Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


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

        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2003 >> Warning signs?
        
(Message started by: achinghead on Mar 9^th, 2003, 11:47am)

Title: Warning signs?
Post by achinghead on Mar 9^th, 2003, 11:47am

OK.... ??? What are some of your warning signs.. Mine are this... :-[ I get twitches in the blood vessels on the right side of my head just above my ear.. kinda like when your muscle twitches.. everytime my vessels twitch I get a shooting pain and then that side of my head starts getting hot. :'( Sound famaliar to anyone.. oh and .. Then the eye starts.. yep.. it crawls to the back of my right eye then i know... I know that hell is about to break loose :o

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Roxy on Mar 9^th, 2003, 12:10pm

One aspect that I'm very interested in right now, is how much warning time most people are given. I know this sob visits everyone differently....I'd like to know how he announces himself. Mine have recently changed somewhat, and I don't know if that's a weird thing or kinda normal.

Mine start as just a small heaviness in the top left section of my head. Sometimes it even takes a bit to notice it, it's so small. Then it starts expanding exponentially in a race with the clock. It's like hot molasses spreading inside my head, from the front to the back on the left side. By the time it reaches the forehead/temple area, I'm unconsciously rubbing and squeezing.

Then comes the ass kicker....when it drops behind the eye. That's when it starts to rip and roar.

Normally this process can take up to 10-15 minutes. A few times lately, I've been surprised with as little as just a few minutes warm-up. Basically, it's been so fast it's hard to get to an abortive.

Does anyone else get hit this quick?

Tracey

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Mastifflvr28 on Mar 9^th, 2003, 12:19pm

0 to 10 in 5 minutes flat
Mast

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by totka on Mar 9^th, 2003, 1:17pm

No declaration of war. Simply like a bolt from the blue. I awake when it's KIP 5 and 10 in no time and I feel for my Imigran inj.

totka

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by K. on Mar 9^th, 2003, 1:37pm

I get this burn right above my right eye and some shooting, sort of pulsating pain on the right side of my head. Then the right side of my nose started to get plugged.

It's always on the right side of my head..always.

I can feel perfectly fine and within 5 or 6 minutes if no abortives, I'm at a K10.

Karen

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Jarvis on Mar 9^th, 2003, 1:45pm

Allways 0-10 in under 5 minutes....... warning sighns are a subtle ache (like my blood hurts) in the back of my neck or at the brain stem. Then my nostril closes and I'm on the way. Wham!!! .. On the rare occasions that it wouldnt reach a k-10, I experienced the burning sensations throughout the side of face beforehand, allmost like the CH was ready to start without me.

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Janice on Mar 9^th, 2003, 1:57pm

I'm like Totka.....mine hit me when I'm dead alseep! About the time I reach "rapid eye movement" status ....ie snore zone! Then WHAM....up I jump from the bed. Too late for anything in pill form, so that is why the Imitrex injections are my life saver! Too bad these insurance companies don't see it that way!

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by suzy617 on Mar 9^th, 2003, 2:21pm

This past cycle almost all hit while in the REM and would wake with about a 6 and within 5 minutes kip10. Just once I tried having a beer and about 30 minutes later my cheekbone started hurting and before I knew it kip10 and nothing helped for 3 hours, just paced my hallway for 3 long hours (must have walked miles), now I know never to touch the coors lite!

suzy

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Jarvis on Mar 9^th, 2003, 2:28pm

Another warning sign. .......... . Sleep!!!!!!!!!

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by brain_cramps on Mar 9^th, 2003, 4:44pm

on 03/09/03 at 11:47:16, achinghead wrote:

I get twitches in the blood vessels on the right side of my head just above my ear.. kinda like when your muscle twitches.

I've been outta cycle for almost 5 months and still get those. Actually, yesterday I got one of those that lasted about 3 seconds, was 'pretty painful' (not compared to a real CH), and scared the shit outta me for a minute or two!

Should be outta cycle for another year, :D :D :D :D :D
grant

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by JDH on Mar 9^th, 2003, 5:23pm

I'll feel a sharp pain always left side on the top of my head. Then after that I think Roxy described it good in saying that it's like hot molasses spreading inside my head. Within 5 minutes it's like a freakin' rapid nail gun going off on my left eye and temple...and that's the ones I'm awake for.
During a cycle I will wake almost nightly with a full blown k-8+ about an hour after I go to sleep. So I guess sleep would be a warning sign for those.
Jim

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by farmboy on Mar 10^th, 2003, 2:18am

Awake from sleep and pow it is here. Within an hour of sleep i get them. When awake i get twinges on side of head and around eye and in about 5 minutes i am in full blown headache. These things are nasty and unrelenting. I don't drink anymore, nothing no alcohol what so ever if i drink something i have a headache in 30 minute and they are bad ones. It is no fun.

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Charlie on Mar 10^th, 2003, 3:26am

Warning: None.

I would get a tight feeling below the eye and toward the septum. All that within 10 seconds and then another 10 seconds to explode behind my eye. It was full-blown in less than 30 seconds.

Charlie

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by Mark C on Mar 10^th, 2003, 4:11am

When in cycle....it starts either behind the eye or just under it and towards the brain stem in conjunction with a creeping tightness from the neck region culminating with a meeting of the pains on the affected side. In cycle I am never completly PF so it can be a matter of minutes from what I call the "base pain", the pain that is always there to full blown K10. I have had attacks come and go in as little as 30-40 minutes and I have had "back to back" ( for lack of a better term) attacks that modulate from a K6 to K10 and back for 18 to 24 hours. Mutherfuckers!

http://www.drfeller.com/Mark/01/gifs/dying.gif

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by BruceD on Mar 11^th, 2003, 12:24pm

Mmmmm. Like others here when wakened from sleep there is NO warning. Wake with K6 and it hits K9/10 within about about a minute. For the ones during the day I often start with a feeling like somebody is slowly squeezing my right eyeball .. actually squishing it and trying to force it out of my face. Once that feeling hits I've got about 5 minutes before it becomes a full blown attack. However, early on in a cycle, the pain may just stay a shadow and not become a headbanger.

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by MKenney on Mar 14^th, 2003, 11:50am

I don't typically have daytime headaches anymore unless I forget a dose of my Eskalith/Calan SR. However, when I do forget, the first warning sign is tinnitus which starts out softly and get progressively louder until my right sinus starts to invest. The tinnitus persists throughout the episode, but I don't notice it again until the headache has passed. Daytime headaches, any more, are relatively demure when compared to the night time wake up calls.

At night, the only warning (as noted above) is sleep. Then I grab the ice pack (no, it doesn't help) and head out into the back yard for 30 to 45 minutes of excruciating entertainment, the occasional puke fest and long strings of profanity.

The neurologist suggests that I am getting to the age when I will "grow out" of these episodes. If I don't, can I sue him for malpractice?

MikeK

Title: Re: Warning signs?
Post by CJohnson on Mar 14^th, 2003, 2:21pm

I feel the beginnings of one coming on right now. I'll describe as best as I can. I feel the pressure/stiffness (can't quite call it pain yet) in my right eyebrow where it is closest to my nose. Also there is stiffness in the jaw and a dry achiness in the right side of my throat by the adam's apple. The sensation behind the eye seems to come and go every couple of seconds. Where I feel it the most is just below that where my throat and ear canal meet. I have nothing at the top of my head or the back of my neck. If this becomes a headache the pain behind the eye will soon intensify and become the main source of pain. It will be hard to determine specific points where the pain is. Hopefully this will not escalate. I can't believe I didn't take my Amerge this morning. I have to go deal with this now. Bye.
-Curtis