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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
        
(Message started by: crumpledoor on Jun 15th, 2004, 11:20pm)
Title: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by crumpledoor on Jun 15th, 2004, 11:20pm
I have suffered CH since I was 17 (now 27).  They have been on and off for 10 years now.  I usually get them every 18mths to 2 1/2 years and they will last for 2 - 3 weeks usually.

I have tried many meds and many different exercises, etc to stop and or prevent them.  I personally have found the following to be usefull to stop them within 1 - 2 hours.

Basically the main thing is not to get worked up and try to stay relaxed.  I know this is extremely hard especially if you suffer like I do (suicidal sometimes).

The next thing I do is dissolve 1 asprin tablet in half a glass or less of water.  Drink that sit down / lay down and wait for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes I take 1 - 2 Mersyndol tablets (night version).  These have a calmative in them so they really help to relax, which I firmly believe helps to stop the CH.  After I have the Mersyndol I go to my room and lay down sideways on my bed, so my feet hang over one edge and my head and arms hang over the other.  This may be a bit uncomfortable as you will feel blood rushing to your head.  After 1 - 2 hours you should be feeling much better or asleep.  usually I find within 30 minutes I can feel the CH subsiding.

I have just started my first cycle in 3 years and I had a really bad CH yesterday.  I did the method above and within a record time of 30 minutes my headache had gone.

Granted this may not work with all suffers but even if it helps one person, thats one less who needs to suffer.

Wishing all the best & remember try to stay relaxed.
Email me at:  crumpledoor@dodo.com.au if this works for you.  I would love to hear from anyone who trys it.

Best of luck
Matt
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by BobG on Jun 15th, 2004, 11:40pm
Welcome to the board. have you been diagnosed with cluster headaches?


on 06/15/04 at 23:20:38, crumpledoor wrote:
I have suffered CH since I was 17 (now 27).  They have been on and off for 10 years now.  I usually get them every 18mths to 2 1/2 years and they will last for 2 - 3 weeks usually.

I have tried many meds and many different exercises, etc to stop and or prevent them.  I personally have found the following to be usefull to stop them within 1 - 2 hours. 1 to 2 hours? Are you sure your treatment routine is stopping the pain or is it just going away on it's own?

Basically the main thing is not to get worked up and try to stay relaxed. Glad you can stay relaxed. That is something I can not do during an attack I know this is extremely hard especially if you suffer like I do (suicidal sometimes).

The next thing I do is dissolve 1 asprin tablet in half a glass or less of water.  Drink that sit down / lay down and wait for 10 minutes.  An asprin and lay down? Doesn't sound like a treatment for clusters.After the 10 minutes I take 1 - 2 Mersyndol tablets (night version).  These have a calmative in them so they really help to relax, which I firmly believe helps to stop the CH.  After I have the Mersyndol I go to my room and lay down Again, lay down? I have never heard of a cluster sufferer that can lay down during an attack. Migraines yes, but clusters?....neversideways on my bed, so my feet hang over one edge and my head and arms hang over the other.  This may be a bit uncomfortable as you will feel blood rushing to your head. Blood rushing to your head? No way in hell would I try that during an attack! After 1 - 2 hours you should be feeling much better or asleep.  usually I find within 30 minutes I can feel the CH subsiding.Clusters don't 'subside'. They just stop. 5 minutes later you hardly know you had an attack

I have just started my first cycle in 3 years and I had a really bad CH yesterday.  I did the method above and within a record time of 30 minutes my headache had gone.

Granted this may not work with all suffers but even if it helps one person, thats one less who needs to suffer.You got that right.

Wishing all the best & remember try to stay relaxed.
Email me at:  crumpledoor@dodo.com.au if this works for you.  I would love to hear from anyone who trys it.

Best of luck
Matt

My remarks above are my opinion only. I'm not a doctor but have suffered clusters for about 30 years. I have to ask again. Have you been diagnosed with cluster headaches by a GP and/or neurologist? To me it sounds more like migrains or some other form of headache.
Whatever they may be I hope they're gone real soon.
Please let us know.
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by crumpledoor on Jun 15th, 2004, 11:48pm
I most certainly do suffer from CH.

