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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> The beast is back
        
(Message started by: Suns on Mar 27^th, 2007, 4:49am)

Title: The beast is back
Post by Suns on Mar 27^th, 2007, 4:49am

Hi all,

it's been a while since i last posted a message...i've been doing great!!

Sadly enough, i am back in my cluster and the headaches have started again...This morning i finally received my O2, after 2 days of phone calls trying to convince people i need it badly, it's been 2 days in hell, as you all can imagine..

I resumed taking Verapamil in the second week of february, hoping it would make a change...which it didn't..so i'm on O2 again, hoping it'll all go away soon..

I was wondering, does the cluster start about the same time/season for most people here, or is it all just random for every person here? And, does it get heavier every year? I thought last year was tough, my first attack was way heavier than anything the beast threw at me last year.. :(

Anyways, i hope you all are well, may all your headaches be mild ones...

Greetz from the Netherlands,

Suns

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by ClusterChuck on Mar 27^th, 2007, 7:38am

It varys with every person here ... Some are regular as clockworks, others are totally random, both in cycles and in time, level, and quantity of hits.

Work with your doctor to find the preventative that works for you.

In the mean time, use that O₂ ...

Good luck, and hang in there!

Chuck

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by Guiseppi on Mar 27^th, 2007, 10:31am

Don't let yourself get frustrated trying to predict ANYTHING about this dang condition. My cycles used to start, almost to the day, around the time change, never wake me at night, and never exceed ten weeks. As soon as you get adjusted to anything, they morph! I've had 8 month cycles, gone into remission for a couple of years, a few years back the night hits started, (that was a cruel blow!!!)...the only consistent for me has been that lithium has been a great prevent, and oxygen is an awesome abortive.

The only other constant is the board...thank God for that! Good luck to you hoping you have a short run and a LONG break!

Guisepppi

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by JeffB on Mar 27^th, 2007, 1:02pm

I'm usually seasonal when the beast makes her visit. (Gotta be a her)lol.

Sorry you're hurting but I imagine there's others who could use your ear as we are doing for you now when your not having these things. ;)

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by sandie99 on Mar 27^th, 2007, 2:38pm

I'm so sorry that the beast is back to torture you! :(

Lots of Pf vibes,
Sanna

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by chrisw on Mar 27^th, 2007, 2:51pm

So sorry that the beast has made an apperance :'( :'(
sometimes I think that they change their routine just to mess with you. like they are saying, you cant control me, you cant predict me, I am the ultimate beast, and I can do whatever I want with you"

hang in there, and maybe your cycle will end soon

chrisw

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by pieface_49 on Mar 27^th, 2007, 7:39pm

Hello Suns, my name is Donnie or Pie,
Perhaps Cluster Headache is too vague or we suffer from different types of facial pain. There is one common bond I can see. The symptoms are very close and the degrees of time/pain are varying. To me it does not matter. I need help learning about the illness and learn what to do about it. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. Even my Neurologist refuses to diagnose me and I think I am understanding why. The beast is too difficult to diagnose. We can only pray that if it does come to a cycle, the cycle will be short and fleeting.

I had a 10 year remission from 1993 to 2003. Unfortunately, it has been consistent on a yearly basis and the length of the cycles seems to be getting longer and worse. I can say that while I was working out from July 2006 to December 2006, I was PF. This morning I tried hyperventilating and it did not work. What seemed to work and who knows if it really did was by putting extreme pressure on the back of my neck where the trigeminal nerve enters the brain. Who knows? I tried all the pressure points and this is the one that seemed to work. What is funny, is it stopped suddenly and I mean instantaneously. What works for one does not work for another.

I hope your cycle is short and fleeing. No, I pray it is and I am not even religious.

Pie

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by birdman on Mar 29^th, 2007, 9:31am

Suns,
I have always been one of those consistent suffers. Soon as Spring/Fall arrives, bang right back in cycle for 2 months. Hated the time changes. Then I had a two year remission and guess what happened last week. Right back at it and it switched sides from the right to the left. Only the second or third time in twenty-two years that has happened. It is the most unpredictable thing I have ever dealt with, including my wife(haha). Anyway, find what works for you and pray for the best.
Tim

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by Steve75 on Apr 10^th, 2007, 3:29pm

I'm also a seasonal sufferer. ALWAYS in the spring. In fact, that's what caused me to be misdiagnosed for over ten years...because i only ever get them in the spring, i was always told that they were just sinus headaches from spring pollen alergies...then thank God, i got hit with a cluster last fall. this made the doctors realize that it's NOT allergies, and as luck would have it, the doctor i saw the day i went to the clinic just happened to be recently graduated from school and was able to immediately identify my symptoms as CH. Anyway, to answer your question...YES, i get my headaches in about the same week every year, so I'm expecting mine to start sometime this week or next. I've been getting shadow headaches the last couple of days, so i'll be getting full-blown headaches in the next night or two I'm sure. :(

Sadly, and I've noticed this about myself...the chronic sufferers are more reliable on this site because seasonals, myself included, have a tendancy to drift away from the board when we're in remission....I'm sorry about that everybody. I'll make a better effort to stick with you throughout the entire year from now on. I feel horrible that i've not been here since my last cluster, and I'm truly sorry. You've all been so kind to me.

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by Guiseppi on Apr 10^th, 2007, 3:48pm

;) No worries. It took Linda Howell beating sense into me to get me to stick around. One of my older theories was that thinking about CH would start a cycle. (Oh stop it all of you. You've had dumber theories and you know it!!! ;;D) So off cycle I stayed away from the board and didn't even think about them. Now if I stay away Howell will come howling for me...a scary thought.

Seriously though everyone has knowledge on this board that will be someone elses lifeline! Great to have you back.

Guiseppi

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by ClusterChuck on Apr 10^th, 2007, 6:09pm

We need you episodics to ~~pick on~~ give us good news when you are PF ...

Us chronics LOVE hearing about people who are PF!!!

Chuck

Title: Re: The beast is back
Post by George_J on Apr 10^th, 2007, 7:01pm

on 04/10/07 at 15:48:42, Guiseppi wrote:

One of my older theories was that thinking about CH would start a cycle. (Oh stop it all of you. You've had dumber theories and you know it!!! ;;D) So off cycle I stayed away from the board and didn't even think about them.

Boy, is that ever a familiar delusion. I labored under that one for quite a while. The whole way this stuff works just lends itself to magical thinking.

I think the beast is illiterate, though, and doesn't know that I'm scribbling about him now. ;)

Best,

George