Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Shadows - definition & signficance
        
(Message started by: CynthiaB on Nov 21^st, 2006, 9:47am)

Title: Shadows - definition & signficance
Post by CynthiaB on Nov 21^st, 2006, 9:47am

Being new, I'm still trying to understand some of the lingo. What exactly is a shadow? I may have experienced this last night.

It was time for my 'routine' hit. My nose start to run, and I felt the pain start at my ear but it never quite made it all the way to my eye. My eye was watering but not hurting .

I'm day 5 on Topamax, day 1 Verapamil, and I premedicated with Fiorecet. She wouldn't go for the O2. Don't ask me to explain why. She was writing script after script for things I have no intention of taking, as I know narcotics make me sick and make the clusters work. Why do docs think we want drugs? [smiley=huh.gif]

Back to my most important question. Are these shadows, and are they a good thing? Does this herald the end of a cycle? I honestly can't remember how things ended in April. I didn't know to keep a headache diary then. Intuition tells me that this is then natural end of a cycle and not the result of starting preventative meds.

I've also been told that I have to stay on preventative meds every day, all the time. But what if my attacks only come twice a year? Why stay on meds all of the time?

thanks for being a great family. Have a PF holiday week.

Title: Re: Shadows - definition & signficance
Post by chewy on Nov 21^st, 2006, 9:50am

Quote:

Shadows are sort of "phantom" headaches we get, usually as a warning that an attack is on it's way. There are lots more, but you'll catch on, and don't be afraid to email the poster to ask for an explanation if you don't understand something.

Click the "New Visitors" link and read read read

Also consider getting a new Doc

Title: Re: Shadows - definition & signficance
Post by Guiseppi on Nov 21^st, 2006, 10:14am

I'm with Chewy on the doc thing, oxygen is the easiest, most effective, least side effect med there is, if the doc aint open to that, and is pushing the bnarcotic pain meds, you need a new one.

What you're describing is what I call my shadows. That tingly scratchy feeling that the beast wants at you, but hasn't got the energy to go full force. It's how my cycles start and end.

I'm episodic, usually 2 cycles a year that generally run 3 months. I don't take my prevents when I'm off cycle, but then I have an oxygen tank always by my side so I'm never afraid of getting caught empty handed.

Title: Re: Shadows - definition & signficance
Post by Sandy_C on Nov 21^st, 2006, 11:45am

Hi Cynthia

I also agree with both Chewy and Guiseppi in that oxygen has been proven to be a Godsend in aborting hits. Go to the button on the left of your screen for oxygen info.

Shadows - I think there are many different definitions between all of us as to what exactly constitutes a "shadow". A shadow is not a hit, but is a warning that a hit is/could be coming very shortly.

My personal definition - again MY PERSONAL definition of a shadow is a tingling of my scalp on the right side of my head (I'm a rightie), pressure behind my right eye and in my right temple, and pressure along my right cheekbone/jawline. Pressure, but not pain. I don't actually count something as a "hit" unless I feel actual pain in my eye/temple, and I can no longer just sit there and try to ride it out.

Actually, going by the Kip scale, typically, anything that I count as a 3 or below is a shadow, 4 and above is a hit. But, as I said, this is my definition. Everyone is different.

Sandy