Posted by Don on May 28, 1999 at 18:04:25:
In Reply to: I need your help! posted by drummer on May 27, 1999 at 18:51:06:
It's time to go to bed, but the fear and apprehension are growing stronger. Why should anyone be
afraid of going to sleep? Because you know that, like clockwork, you will be awakened by demons who
have crept silently into your head and have started on their foul work. They bring intense pain
that wakens you and weakens you, pain so intense that for the next hour or so you will do most
anything to get some relief. Pacing, rocking, banging your head against the walls and furniture,
hot compresses, ice packs, and any of dozens of medicines that will hopefully work this time.
And when it's over, for now, you are completely drained from being deprived of sleep and having
fought a battle in your head. But the apprehension remains because you know that it WILL happen
again. There may be one or two more of these battles this night, but you somehow manage to get
through the night and now have to face the day. Exhaustion will hinder your ability to think and
react, but you drag yourself to your job, assuming you've been able to keep a job, because you have
responsibilities and have to pay for your doctors and medicines somehow. And there's always the
possibility of one of these attacks during the day while you're at work -- what will your boss and
fellow workers think? The cycle goes on and on for weeks or months at a time, then mysteriously
ends, only to start again months or years later.
Science fiction? Not at all. This is the reality of those of us who suffer the pain of cluster
headaches.