don't really understand. My husband doesn't want to talk about it and it feels like he thinks I'm pretending. I told my mom, she answered "I have migraine aswell" after that I stopped trying to explain.
I was searching for more information about what is happening to me and I'm happy i've ended up here.
Thx for being here.

Lex

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by thebbz on Jun 14^th, 2007, 6:52pm

welcome,
Sounds like your in the right place. Oxygen works well and should be considered. You felt high from the lidocaine ,(cotton swabs that smell like menthol), because you were. Read all the of the tabs on the left.
Knowledge about your condition is the best weapon.
good luck and dont forget to breathe.
all the best
jb
Here is some more reading for you.
http://www.calouch.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1162066074

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Linda_Howell on Jun 14^th, 2007, 8:39pm

Quote:

I got diagnosed in january 2006. When the first attack started I thought I was gonna die. I went from perfectly well to immense pain in no time. I didn't know what was happening to me but by the second day I was a wreckage and went to the doc.
Diagnosis: infected sinusses. I was sent home with some painkillers and the advice to rest. "If you don't feel better in two days ... come again

Lecxi, were you diagnosed with Cluster headaches in 06 or a sinus infection? I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that.

Quote:

My husband doesn't want to talk about it and it feels like he thinks I'm pretending. I told my mom, she answered "I have migraine aswell" after that I stopped trying to explain

Oh, Please.... let me do it for you. Pretty please. I will certainly set them straight if it is CH you have.

aside from this we are all here to help you find the right answers. Linda

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Ray on Jun 14^th, 2007, 9:08pm

Welcome to the CH family!

Ray

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Lotus on Jun 14^th, 2007, 10:07pm

Hello and welcome

Please do try oxygen , its a god send for as many Chers and it aborts up to 90+% of hits without serious side effects.

There is very helpful information on the Ouch website

http://www.ouch-us.org/medications/oxygen/o2links.htm

Good luck and painfree wishes to you.

Annette

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Yorky on Jun 15^th, 2007, 5:37am

hi lex..welcome aboard.

im onother fan of oxygen.

somewhere on the board there is a link, to a letter that will help explain things to your "doubtors" (the people that say..ho i had a bad headache once)
its also for your employer.

some one will post the link up im sure.....good luck

ps try and get hubby to read some of the posts from the introductry pages/..you need him to understand

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Lecxi on Jun 15^th, 2007, 12:25pm

Thx for the warm welcomes :)

Linda,

When I went the first time to doctor she said I had a sinus infection and to visit her again if the pain wasn't better after two days. The meds for the infection didn't do it and after two days I returned that's when she send me in a rush to the hospital to see the specialist.
He diagnosed me to have clusterheadache. I had also taken some blood and a scan of my head to rules some other things out.

Diagnosed as clusterheadache: january 27th, 2006.

I'm happy I found this place, finally some decent explanations. I've been reading here a lot and I still have a lot to read ;) Like I said i'm a newbie. 3 attacks since I've been diagnosed is not much if I read some stories. Makes me think if all those people can make I should definetly.
Will the attacks increase or decrease when I grow older or is it different for everyone?

Lex

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Redd on Jun 15^th, 2007, 12:58pm

Lex...

There is a cluster quiz over to the left on the board here. Please copy and paste your answers so we can get a clearer picture. 3 attacks in a year and a half? or 3 cycles in a year and a half? It may be the language barrier that has me confused.

How long does each individual headache last? How often do they occure in a day/week/month?

This would help us understand your particulat case better.

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Guiseppi on Jun 15^th, 2007, 3:37pm

Welcome to the board! And yet another vote for oxygen. After nearly 30 years with these damned things it is still my first line abort.

As far as your question, will they increase or decrease....the answer is yes. They will either get better, get worse, be the same, or go away! We have guys in their 70's and 80's still doing battle, people in their 30's and 40's whose headaches just stop!! Not much rhyme or reason that anyone has figured out yet!

Good luck I hope you find something from the board that helps you!!

Guiseppi

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by Lecxi on Jun 15^th, 2007, 9:22pm

As asked my test:
#1) Do your headaches normally last LESS THAN 15 minutes?
No

#2) Do your headaches normally last MORE THAN 4 hours?
No

#3) Do your headaches normally switch sides from day to day or during a headache?
No

#4) When you have a headache, do you normally seek a quiet, dark place?
Yes

#5) When you have a headache, do you normally want to be around other people?
No

#6) When you have a headache, can you normally lay down and be motionless?
No

#7) When you have a headache, can you normally go to sleep to make it go away?
No

#8) When you have a headache, do you normally experience nausea?
Yes

#9) Are your headaches always on the same side of your head?
Yes

#10) Do your headaches normally wake you up from a sound sleep?
Yes

#11) Do your headaches normally occur at the same time of the year and same times each day?
Yes

#12) Do you normally experience a stuffy nostril on the same side of the face as the pain?
Yes

#13) Do you normally experience a "droopy" eyelid on the same side of the face as the pain?
Yes

#14) Do you normally go from totally pain free to totally debilitated in 5-10 minutes?
Yes

#15) Do you normally go from totally debilitated to totally pain free in 5-10 minutes?
Yes

#16) When you have a headache, do you walk, pace, bash your head, thrash, scream?
Yes

Some comments:
- all 3 happend during nighttime, can't tell you what time, since I didn't really paid attention to it, as I've read now it's of some importance, I'm sorry.
1. The first one started and continued going up and down untill the afternoon, the next night it went up again. After that i visited the doc for the first time. The next two days were the same. (so the 4th night i saw the specialst)
2. Started during nighttime untill morning the same evening I saw the specialist.
3. Nighttime again, I woke up walked around a bit, took the Imitrex and walked till it went down. Around 9.00 I went to bed and tried to sleep a few hours.

I'm sorry, if some things aren't clear, but I do my best. All I can say is I kinda panic when it happens. :-/

I don't understand the shadows completely but somehow they got me thinking about something. I have had headaches before at the same side of my face since age 22, they never did as much pain as this, but enough to make me feel sick. The doc prescibed me "Nogrimine" which helped. Can it be related?

Lex
edit: do i understand question one and two correct? it the time of the peeks, as i thought, or the total periode?

Title: Re: Newbie clusterhead
Post by thebbz on Jun 15^th, 2007, 10:05pm

Quote:

I'm sorry, if some things aren't clear, but I do my best. All I can say is I kinda panic when it happens.

Hell were all trying to do our best here!
The panic is common at least with me even after 28 years.
Try not to it will only bring it on worse.
Try to breathe deep and slow. Slam down some caffeine as quickly as you can.
Here are some treatments common to this crap.
http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf
02,02,02
jb