Posted by gary g (208.133.217.188) on August 13, 1999 at 15:51:11:
In Reply to: Anyone? posted by Alley on August 12, 1999 at 20:41:53:
my clusters start with twitches & shadows
oh-oh looks like trouble
someties massive doses of benadryl (diphenhydramine generic, OTC)will "block" the developing cluster
I'm talking full label allowances + for days on end
usually though:
then that ONE wakes me from sleep & we're off & running (cannot remember EVER having a first attack when awake, 60-80 clusters history)
increase in frequency and severity of attacks for 2 -3 weeks
sustained high frequency, with many moderate -severe attacks for 4 -10 weeks, in fairly regular daily "schedules" - pretty much 24/7, clumped a little late evenings, early-mid mornings
end sign:
daily patterns begin to break up, frequency reduces and becomes sporadic
BUT can have horrible individual attacks in this phase
then one day I just realize I haven't had an attack for a couple days
then 1 - 6 months cluster free
couldn't cause an attack if I tried
(and on occasion, I HAVE experimented w/trying to precipitate attacks when not in a cluster
just doesn't happen