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litefire

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Cluster Positives
Oct 7^th, 2012 at 6:41pm

There is a plus side. Having this disease will give you:

1. Strength - as you survive this anything else is a cake walk. You endure the worst pain, as a result your perspective is amazing. Imagine anything, like people complaining about taxes or traffic, oh yea right, try a CH and see just how bad that traffic, it tax return is. Just think of the complaints people have - trivia - when compared to CH. You can stand above petty negative complaining, knowing that whatever happens or whatever you have to do - its not as bad as a CH and you survive those each day.

2. Tolerance - you are trained by your warrior attitude against CH to be tolerant in situations that might frustrate most other people. Because you have the strength to endure CH, nothing else is worth getting upset about.

3. Adaptability - you have to adapt to this CH disease, and that makes you more adaptable in general. You can take the dings and arrows of life a little better than the next guy or gal.

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HazBazUK CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 5 Sheffield, UK Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #1 - Oct 7^th, 2012 at 8:50pm I totally agree with all of that. I felt like that once I was diagnosed and had done some reading into CHs. I've lived with it for 3 years... And if I can do that, whilst living my life, I can just about deal with anything life feels like throwing at me. Now if I could just stop smoking for good...
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Guiseppi CH.com Moderator CH.com Alumnus Offline San Diego to Florida 05-16-2011 Posts: 12063 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USA Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #2 - Oct 7^th, 2012 at 9:57pm And the friends you meet hanging out at boards like this.........way to stay positive my friend! Joe
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Mike NZ

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Oxygen rocks! D3 too!

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #3 - Oct 8^th, 2012 at 3:09am

Totally agree. Being able to get through CH makes most other issues seem minor in comparison. I find I just don't get stressed about anything much, even when on a project and you're seeing reports in the media and questions being asked in Parliament.

Now if this was a Mastercard advert, it'd end with having a place like this where people really do understand is priceless...

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japanzaman

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #4 - Oct 8^th, 2012 at 9:05am

Well, I think one of the keys to life is to find ways to turn negatives into positives. Although I can't necessarily say that clusters make all other aspects of life look like a cakewalk, I can say that it has definitely made me more attune and empathetic to the suffering of others. And as nasty as cluster headaches are, there are other far worse situations people deal with every day. I try to keep those things in perspective, especially during cycle.

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LasVegas CH.com Sponsor Offline Episodic CH since 11 yrs old, now 50. Posts: 2020 north of the 60th parallel Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #5 - Oct 8^th, 2012 at 10:59am Your 1st post...thanks for sharing your opinion of the positives of this living f**king nightmare! Always nice to have a cheerleader around here. -Gregg in Las Vegas
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litefire CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 2	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #6 - Oct 8^th, 2012 at 1:22pm You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
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jkclevel CH.com Newbie Offline Posts: 5 Boston, MA Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #7 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 8:42am I've never been much of a morning person but this latest cycle has been hitting me around 5:30 am and now I don't even need my alarm clock... I just need to figure out where the snooze button for my brain is on the weekends.
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AussieBrian CH.com Hall of Famer Offline CH - It's all in your head! Posts: 3851 Cairns, Qld, Australia Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #8 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 9:07am Being a CHead allows me a wry smile every time I hear women say that us blokes know nothing about pain as we've never had babies.
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wimsey1

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #9 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 9:09am

You make a good point, litefire. But I would suggest that the virtues you list (strength, tolerance, adaptability) are not so much the direct result of having CHs but rather the product of persevering with CHs. It may be a small thing, but I know far too many who have CHs who are not able to do more than moan and pray for relief. The decision to persevere, to win against this thing, is vital to overcoming the vast depression that hits when pain is so prevalent. And I think it applies not just to CHs but to any disease or malady that tests our soul. It is the testing, and the decision to persevere and overcome, that brings the rewards you list.

