Posted by Jack Boyd on July 10, 1998 at 07:46:32:
In Reply to: Let's all answer this one . ( tad long ) posted by Yazz on July 10, 1998 at 01:00:56:
I am 48 and episodic. I had my first cluster at 21.
Cause and effect is a very difficult thing to prove. Emotions and stress are part of the cluster phenomenon but I believe they are more of an effect than a cause. When I am in a cluster cycle, I am stressed, emotional and kind of crazy. I also experience periods of euphoria between bouts in a cycle. I totally believe that this thing called clusters is physiological and not emotional or psychological. It always annoyed the heck out of me when people assumed that my clusters were caused by some sort of inability to handle stress. I believe that cluster headaches have a root cause that is associated with an allergic reaction that puts our chemistry out of whack. These chemicals include serotonin which is a sleep and mood regulator. Sleep, mood, and headaches are all related. The actual source of our pain is cardiovascular and has to do with the constriction and resultant dilation of blood vessels.
My message to all is that the source of your pain is not due to any personality shortcomings such as an inablity to handle stress or emotion but it is simply physiological - you can't help it. There is a lot of evidence that clusters, unlike migraine, do not respond to biofeedback - further evidence that we can't help it.
I believe that clusters are strictly physiological, like diabetes, arthritis, etc., etc. A better question to ask is are we born with this or is there some precipitating event during our lives such as a head injury, or some other environmental insult.