I have been diagnosed by more than 3 doctors and migranes DO NOT MAKE YOU SUICIDAL!!

I can assure you it's my method that works not the fact I don't suffer from CH.
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by BobG on Jun 16th, 2004, 12:58am
Your treatment is a little out of the ordinary but, hey!, if it works for you go for it.
Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing.
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by don on Jun 16th, 2004, 10:05am
Doesn't sound like clusters.


Quote:
The antipyretic properties of Mersyndol may be useful for treating fevers. Mersyndol can also be used as a suitable alternative to aspirin if for some reason you are unable to tolerate aspirin. Mersyndol’s calmative properties maybe especially useful in the treatment of pressure headaches and migraines.


Alternative to aspirin?


Quote:
This may be a bit uncomfortable as you will feel blood rushing to your head.


Just what I need, more blood rushing to my head.


Quote:
sit down / lay down and wait for 10 minutes.


You gotta be kiddin?


Quote:
I had a really bad CH yesterday


Have you ever had a really GOOD one?
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by JDH on Jun 16th, 2004, 10:36am

on 06/15/04 at 23:20:38, crumpledoor wrote:
sit down/lay down and wait for 10 minutes.  

Matt


Laying down and waiting for 10 minutes for ANYTHING is not gonna happen during a CH....at least not at my house.

Jim
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Superpain on Jun 16th, 2004, 3:52pm
Ummmm. Hmmmm.....
How do I say this....


There is no fucking way you have cluster headaches.
I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just letting you know that you have been misdiagnosed.


I agree that staying calm is very important.
But there is not one person in this community of ch sufferrers that could lay down for 30 seconds, let alone for 30 minutes. And a cluster headache typically lasts 20 - 90 minutes on average for most people anyway, so this method of ending it in 2 hrs is moot.

If whatever kind of headaches you are having make you suicidal, I'd suggest seeking some counseling for underlying issues or proper treatment of the headaches themselves.
And if these headaches make you suicidal, I sure hope you never have a cluster because you'd kill yourself before the aspirin melted. ::)

Seriously. This is assinine. I'm sorry your in pain, but when getting hit with a cluster headache, you CANNOT lay down or get horizontal at all unless you are rolling around and flopping like a fish on the floor. Aspirin is completely out of the question, and the mere mention of it pisses most of us off when it is suggested. Doing anything that makes blood rush to your head will end in nothing short of screaming. And even staying in one spot, let alone while laying down is the last thing we could do.
You are suggesting taking an aspirin and something similar to tylenol pm and laying down?
Have you ever tried stadol, or heard of it? It's 7 times stronger than morphine.... And it merely takes the "edge" off a ch.
Aspirin? [smiley=laugh.gif]
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Superpain on Jun 16th, 2004, 4:20pm
OK, maybe you are a superfreak that can handle a ch laying down...

What meds have you tried in the past and/or are you on now?

Ever tried Oxygen? It's a bit faster than your method...
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by don on Jun 16th, 2004, 4:28pm
Or lets try this.

What are your symptoms while under attack?
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Gator on Jun 16th, 2004, 4:54pm

Quote:
Basically the main thing is not to get worked up and try to stay relaxed.
 

Not happening when the beast is trying to claw my right eye out and rip off the right front part of my skull


Quote:
I know this is extremely hard especially if you suffer like I do (suicidal sometimes).


Been there - got down to the point where the pills were in my shaking hand.  Only the thought of the pain and suffering I would caused my wife and kids kept me from it.


Quote:
The next thing I do is dissolve 1 asprin tablet in half a glass or less of water.  Drink that sit down / lay down and wait for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes I take 1 - 2 Mersyndol tablets (night version).


