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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> ch and migrane
        
(Message started by: chopmyheadoff on Jul 31^st, 2006, 9:02am)

Title: ch and migrane
Post by chopmyheadoff on Jul 31^st, 2006, 9:02am

i know iv started a lot of threads recently but hey, im an inquisitive person and hate not knowing all there is to know !! ;;D

When iv told people in the past that i suffer from migrane ( because thats what i thought they were until a few weeks ago ) people would say things like"ooh yes, it does hurt doesnt it, i nearly couldnt go horse riding yesterday coz of mine".

Now, i thought to myself, there is no way i can do ANYTHING during a hit, so how come these people can.

So my question is to someone who has both CH and Migrane. and the question is . . ::)

how does the pain compare ??

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by LeLimey on Jul 31^st, 2006, 9:25am

In a migraine the blood vessels in your brain will swell by up to twice their normal size. That hurts make no mistake. For a visual hold up one finger and now put a second one next to it.. you can see that's going to hurt!

In a CH attack the blood vessels on the affected side of your head swell by up to TWENTY times their normal size. Try holding up one stick of spaghetti (unless you're from Warrington you will only have ten fingers ;) ) and now add another 19 to that..

NOW you can see the difference between a migraine and a CH hit graphically and it helps alot when explaining it to others too!

Hope it helps
Helen

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by chopmyheadoff on Jul 31^st, 2006, 9:34am

on 07/31/06 at 09:25:09, LeLimey wrote:

Try holding up one stick of spaghetti (unless you're from Warrington you will only have ten fingers ;) ) and now add another 19 to that..

you cheeky moo !!

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by chopmyheadoff on Jul 31^st, 2006, 9:34am

[smiley=moonwiggle.gif]

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by E-Double on Jul 31^st, 2006, 12:24pm

They are different.
I've had Migraine where my skull is crushing and I need to be still.

I have had tension headaches that are severe enough to keep me inbed too.

A cluster will keep you from being still for the most part. The most "still" will be a rocking motion.

A migraine never brought me to tears or made me pray for death.
Clusters have.

This is not to say that people with migraine, especially chronic migraine do not.

It is painful, just different

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by Charlotte on Jul 31^st, 2006, 3:52pm

The migraine makes me nauseaus, I get a feeling like a wasp stinging my scalp, and I get a visual disturbance, and get clumbsy. Then it just hurts from head to toe. I did not even know it was a "headache" until my late 30's. I don't lie down or use a wet wash rag, but I try to avoid triggers like flickering lights and strong smells like burnt popcorn. My migraines have never had a pattern, but they are more frequent during ch high cycles.
My ch I am so used to that I actually thought part of it was my personality. I have always sweated, dripped, rocked, and jumped up and ran around suddenly. The ch can feel like any other kind of pain you've ever had in your head or neck - toothache, sinus, a bruise, the beginning of a migraine, but there is a quality to ch when it hits the side of your head and moves across your trigiminal nerve to the ends or the little blood veins on the side of your temple, that is unique only to ch.

Also, like Eric, it is the ch that brings me to tears.

currently I'm having only one type of headache & it has been determined by the neurologist not ot be ch, cph, or migraine.

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by Karla on Aug 1^st, 2006, 5:12pm

I get both migraine and chronic ch. I would rate a migraine as a kip 5 and a ch as a kip 10 as far as pain goes. I migraine throbs and pulsates and ch stabs and is sharp pain. migraine is in the temple area and ch is behind the eye and ear and sometimes teeth on one side. I get visual disturbance with the migraines not with ch. I lay down with migraine I dance with ch. I am light sensitive and nautous always with a migraine and rarely with a ch unless it is a massive new kip10. Hope this helps you understand a little bit difference.

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by Sandy_C on Aug 1^st, 2006, 6:00pm

I've gotten migranes, not often, but often enough, since the birth of my second child, 27 years ago. They will come on classically with the vision distortion, nausea, throbbing pain, and will last for a day or two, then go away.

I've had episodic CH for the last 7 years, with cycles lasting anywhere from 8 to 16 weeks, then PF for 18-24 months. Not bad, you say, neither do I. I'm lucky. BUT, for those 8 to 16 weeks, I would rather have a migrane every day because the pain of CH is absolutely debilitating to me.

With a migrane, yes, it hurts, but I can lie down, take a trex, and rest, even sleep, until the pain gets to where I can function again, usually the next day. The key word here is rest!

With CH, there is no rest during a hit, and when you are getting hit several times a day and night, for weeks on end, it's exhausting.

With migrane, in pain for a day or two, but not exhausted. With CH, in pain several times a day for weeks.

No comparison

Sandy

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by chopmyheadoff on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 6:54am

on 08/01/06 at 17:12:28, Karla wrote:

Thank you , that is exactly what i was wondering.
I sure feel for those who suffer both

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by catherinelane on Aug 8^th, 2006, 5:45pm

i suffer both and believe me they couldnt be more diffrent migrane-triggered by strawberries ,dark chocolate apples oranges and cheese red wine and so on... nightmare as i love most of thoose also triggerd by flashing lights and bright sunlight i must lay down in the most darkest room with a damp rag and absolutley no noise whatsoever i loose all feeling in my tounge lips throat and fingers and only move to reach for the puke bowl. i get hit with a cluster when im tired or if im silly in a cycle drink alchahol they are the only two triggers i know of oh and maybee sex but im not too sure about that one... and then i scream shout rock back and fore swear bang my head against the first hard thing i can find and then fall asleep at the wide open back door at 3am in th morning rain or shine..... that enough diffrence for ya lol ???

Title: Re: ch and migrane
Post by chewy on Aug 9^th, 2006, 7:21am

Quote:

i nearly couldnt go horse riding yesterday coz of mine

ROFLMMFAO!

Put me on a horse when I'm getting attacked and I'll kill the nag with my bare hands!