welcome here and im sorry you are here cause we all know what brought you here and its not a nice thing but for the day i found this site was the day thing started to get better, as they say knowing is half the battle , for me i went years not knowing what i did to deserve such a horrible punishment, i thought all kinds of scary things , is it a tumor, do i have brain cancer, did i do to many drugs when i was younger,did i get this from a bad bang to my head, hell mabey im possesd , .
i cant even count how many times i sat in the er at the hospital in tears begging to be knocked out, while everyone kept saying im over reacting , its just a headache it will go away, ect ect.
today thanks to a click of my mouse on a link on a news web site i foung this site ,when i read the discription of a ch i started to cry and this feeling of relief came over me and for the first time after years a sheer hell i know what it is , i know its workable , im not dying from some strange brain disorder , and single most important thing IM NOT ALONE, today im still a ch head , but i have an arsonal of things to battle this evil heartless beast, and i can help others with what ive learned , in the last yuear ive met two other people that have this and didnt know what it was today they know and we share and talk on the phone when things get bad.
welcome to everyone that is just getting stay aroung the people here my be the only true people youll meet that truly understand what it means to live in hell and they will help you anyway they can to teach you how to fight back and get some sorta piece of mind hang in there and just know your not alone god bless you all and my you have a pf day

Hi Carolyn nice to meet you!
Did I read that right? Are you using 3 imigran injections a day? The maximum recommended dose is two. I know how easy and tempting it is to go overboard though  Have you ever tried O2? It is a brilliant abortive and works really quickly.. and no side effects either! Are you on any preventatives such as verapamil either? Take a look at OUCH UK.. specifically under the Treatments button at CD Oxygen and ask your doctor about it. I promise you it will make things alot better for you! You could also give the OUCH UK helpline a ring. Its manned by sufferers (ansaphone, leave your details and they will call you back)
Let us know how you are doing okay?!
Take care
Helen
OUCH UK website
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

OUCH UK helpline no 0161 2721702

Hi, all...

New to the board.  Unhappily, headaches have returned after a 5-year hiatus.  During that hiatus, I took verapamil 240 mg SR every day, and exercised regularly.   Perhaps this kept them away (I used to get 1-2 month cycles every 6 months or so).  Now I've increased verap to 480 mg/day.  I don't think its abortive effects have kicked in yet. 

Last cycle I did acupuncture and don't think it did any good.

This cycle I'm using injectible Imitrex for the first time.  It's a godsend.  Headaches disappear within 1-2 minutes after shooting myself up.  Normally I get 2 HAs a day (4 a.m. and noontime), so I'm at the Imitrex limit, although my internist said I could take 3-4 injections a day if I really had to.  I'd prefer not to.

When I was headache-free, I would run 6 miles a few times a week.  When the HAs first came back a few weeks ago, it was always at the end of a run.  Needless to say, I have stopped the 6-mile runs.  I find, however, that if I do a lesser duration of cardio exercise at a lesser intensity, the headache doesn't come on.   Weird.  Does anyone else experience this?

This board is great because most people I know don't know a thing about this strange malady.  Thanks for running it.

Hugh

HughB wrote on Aug 11^th, 2005 at 1:45pm:


Hi Hugh..

Nice to meet you, sorry it has to be here, but glad you found us, Welcome aboard....

Have you looked at the TREX inj tip to the left... and the other tips there... They are all pretty good.

Be careful with how much TREX you do take in a 24hr period... The tip might help you cut down that 24hr amount, I can abort a HA with 1/3 of 1 shot..

I use the O2 to abort about 90% of my HA's now, but everyone is different...

Wishing You Pain Free Days & Nights
Charlie

Hi to all the new people and the old!

This is the best site in the world for everyone around the world with CH and CH families.

ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!

Against the BEAST we ALL stand TALL!

PFDAN's to everyone!

Welcome Jim,

Head pain sucks like no other!!
There is plenty to learn here so please do so. There are a few HA that present themselves similar to CH but differ in location, duration and sometimes intensity.
You mentioned 2-3 per month. Do you mean MAJOR BAD ONES and the rest are under contol with preventative meds or really 2-3?
I ask this because Most of us are lucky to get that per day for a certain amount of time if episodic and for those of us who are chronic may get that daily without break for yrs.
I am not a doctor yet here you will find over a milenia worth of CLUSTER and other HA expertise that can help.

