Posted by George O. Jacox on September 21, 1998 at 14:26:38:
Anyone have insight into the natural history of this condition?
I've had classic episodic CH's for 31 years, since I was thirteen years of age. Each time the cycles come, the duration has been almost precisely a month--in fact, when a cycle starts, I make note of the phase of the moon and tell myself that when it's in the same place again, I'll be finished with the cycle. (In case you're wondering, there seems to be no relationship to the actual phase the moon is in and the beginning or end of a cycle. Although this last time, it started and ended at the full moon. So it seems that CH is not lycanthropy, although it often seems as if I'll morph into something rather more bestial than my workaday self.)
Anyway, back in my teen years, the cycles came at chaotic intervals, and if my recollections aren't faulty, they seemed worse. Of course, that could be because I hadn't learned to cope well at that time. Early in my twenties, they began to come very regularly at six months apart. In my late twenties and thirties, the cycles were a year apart. And for several turns of the wheel, they came every eighteen months. Now, in my mid-forties, they come every two years. Is this happening to any other long-term episodic types?
If so, have you noticed the odd six-month increments the cycle seems to run in?
At this rate, I figure that if I live to be 300 years old, my cycles may be longer than my remaining lifespan. Which would be the same as a "cure" I suppose.