Posted by Linda (209.78.171.65) on September 13, 1999 at 21:35:44:
Dear all.....
I went away for a few days cause I needed the time off. I actually met another cluster H.A. sufferer while I was In No. Calif. and on the coast. Great experience! However, when I got home I went to my computer and saw 15 messages on my e-mail. After reading the ones that mattered, I came on the one from an old friend who suffers from Migraine H.A,. and is one of the first to not belittle my pain of chronic Clusters. She knows how much they hurt in relation to Migraines. She has a Migraine web site that she posts to much the same as this one for C.H. A girl on her web site known as "JEN" had just posted her last message and then took an over-dose of the very same drug that was supposed to help her. She DID NOT have Migraine H.A. She knew she had Cluster headaches and why she didn't come to us is a mystery to me. When I read this from my friend I started to cry almost uncontrollably. I did'nt know this woman. She was only 26 yrs. old and left a very grieving husband and family. Maybe they didn't give her the support she needed, I don't know. But her death has really touched me..I have come this close to being where she is..I know that many of you out there have also...Can this maybe teach some of us something?? I do know that the medical profession had let her down badly. She was prescribed drugs in badly managed doses. Told that she was "making a scene" every time she went to the O.R. Told that she needed a shrink because her doctors could do no more. Right now I am so mad, I could spit!!!!!
I didn't even know this woman... and I am crying so hard I can't even read what the hell I am writing. For all of us out there who have contemplated killing ourselves because of this unrelenting pain, I say .......Plaease lets not give them the satisfaction. (Pharmacy, Dr. Neurologist, hospital, Blue Shield/cross, HMO, etc. etc. etc. )
Linda