Posted by NickD (209.83.94.76) on March 24, 2000 at 09:55:24:
In Reply to: A possible cure? (it's a bit grim though!) posted by Chris B on March 24, 2000 at 04:34:48:
changes to the head is really quite mininum during a CH and for the most part, completely undetectable by the current scan technology, put in a crude way by some doctors, we can't find anything wrong with you, therefore there is nothing wrong with you. I keep these minimal changes in mind that helps me to deal with the severe pain of these headaches, no one is pounding a railroad spike into my eye, after the seizure and that mild swelling goes down, I can depend upon my eye for it's visual intended function so why should I tear it out? It takes a great deal of concenstration to localize the source of the pain, nothing wrong with my teeth, nothing wrong with my ear, nothing wrong with my eye, but somehow the brain is confused to believing these are the sore spots causing the pain. In me, and for most CH's, a small dab of Orajel coating within the nasal passages can relief a severe pain in the teeth or the ear a CH can disappear as quick as it comes on, my head is not a bloody mess from being torn apart, no scars and perhaps the worse thing about clusters, is that for the most part, we look normal making it extremely difficult to express the severe pain of these headaches.
In my case, mild clusters just relate to only one passage being affected, way up in on top of my nose that leads to the upper sinus cavity, with continued exposure, eventually all the passages on the right side get very sore to the point of bleeding, further exposure then causes the left side of my nose to experience the same soreness, the dreaded double cluster, at this time or well before, it's time to identify the sources of the trigger and just leave, leaving has worked for me and I do this in preference to a DV shot or loading up on tranqualizers, or heart stopping medications, when my passages on in this sore of a state, it takes time to heal, normally around two weeks, but having to earn an income, I can't afford this luxury, once healed, I have no problem dealing with minor triggers such as perfume. I feel that from reading other posts, that CH may have different characteristics with different people and have a feeling that the CH issue if far more complicated than meets the eye, but also feel that many on this board have the same characteristics that I have. I use O2 because it is convenient, but have achived identical results in getting in my car and driving 30 miles north into a national forest where the air is clean and fresh.