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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2002 >> I drink wine for a living....AARGH! part 1
        
(Message started by: SommelierCH on Nov 15^th, 2002, 2:39pm)

Title: I drink wine for a living....AARGH! part 1
Post by SommelierCH on Nov 15^th, 2002, 2:39pm

I know this message is too long, but I’m going to break it into parts and submit it anyway. FLAME AWAY.

Well, I gots to tell you all—staying up late at night during my cycle (afraid to sleep), squinting into a vibrating computer monitor, straining to read, with my unclusterd eye, about all the horrific pain everyone is going through, is just about enough to set off the BIG ONE. (Maybe I should just print out what I want to read…DUH) But, thank God you’re here.

I’ve been a lurker for almost 2 cycles, and I realize that there must be many CH’s just like me out there. Other than the Med. Info (in Master Card terms—Priceless) I found the most rewarding parts were reading about other people’s history with the Beast and their attempts to drive it into submission. I write now, to give something back.

I’ve had clusters since 1986 (30 yrs. old); they came out of the blue, one afternoon, with no warning and no compassion. I don’t think I had ever had a headache before that. I came to the conclusion that most of you must have had: Aneurism or Tumor. After doing some research, I diagnosed myself with CH. At that time the literature said that nothing could be done about it, so I popped aspirin, gritted my teeth (more like grind) and just rode them out. The one thing that got me through, was knowing (hoping?) that it wasn’t going to kill me. The fact that no one I knew had ever heard of CH’s (and believe me I asked everyone), combined with repeated assertions that “you must be exaggerating, no headache can be that bad” left me with real doubts about my own view of reality and personal fortitude.

My father was a Professor of Radiology at the University Dental Collage and I must have inherited his belief that: you should know what’s wrong with you before you go to the Doctor or be prepared for trial and error. So I stayed with my self diagnosis until my last cycle (starting December 24, 2000 @ 6:10 am). I’m never really sick, I didn’t even have a doctor, hadn’t been to one for those 14 years, so I never had a chance to ask one about my condition. BUT, when that cycle started, I found this site and saw that some relief could be obtained so I went. By the way, this was the first cycle in which I actually had full insurance, that’s a great motivator.

The doctor I picked out of a hat, was wayyy cool, he asked about my symptoms and after I rattled them off, he said “Wow, that sounds like you were reading out of a textbook”. He went out of his way to clear me for Oxygen and Maxalt MLT 10 mg., never once doubting me. Since insurance would only cover 6 tabs a month, he went around to the other doctors in the building rounding up samples of Maxalt for me. He has since left the HMO program, and this cycle I had to get a new doctor. This cycle started October 20, 2002 @ 7:15 am, but I felt the shadows creeping closer 2 weeks earlier, so I made the trip to the doc to load up in anticipation. He started with the “Well now, what makes you think that you could possibly have….cluster headaches?” I answered him with a litany of symptoms with such speed and passion, that he just jumped up grabbed his Rx pad and gave me my script with no further questions (we must be prepared for the medical

Title: Re: I drink wine for a living....AARGH! part 1
Post by pjbgravely on Nov 17^th, 2002, 10:45am

Can't find your question or the problem with wine tasting. Maybe you should switch to shroom tasting to solve your problem. Most of us can read so one post won't over burden us. Bill the Cat