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Title: Allergy and CH Post by SmoothSippin on Aug 18th, 2006, 1:26pm Hi All, I have lurked in the shadows here for several years during my cluster periods. I have also gotten a lot of great advice that I should thank you for. (Melatonnin). Now I realize that trigger are triggers and everybody is different, but for some reason I believe mine are allergy related . Has anyone been successful at losing the beast with allergy shots/meds? I have been taken Claritin daliy and melatonin at night and made it past my first normal cycle this year without a headache although I had shadows through that time. I am now in my second "normal" time to get these. I have had one major visit by the beast that liked to kill me. I have since had a shadow (two weeks). My real question is if this thing could be triggereb by allergies. This year has been my easiest.... thankfully. If you have any information at all about allergies and CH please let me know. Thank you all for being here. |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by Katherinecm on Aug 18th, 2006, 10:44pm It's possible, as oftentimes for episodics the episodes are in the spring and fall when not only are cycles of light changing but allergens are typically higher. There is also a link between histamine and CH (one name for them in the past was histamine headaches) and some people have some luck with histamine desensitation. It's also possible that it has NOTHING to do with allergens as many people who take anithistamines have nothing but sleepiness from them. A couple benadryl may get you 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, which is a lifesaver if you get non-stop hits at night and need to get to work in a coherent state. Also, at least for me, it took me quite a long time to determine that most of what I had always thought of as "chronic sinus problems" or "allergies" were actually low-level hits. Lingering shadows that cause your nose to alternately run or get stuffy and a red watery eye always seemed like allergies to me- until I had some tests like cat scans of sinuses and MRI's that determined my sinuses were not at all inflamed, I had no infection or allergies, it was simply a manifestation of CH. (Modified to correct typo.) |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by SmoothSippin on Aug 22nd, 2006, 12:36pm Thanks. The reason I ask is that the anit-histamine / melatonin regiment that I have been doing "appears" to be helping avoid the headaches. The shadow actually went away this Saturday. Normally they escalate to to a CH before they go away. I wanted to add this. I get eye pain well in advance of a CH. If a force air (like attempting to pop your ears but a bunch harder) out my ears/eyes, I typically can get some type of mucus discharge out my eye. (I know, disgusting). When I can do this I get relief from the eye pain. Also, I can rarely do this without taking claritin. Also to note, the discharge ONLY comes out the right eye (the one in pain , and the side that I get CH on). I thought that I would add that in case it helps someone. Maybe I will go get an allergy test anyway. What can it hurt? |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by vig on Aug 22nd, 2006, 7:41pm I think allergies aggravate CH. |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by BB on Aug 22nd, 2006, 8:34pm The mechanism for a cluster headache is that something stimulates the hypothalamus to start producing an abnormal amount of serotonin, which is a powerful neurotransmittor which affect other hormones and chemicals in the body including histamine, dopamine and cortisol,etc. The release of histamine into the blood stream causes blood vessels to swell. Behind the eye, a branche of the carotid artery supplying that side of the brain sits right next to the trigeminal nerve. When the blood vessel swells up big enough it will physically squash the poor nerve next to it causing the severe pain along the paths of the nerve. Therefore antihistamine has been used to prevent cluster. The most commonly prescribed is Periactin. You can do a Google search on Periactin for more information. Annette |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by BarbaraD on Aug 23rd, 2006, 5:06am I've gone thru the allergy tests and meds (twice) and it didn't help the headaches. When I was episodic, I'd get them in the early summer and early fall - then they just didn't stop back in 97, so .... Go ahead and have the allergy tests. If you're prone to sinus infections this might help with part of the problem. I do think allergies aggraviate the CH, but are not the cause. Hugs BD |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by chewy on Aug 23rd, 2006, 6:28am Quote:
I dont believe periactin is precribed all that heavily in the States. Not for ch anyway. I've used it with no results. |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by BB on Aug 23rd, 2006, 7:20pm My DH has always had allergy problems with hay fever and asthma. He is quite allergic to grass and cats. A couple of days ago he felt well so decided to mow the lawn, half way through he got an CH attack. While not in cycle he would only get sneezing and coughing when he mows the lawn. So we tried periactin and for the last 2 days it seems to have helped. The attacks are much shorter and easier to abort with imigran and 02. Maybe antihistamine would only help those who has existing allergy problems? However, it seems that we are all different, what works for some may not work at all for others. Guess its up to us to try different things to find the ones that does the trick. PF wishes to you all. Annette |
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Title: Re: Allergy and CH Post by georgej on Aug 26th, 2006, 11:46pm on 08/23/06 at 06:28:57, chewy wrote:
So did I. Took it during 2 cycles in the 1970's. No help, but no harm, at least for me. Hope things get better for you soon. George |
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