Posted by Joy on April 23, 1998 at 12:36:50:
In Reply to: Double cluster posted by M.A. on April 23, 1998 at 07:22:31:
I can sympathize with you. I just finished a 7 week bout with these wretched things. My pain is on the left side, I get the nasal congestion, runny nose, and spike-like pain in my left eye. A couple of the headaches were so bad, I was thought I was losing my mind; what bothered me is that I wouldn't have minded if it meant I was away from the pain. I thought many times about blowing my head off to the point that I asked my husband to take his gun out of the house and not tell me where he put it. My husband was absolutely awful to me and continued to complain about how inconvenienced he was. A friend griped about how little attention she got from me and I was on pins and needles every day about losing my job. I thank God every day that I have such a wonderful doctor who never doubted my pain and did all she could do to help. Many of the things I've tried aren't working; DTE is less effective for me than Imitrex, but now the Imitrex isn't working as well. I've had the headaches for eleven years and the pain is getting worse as I get older. I've been married for 6-1/2 years and in all fairness to my husband, I think he's mainly frustrated because he loves me and he can't fix it. Although that doesn't justify his insensitive and sometime cruel behavior, it helps me better understand his frustration. Maybe if you could talk to your husband and ask why he feels your pain isn't that bad, you may find out what he's really feeling. I'll bet he doesn't even know for sure. My husband didn't, but once we talked, which actually started out as a HUGE argument, he began to realize his frustration and downplay of my sitution was mainly because he was angry that he couldn't fix it. As far as what to tell your husband, if his reading this helps, I'll be happy to share it. If he can imagine taking rusty, dull railroad spike and having someone drive it into his eye in one stroke, then another one up his nostril in another stroke and before he gets a chance to recover, having to try and manage a household, spouse, job, children, and all that goes with it without understanding from others about the excruciating pain he's in. I also found some books at the library with artwork from migraine sufferers. Although the pain of clusters is much more intense, the artwork communicated in pictures the words I'd been trying to say for 6-1/2 years. He finally got it. With a cracking voice and tears forming in his eyes he apologized saying "I had no idea you felt like this when you have those things." Below is another cluster headache site that breaks things down into plain English and is good for people who know cluster headache sufferers as well as those of us who are cursed with them.