Posted by Jackie on November 19, 1998 at 11:53:15:
I've had episodic clusters for 35 years. My cycle is
1 month every 2 years. Typically, an episode gradually
winds down, then it's over. I mean really over, with
no headaches of any kind until the next episode. When
an episode is over, I can go back to a totally normal
life, and have no more problems associated with clusters,
like sensitivity to alcohol, light, sound, etc.
Well, this recent episode, everything got screwed up,
and I'm real depressed. Yeah, the episode was 1 month,
as usual. It occurred in August. Then I had about 2
weeks headache free. Then--and this is the bad part--
I started having headaches again. First they came once
a week, then every other day. Also strange is that these
headaches were not the mind-blowing cluster type, but
rather a dull ache, maybe a 2 or 3 instead of 9 or 10.
But I started on a low dose of Prednisone again. The
best I could describe it is a sort of "shadow" episode.
The past few weeks I'd noticed that this round of headaches
seemed to be tapering down. I was very happy. Then,
two days ago, I started to feel that feeling of fullness
in my head again. Last night, I was up most of the
night with a mild, dull ache. I'm a zombie today, and
totally depressed. I did use 1/2 cup of wine in a recipe
the evening that the problems started again. But it
wasn't like a headache started right away. It was
hours before I had a problem. Could the wine have done
this? Could the Prednisone be causing these problems? (I have
used Prednisone for 3 previous episodes, with no
problems whatsoever.)
I'm going to see another neurologist, but I have a
feeling that the best answers I can get will be from
the voices of experience on this message board. It
seems that all the doctors can do, even the good ones,
is to throw medication at the problem. In the meantime,
I'm trying to tell myself that at least I don't have
terrible pain. I am grateful for that. But it's hard
having almost zero quality of life and feeling like
the walking dead. I'm at work now, and I don't know
how I'll get through the day.
Thanks for any info, comments, ideas, experiences. I'll
keep telling myself it could be worse.
Jackie