Good post! Keep it up! blessings. lance

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Brew CH.com Sponsor CH.com Alumnus Offline Posts: 14163	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #10 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 8:01pm One of my faves: Adversity does not build character. It reveals it. And another: Adversity introduces a man to himself.
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Shedz CH.com Alumnus Offline OUCH UK MEMBER Posts: 532 x1\|Walsingham\|United_Kingdom\|europe\|193\|223\| Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #11 - Oct 11^th, 2012 at 3:19pm Having CH has made my sense of humour slightly darker and more bizarre... Whether it could be classed as a positive I just don't know....
Back to top	I push my fingers into my eyes, It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache, But it's made of all the things I have to take, Jesus it never ends it just works its way inside, If the pain goes on, I AM gonna make it.... Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or IP Logged

wimsey1 CH.com Alumnus Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 2457 MA Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #12 - Oct 12^th, 2012 at 7:45am Shedz wrote on Oct 11^th, 2012 at 3:19pm: Having CH has made my sense of humour slightly darker and more bizarre... Whether it could be classed as a positive I just don't know.... Ask your family and friends. If you aren't yet unapproachable they'll let you know. blessings. lance
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AppleNutClusters

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #13 - Oct 12^th, 2012 at 6:09pm

Pain tolerance definitely goes up with CH, that's for sure! I had my fingertip crushed in a doorjamb at work (in a locking metal door which had to be unlocked with a passcode to get me out!)... the ER docs were surprised that I was so calm. I just said, "Well, I get cluster headaches. So you know, this hurts but nothing like that." Smiley

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Zeitgeist

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #14 - Oct 13^th, 2012 at 6:57pm

Peter Goadsby of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery has shown by use of voxel based morphometry that cluster patients has more grey matter (brain cells) in a particular area of the brain called the Hypothalamus.

Some people refer to this as a dysfunction and a defect. I for one suppose that more brain is good

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-zg

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Guiseppi

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #15 - Oct 13^th, 2012 at 7:23pm

Zeitgeist wrote on Oct 13^th, 2012 at 6:57pm:

Peter Goadsby of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery has shown by use of voxel based morphometry that cluster patients has more grey matter (brain cells) in a particular area of the brain called the Hypothalamus.

Some people refer to this as a dysfunction and a defect. I for one suppose that more brain is good

Damn...it's impossible to argue with solid logic like that! Grin

Joe

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"Somebody had to say it" is usually a piss poor excuse to be mean.

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retrovertigo CH.com Junior Offline If I'm here I'm likely in cycle Posts: 28 x0\|storrs\|USA\|\|0\|0\|CT,Connecticut Gender:	Re: Cluster Positives Reply #16 - Oct 19^th, 2012 at 8:28am If I didn't have CH I never would have believed that the level of pain endured was even possible to inflict. Forget about being able to survive. I skipped a router into my hand. It took 12 stitches to close up. I could feel the cold sensation on my exposed ligaments, but there was no pain at all.
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AubanBird

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Re: Cluster Positives
Reply #17 - Oct 22^nd, 2012 at 1:53am

retrovertigo wrote on Oct 19^th, 2012 at 8:28am:

If I didn't have CH I never would have believed that the level of pain endured was even possible to inflict. Forget about being able to survive.

I skipped a router into my hand. It took 12 stitches to close up. I could feel the cold sensation on my exposed ligaments, but there was no pain at all.

i remember something similar to that when i cut my right thumb open. after realizing that i had severed the tendons, i wrapped my thumb, called my wife, and got a neighbor to give me a ride to the hospital.
i walked into the emergency room and calmly told the nurse that i needed surgery. after looking at my thumb, she turned a little pale and told me to sit down.

the doctors spent the next six hours trying to convince me that i was in shock while i told them that it is not even close to what i call extreme pain.

i got the same reaction when i got MRSA on my cheek. the doctor thought i must have suffered nerve damage since i was not reacting or flinching while she cut and scraped all the dead tissue out of a golf ball sized cyst. i had to explain to her that i suffered something much more painful on a regular basis.

i liken CH to a root canal without anesthetic, that briefe instant where the live nerve gets ripped out of the tooth. the difference, however, is that the root canal pain lasts about a second, maby less, and a cluster headache can last for hours.

problem is, most people have never had a root canal without anesthetic either...

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