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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> never ending PAIN
        
(Message started by: ax on Dec 15^th, 2006, 12:32am)

Title: never ending PAIN
Post by ax on Dec 15^th, 2006, 12:32am

OK I give up. I have a couple of questions.

I've always used otc's until they caused rebounds. Then I would sweat it out till the cycle ended. For some reason the pain won't go away without taking something this time. I ramp up to about a 8 or 9 within a half hour, then bounce between 6 and 9 for what seems forever. After 5 hours I began to dream while pacing. Luckily my wife has axert for her migraines. I'm not suppose to take triptans cause of my heart reaction, but I didn't care if it killed me, so I went for it. Praise GOD I found an abort and no heart problems with the axert.
Just wondering if a bouncing CH like this is from rebounds.

Also ice packs help the shadows - I hate shadows cause dont know if its coming or going. Anyway, I fell asleep with ice pack on my head. I woke up and could feel the cold in the back of my throat. Kinda worried me , dont need any more problems. Can someone tell me their ice stratagy? Is there danger of too much time with it?

Thanks for the help...
John

Title: Re: never ending PAIN
Post by georgej on Dec 15^th, 2006, 1:27am

on 12/15/06 at 00:32:53, ax wrote:

Also ice packs help the shadows - I hate shadows cause dont know if its coming or going. Anyway, I fell asleep with ice pack on my head. I woke up and could feel the cold in the back of my throat. Kinda worried me , dont need any more problems. Can someone tell me their ice stratagy? Is there danger of too much time with it?

No danger of too much time with it so far as I know. Melting ice will not cause frostbite, which is the biggest problem you might face. Something that lowered the temperature below the freezing point could be problematic, but not plain water ice.

Someone will certainly correct me if I'm wrong. ;)

As far as a strategy goes, I recently got some very good advice on the use of ice. Wrap the ice in a very wet cloth to distribute the cold evenly. This will also reduce the shock of cold that can cause rebound. If you're one of those who gets a ganglion lump on the back of the neck or elsewhere during a CH hit, try applying ice there. (I'm one of them.) After the hit is over, reduce the amount of ice, slowly, finishing up with just a wet cloth to lessen the chance that the blood vessels will return to normal size all at once. Failing to do this and allowing the area to warm up quickly invariably causes a rebound with me. It's why I was always reluctant to use ice.

No direct experience with this method yet, since I'm out of cycle, but it seems very sensible to me.

Best,

George

Title: Re: never ending PAIN
Post by ax on Dec 15^th, 2006, 1:24pm

Thanks George!

I really appreciate the help.

Title: Re: never ending PAIN
Post by Bob_Johnson on Dec 15^th, 2006, 1:59pm

Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor. It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S. (2002)

http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf
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If you are having heart problems you must be working with a good doc to find an effective med. Triptans are being used with some folks with heart conditions so it requires that you have a doc with some depth of experience in treating complex headache problems.

Rebound headache comes from excessive use of pain meds and, for a few, from too much Imitrex.

Ask your doc about this med as an abortive. It should be O.K. with a heart condition:

Headache 2001 Sep;41(8):813-6

Olanzapine as an Abortive Agent for Cluster Headache.

Rozen TD.

Department of Neurology, Jefferson Headache Center/Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate olanzapine as a cluster headache abortive agent in an open-label trial. BACKGROUND: Cluster headache is the most painful headache syndrome known. There are very few recognized abortive therapies for cluster headache and fewer for patients who have contraindications to vasoconstrictive drugs. METHODS: Olanzapine was given as an abortive agent to five patients with cluster headache in an open-label trial. The initial olanzapine dose was 5 mg, and the dose was increased to 10 mg if there was no pain relief. The dosage was decreased to 2.5 mg if the 5-mg dose was effective but caused adverse effects. To be included in the study, each patient had to treat at least two attacks with either an effective dose or the highest tolerated dose. RESULTS: Five patients completed the investigation (four men, one woman; four with chronic cluster, one with episodic cluster). Olanzapine reduced cluster pain by at least 80% in four of five patients, and two patients became headache-free after taking the drug. Olanzapine typically alleviated pain within 20 minutes after oral dosing and treatment response was consistent across multiple treated attacks. The only adverse event was sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS: Olanzapine appears to be a good abortive agent for cluster headache. It alleviates pain quickly and has a consistent response across multiple treated attacks. It appears to work in both episodic and chronic cluster headache.

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Olanzapine has a brand name of "Zyprexa" and is a antipsychotic. Don't be put off by this primary usage. Several of the drugs used to treat CH are cross over applications, that is, drugs approved by the FDA for one purpose which are found to be effective with unrelated conditions--BJ.