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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Getting to Know Ya >> Just on a few days
        
(Message started by: Mybelle on Mar 20^th, 2008, 8:19pm)

Title: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 20^th, 2008, 8:19pm

It's unbelievable to hear how many people suffer from these headaches. My husband has been having them for the last month - once a day mostly, at 2:00 a.m. (1:00 a.m. before the time change) and they were about a 6-7 on the kip scale - I have since found melatonin for him and the attacks are much less severe and he can go right back to sleep - he has shadows on some days and nothing on others - he is determined to do this on his own - with melatonin and perhaps some oxygen if he goes to the neuro - which at this point he won't. :-*

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Superdave on Mar 20^th, 2008, 8:52pm

Mybelle,

Welcome you guys, you have found the right place It took me 5 1/2 years of suffering to get here, your hubby is one of the lucky ones.

Redbull and other energy drinks with tauren and caffine
will stop an attack in its tracks for me and many others here, they also help greatly with shadows. Try it out, it may work for you as well.

Superdave 8)

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Hal on Mar 20^th, 2008, 9:21pm

Hey there Mybelle. Welcom aboard. Plenty of great information and advice here. I'm here two weeks or so, and its been immensely good for me.

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 20^th, 2008, 9:22pm

I was just noticing that caffeine is an abortive - but I have a question - if there is something wrong with the circadian body clock, how will caffeine right itself? Or doesn't that have anything to do with constricting blood vessels? The melatonin is a sleep aid, and it was found that CH sufferers lacked melatonin - I'm confused...... :-/

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Batch on Mar 20^th, 2008, 9:55pm

Mybelle,

Good questions. Nearly all of the prescribed and homeopathic abortives are vasoconstrictors. With the exception of oxygen therapy, also a vasoconstrictor, all the rest of the abortives have side effects. Doing it "on his own" is a noble strategy. Having said that, not getting a prescription for oxygen therapy only handcuffs your options and prevents you from using oxygen therapy, one of the most cost effective and safest abortives available to cluster headache sufferers.

Yes, there's the time, trouble, and expense of a consult with a neurologist, but if your husband sticks to his guns, and asks for a prescription for oxygen therapy, he and you will be much happier in the long run.

The Rx should read: "Oxygen therapy at 15 liters/minute with a non-rebreather mask AS NEEDED for cluster headaches."

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 20^th, 2008, 10:34pm

Thanks for the info - it seems O2 is the answer for so many - well, if he's going to be stubborn is one thing...but I guess his pain level isn't there where it's unbearable - it looks it to me!!!

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Batch on Mar 20^th, 2008, 11:21pm

Make him an offer he can't refuse. The O2 will be worth it.

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Guiseppi on Mar 21^st, 2008, 10:07am

Just seconding what the Batch Man said! I was a stubborn ass for the first few years, my wife finally made me an appointment and dragged my ass to the doctor!!

30 years of dancing with the beast and oxygen is still my front line and most effective abortive. 6-8 minutes will almost always put the brakes on a hit. It's truly a beautiful thing! :)

Guiseppi

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 21^st, 2008, 10:40am

I just hope I don't have to wait a few years!!!He left this morning with a shadow - he drives a truck, I hope it doesn't turn - it doesn't always - into a full blown attack.... :-/

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Rosybabe on Mar 21^st, 2008, 12:34pm

Hi Mybelle!

tell him to carry with him a couple of cans of Red Bull, they seem to work for a lot of people :).

pain free vibes going your way!!!!

Hugs

Rosy.

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by kevmd on Mar 26^th, 2008, 9:23pm

his stubborness will let up when it gets unbearable for him. May be you should video tape him while he is having an attack. Show it to him later and ask him if he thinks he needs a doctor or wants to continue suffering

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Jonny on Mar 26^th, 2008, 9:31pm

on 03/20/08 at 22:34:51, Mybelle wrote:

but I guess his pain level isn't there where it's unbearable - it looks it to me!!!

If its not ever unbearable he dont have CH, eight and a half years on this site and I never heard anyone say that they have MILD CH.

Back to the doc for the right diagnosis I guess!

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Angie on Mar 26^th, 2008, 10:20pm

on 03/26/08 at 21:23:42, kevmd wrote:

Welcome Mybelle

You can actually go to YouTube and search for Cluster Headache attacks. You will see how well oxygen can work.

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 27^th, 2008, 9:08pm

No, my husband is stubborn and he said he has never experienced pain like this except for an accident that left him with unbearable sciatic pain - he says he has that pain in his head!!! And he may underestimate the pain level to protect me......

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Linda_Howell on Mar 27^th, 2008, 9:56pm

He won't Go to a Dr. Jonny.

:-X :-X :-X :-X

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 28^th, 2008, 12:35am

Hell no, he won't go.......I just heard him yell from the bedroom "taurine is good"........getting rid of the shadows right now =- with melatonin he'll be asleep in 10 minutes - a good nite to all...

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Guiseppi on Mar 28^th, 2008, 10:27am

Hell no, he won't go.......

I like that! I mentioned earlier, we men can be a damned stubborn lot. Thanks again for supporting him like you do. Please do stick around the board, if it progresses like mine did in the early stages, they will keep getting more painful. Eventually he won't be able to "ride it out" anymore and you'll already have all of the info lined up for him. Then you can very quietly, (under your breath), mutter I told you so! ;)

Guiseppi

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Callico on Mar 28^th, 2008, 4:31pm

Hi Mybelle,

Glad you found us, even if your husband is hardheaded, as most of us men are, you have found a new family.

I'm also a truck driver, as are a couple of others. i don't have room for O2 in my truck, so I depend on a lot of coffee, and energy drinks to keep my hits in check. However, that being said, he NEEDS TO SEE A DR NOW!!! I hope that wasn't to subtle for him!

It's great to be able to tough it out, and not to be dependent on drugs, but he needs to get a full handle on it. Going down the road with 80,000 lbs @ 55 mph, (I'm SURE he wouldn't speed in Ca), and getting hit without a good means of aborting is not a good thing

As one driver to another, please get a script for O2, and while you are at it, get a preventative. If you don't want to use a script try Kudzu. (See the Meds page) I found it to be effective, and it doesn't have some of the side effects some of the meds have.

Jerry

Title: Re: Just on a few days
Post by Mybelle on Mar 31^st, 2008, 8:16pm

He drives locally, so it's not big trucks and his hits are lighter - not heavier - in fact he hasn't had one since last thursday, he gets hit at night around 1 or 2 and he is on melatonin, benadryl and taurine to go to sleep and it has worked for the last 3 nights with nothing interrupting...he usually has one headache every other night - so its been 7 weeks of headaches every other nite until the last 4 days and he's had twinges and light shadows in the mornings after he wakes up and sometimes during the day, but a rockstar does it for him....Hopefully his attacks are not bad like some of you guys get and i have to be thankful for that......thanks for your concern = PFDAN