Posted by Margi (207.148.136.137) on August 25, 1999 at 17:31:47:
In Reply to: MIRGAINES v CLUSTER HEADACHES posted by ANT on August 25, 1999 at 16:37:15:
As a former migraine sufferer, I can tell you what a migraine is.
A migraine starts with an "aura" or vision disturbance, numbness of the face, fingers and sometimes toes on one side. Feeling of extreme confusion. Need to get into a dark place and become motionless quickly. Extreme nausea. Vomiting. Pain that lasts 8-24 hours, some longer. Extreme pain all over your head - you can feel every hair in your eyebrows and eyelashes and THEY HURT.
My husband is a CH sufferer - I've posted a message further down on the board, entitled "A laypersons definition of CH - for what it's worth." As you will see, the attack are VERY different, as are the treatments.
Seeing what my husband goes through and knowing what I used to go through with migraines, the pain is MUCH MORE intense with CH. To compare them and to explain the difference to people, I've said that CH is migraine concentrated into a shorter attack and the pain level multiplied by 10.
Hope this helps.
Margi