Posted by Brian W on August 10, 1998 at 08:27:33:
In Reply to: WITTNESS TOCLUSTER HEADACHES posted by DOTTIE MALLETTE on August 09, 1998 at 02:48:52:
Hi Dottie,
Your brother is in the same situation that many of us have been in. Unexplained pain with no apparent cause that we can see and no relief from our doctor.
You are frustrated by not being able to help him, as many of our family members are frustrated when nothing they do seems to help us. Don't worry, here is what to do. When you see your brother beninning to pace, or worry at one side of his face, or stretch his neck around like it is stiff, begin preparing a place for him. Start by turning off any radios or tv's that may be on, turn off any bright lights and generally give him a quiet and dark place in which to fight the pain.
Most of us like to be left alone. We must concentrate on the pain and controlling it and any interruption to our concentration lets the pain take over. I hate to compare this to childbirth again, but steady breathing is important to the clusterer..we must concentrate on our breathing and on the pain centre.
It seems sad to me that the medical community hasn't done a full work up on your brother. He may have told his doc that he has cluster headaches and the doc may agree with the diagnosis. Maybe your brother should tell the doc that he has a pain in his head and it might be a tumor? Of course we hope it isn't, but without the apprpriate tests being done, how do we know?
Lastly, your brother has a bunch of people here in this forum who understand what he is going through. Many people here could have written the same story, many have experienced the same story, and he might want to drop in and say hi to his cluster buddies someday. He shouldn't be upset, we are all in the same boat and most of us haven't met another person with clusters other than right here, on the net.
All the best to you and your brother,
Brian W