Posted by gary g (208.133.221.192) on October 22, 1999 at 23:44:58:
In Reply to: Had another MRI this morning and I've got a question....... posted by Susan D on October 22, 1999 at 11:09:42:
they MRI and/or CATscan, and/or EEG, and buzz you with a tuning fork, etc etc, to be sure the pain attacks aren't being caused by something "serious" that needs immediate correction
and no - CH attacks AREN'T serious - they just hurt like hell
there's a big difference
be grateful for it - it will help you deal with CH
anybody with symptoms as severe as CH should DEMAND they get every test in the book to eliminate any other possible problems, because anything else that hurts this bad will probably kill them
read Goadsby's article for the details on hypothalamus theory
it is nothing that is going to be revealed by standard diagnostic tests - and I agree with Euli, it seems part of the equation necessary to get to G's conclusions involves statistical analysis of the results of sophisticated test results on a GROUP of patients, to even hint at the hypothalamus variance occurring in CH patients to begin with
even if they could put their finger on it easily, it wouldn't prove anything diagnostically because even though all CH patients MIGHT have that abnormality (they did in G's study group)
it is NOT a valid inference to invert that and suggest that everyone with that abnormality has CH, so detecting it in an individual is essentially meaningless at this point
(like saying: every genius in the neighborhood has webbed toes, but not everyone with webbed toes is a genius)