Posted by Tom on December 11, 1998 at 09:25:08:
The futility of trying to describe cluster pain to others makes a bad situation worse. Here's a quote from Wellweb (http://www.wellweb.com/index/QHEADACH.HTM), which otherwise gives serious treatment to headaches:
"Cluster headaches occur most often in men, and are characterized by excruciating pain (some say the worst imaginable, but maybe that's just a man thing) in an eye or atemple, and last from 15 minutes to an hour or more. They occur in waves lasting weeks to months, and occurring once or twice a year."
Ignoring the vapid gender politics, and asking forgiveness for the frustrated venting that follows, I can only say this: If there is some other pain, even MORE excruciating, one that screams its way into the head, savaging the face with such power that even the most rational mind begins to think irrationally, and even the most controlled individual can be found pounding and pacing and gyrating and writhing and yes, crying; if there's an even greater pain out there that rattles the bearings of sufferers several times per day (and night), predictably sometimes, like clockwork, they say (though random enough to prevent finding solace even in a familiar routine of pain), for weeks or months at a time, with no real medication to stop it, no real explanation for it, and no demographic of sufferers large enough to warrant REAL investigation into its roots -- or even a knowing nod from others who, while not sufferers themselves, have heard of the condition, read about it, seen it on TV, and know that, there, but for the grace of God, they go... if that pain exists, well, I want the brothers and sisters who have THAT pain to know, I COMPLETELY understand.
And that's not just a man thing.