Posted by Rich on November 02, 1998 at 17:58:10:
I've had CH's since I was 13 (now 40). I didn't even know there was such a thing as "chronic" until a couple weeks ago. I went chronic 2 1/2 years ago. Where I used to go through a 3 month cycle, every 3 years (ramping up to 7-8 extremely bad episodes a day), the lag time became increasingly brief, and the cycles longer, I'm now in a state of constant attack. The longest I've gone in the last 2 years is 2 weeks between attacks, while on 1st round of prednisone. I pre-emptively take ergotamine at the VERY 1st hint of an attack (30 400 mg/2 weeks). Some can be caught; some can't. As soon as my right sinus starts getting stuffed, I know where I'm headed. They generally last no more than 45 minutes on meds; but pain is excrutiating (as usual). The real issue is the terror I experience when I go out of the house (even 10 minutes to the store) without meds. The only time I've noticed I'm symptom free is when I'm completely preoccupied while camping - go figure - not a realistic way to consider spending the rest of my life. I'm so damn tired. R