Take the cluster quiz located on the menu and see what comes up.
MAny go yrs. misdiagnosed or undiagnosed as something other than Cluster and there are several people we have met that get diagnosed with CH but do not have.

We just want to guide you regardless.

So take the quiz and ceck in again!

Warmest wishes,

Eric

It sounds like it could be a number of different HA types.


If you want to learn about any and all identified HA read through this......the International Headache Societies Frameset:

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

We are definitely a rare breed and I sure as hell hope it is not what you have.
Pain sucks regardless!!

   Hello to you all.  My name is Scott, 35 years young.  I am new to this site, but all to familiar with the monster.  Been fighting them since I was 18.  Sitting here late on Friday night, afraid to lay the head on the pillow.  I figure I get them when I'm awake, but much worse at sleep hours.  Anyway I guess you all know that, which is a relief, because that way I don't have to explain it to you like I do to everyone else. (they probably think I am a faker or a whiner)  So just a little info for you all.  Married, two boys 5 & 8, work as a Case Manager for the department of corrections. ( lately I'm the case, due to the cycle starting again)  But I'll quit rambling on about that.  I look forward to getting to know you and I amhere to help or listen if I can.  Talk to you soon.

Hi! I'm Kim and my hubby Todd  has suffered from ch for 14 yrs. We are both so grateful to find your website and all of the info on clusters! I've been reading EVERYTHING on here for five days now. Thanks to this site, I went with Todd today to the doctor's office and was armed with printouts. He now has oxygen and new meds. I wrote quite a bit about it on the top  ch thread under "O2 question" topic.

Thanks to your site, Todd's parents, my family, and some of our friends now know more about ch and have a small glimpse of what he's going through. No one, other than myself, has ever seen him during an attack.

We've been married for over 16 yrs, have a 14 yr old son and an 11 yr old daughter. Todd is an adult probabtion officer and I'm a teacher.

Thanks again for all of the info and the support!

Kim

hi kim nice letter glad the info you found here helped, the people here are great and they're support is wonderful. keep posting and let us know how you're making out.

Hi, Neal.  Welcome to our funny farm.  Sorry you have to be here, but glad you found us.  This website has probably the most in-depth, comprehensive information on CH than anywhere else in the world.  Be sure to read everything you can here because there is so much information that will be helpful to you.  Start with the buttons on the left.  Take the cluster quiz, check out the Kudzu threads under medications, ask questions.  There is no such thing as a dumb question on this site, believe me!  I've asked just about all of them.

If you are getting hit at night, try a little cocktail that seems to be helping a lot of us.  9 - 12 mg of Melatonin, plus a Benedryl.  Melatonin is OTC, and can be found in the health supplement sections of your drug store (I found mine at my grocery store.)

Jump right in.  Someone is here 24/7/365 so you will never be alone.

Sandy

I am such a dunder head.  I sent a comment and after the comment was sent I find out how to register.  Okay I am a fellow sufferer for many years now...too many to count anymore.  I am Kathryn but most people call me kyt.   I never considered the water treatment but I do drink almost 2 gallons a day so I might float away if I drank anymore.  I was on Imitrex injetions for 2 years and one day I clipped a nerve and that was enough for me.  They didn't help much but instead of the pain being 200% blinding itdropped it down to about 175% blinding.  Well, I am glad I found a group who suffers as well.  One thing I would like to share with you is my bboss is a nit wit when it comes to these things.  All she tells me is take an aspirin and get over it.  Well.... I braved it all this week I actually went to work with a booger of a cluster and she actually told me her sister in law who works there too braved work with a migraine the day before.  I yelled at her to look at my face..so she said I could have smeone do my run (i am a bus driver) with me riding along....oh how swell of her... well we all know the outcome  i don't want to ramble

oh well once agan I am Kyt and thanks for being here

hi Tanyae!!
welcome aboard ; sorry you had to find us but be glad as hell you did ;
best place for you to find out about CH
if your doc say that CH and meegranes are not seperable i would say to stick a hot poker in his eye whilst asking ' got a meegrane?'
i've never taken maxalt so cant say about  effectiveness.
try getting him to prescribe oxygen with a non rebreather mask and then get yourself a clustermasx from clustermasx.com
the best thing to do now is read read read ,ask questions read some more then go to the doc armed with an armful of printouts!!
Yours
Ian