Posted by A Dame (205.188.193.168) on July 29, 1999 at 06:25:33:
In Reply to: im a CH sufferer posted by shane d. loose on July 29, 1999 at 01:49:17:
Dear Shane:
My heart goes out to you. My brother had the type of headaches that he too passed out from. I guess he was misdiagnosed all along or back then they didn't know about Cluster Headaches. At 18 he too wanted to be a Marine. He joined straight out of high school. He wanted to be a Lifer. That was all he thought about, being a Marine. He got in and after a few years, he was given a Medical Discharge. The Marines also didn't believe him about his episodes of headaches. I guess they thought he was trying to get out of some kind of duty they had assigned him. I remember him telling us about being assigned "Watch Duty" all night and he had one of his headaches. Well, he passes out. They finally took him to the hospital and kept shinning bright lights in his eyes, well, that is one thing that I truly cannot stand when I have a CH. Light of any kind is a killer for me. This time it was such a bad headache that he actually tried to stab himself with a banyonet. Luckly they stopped him, but I still don't know if they realized how much he was suffering.
After he was discharged and came back home. They tried everything, you see he thought if he could get these headaches fixed somehow, then the Marines would take him back in and he could finish out his life-long dream of being a Marine. They even did Shock Treatments on him. Nothing worked.
He never did get over being discharged.
If you do not have oxygen, get your doctor to order it for you. I will let the other Clusterheads give you advise on meds. I too take Imitrex Injections, Maxmalt, & oxygen.
I live in Georgia, however, there are others that live in your area that can direct you where to go.
Best of luck to you. Just hate to hear of young people starting out their life with this Demon on their Head.
A Dame