Have tried separately and in combinations: aspirin, excedrin migraine(which has the same medication as extra strength excedrin just labeled differently), tylenol, ibuprophen, pseudofed, benadryl, tylenol allergy sinus, tylenol pm, midol, fioricet.   Have even tried chewing the tablets so they get into my system faster.  All it did was add a nasty taste in my mouth to the pain.  And there IS NO laying down.


Quote:
After I have the Mersyndol I go to my room and lay down so my feet hang over one edge and my head and arms hang over the other.  This may be a bit uncomfortable as you will feel blood rushing to your head.


Laying ain't happening.  Blood rushing to an already about to explode head is the last thing I need.  Someone here already posted about using one of those inversion tables. Definitelty makes it worse.


Quote:
After 1 - 2 hours you should be feeling much better or asleep.  usually I find within 30 minutes I can feel the CH subsiding.


As the average attack length is 45 minutes, it sounds more like its just running its course and you've made yourself suffer all the more.  But HEY.  I might be wrong.  

Personally, I'll stick with my O2 - Usually aborts within 10-20 minutes.  If that don't work, Zomig Nasal Spray does within 5 - 7 minutes.

I am still looking for a preventative. With only a 2 - 3 week cycle every 18 months to 2 1/2 years, I doubt if a doc would give you a preventative.  But any neuro worth his salt would prescribe O2 and an abortive of some sort.

This is just my own personal experience.  


Quote:
Posted by: crumpledoor Posted on: 06/15/04 at 22:48:45
migranes DO NOT MAKE YOU SUICIDAL!!


I wouldn't walk into a Migraine Support Group meeting and say that very loudly if I were you.  Various government and private studies show that as high as 22 out of every 100 women and 16 out of every 100 men who suffer from Migraines will contemplate suicide.

This is a well informed body of people, serious about finding treatment and a possible cure for Cluster Headaches.  We usually do not accept anything anyone tells us without researching it first.  None of this has been to pick on you or deride you in any way nor am I trying to convince you that you do not have ch.  I would suggest you open your mind to the assistance being offered from people who have suffered with this devastating malady every day for years and are willing to share their experiences.

Gator
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 16th, 2004, 6:00pm

on 06/15/04 at 23:48:45, crumpledoor wrote:
I have been diagnosed by more than 3 doctors and migranes DO NOT MAKE YOU SUICIDAL!!


Ummmm....what Gator said...yes, they can.  If you think they can't, then try looking into it.  Tons of people OD on pain meds trying to stop a migraine that has gone on for too long or they get them with no adequate relief.  I know of several people who have attempted or been successful at committing suicide because of some type of migraine disorder.  So think again there.

Lizz
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Superpain on Jun 16th, 2004, 6:09pm
I've tried
vicodin
demerol
dilaudid
butorphano tartrate (stadol)
oxy contin
fioricet
ultracet
naproxyn
midrin
aspirin
goody's powder
ibuprofen
tylenol (&PM)
excedrin
xanax (never hurts to have one of those)
valium
ambien
and about 15 other non effective narcotic and non narcotic drugs.

NONE of those are effective in ch relief or treatment.
You can take enough narcotics to make yourself not care about the headache so much, but it's still there.

Treatments that do work... (for me)
Prednisone
Verapamil (although I only had to use it for a few weeks)
Oxygen
Imitrex injections



"MY PERSONAL TREATMENT"
Deal with the side effect  of the preventatives.
Try not to go more than 5 minutes away from a source of Oxygen.
And inject 3 mg of imitrex as soon as I know it's gonna get bad.
Take 18 mg of melatonin before bed.
Take a multi vitamin, 1000mg of magnesium per day, and a pottassium supplement.


But if someone were to force me (they'd have to tie me down) to lay down. I would kill them. Perhaps by bludgeoning them to death with a bottle of aspirin.
Title: Re: MY PERSONAL TREATMENT
Post by Jeff_08505 on Jun 17th, 2004, 8:26am
The only thing that saves me is my IMITREX Stat Dose. I couldn't lay down and wait for asprin to work with blood rushing to my head!!


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