Posted by margi on December 31, 1998 at 11:40:13:
In Reply to: Cluster Headaches: Nothing has helped! posted by Marie F. on December 30, 1998 at 23:55:14:
Hi Marie,
I, too, am the wife of a sufferer. My hubby has suffered for more than 20 years and the biggest relief we have found has been from this board. Thank you, dear DJ, for connecting us all together.
I completely understand your feeling of helplessness but I did want to share with you some of the things that we tried in this last cycle that have led us to some success. First, the water treatment. One glass, every half hour - or as much as he can stand safely - during waking hours and then a glass upon waking in the night. We tried this and within two days, we noticed drastic improvement and broke the cycle. Down from 8 a day to 2, almost immediately. Next, inhaling pure oxygen at the onset brings relief but can be difficult to get without a prescription. Finally, to get him through the night and out of desperation, we tried Gravol (I believe this may only be Canadian - perhaps Dramamine in the States?) before bed. This motion sickness pill produces a side effect of sleep but prevents the sleeper from getting into the REM phase of sleep which, for us anyways, seemed to be when the middle of the night beasts would attack. By preventing this phase, he was able to sleep through the night. A little sleep deprived but I'm sure your husband would agree it is worth it. The combination of these three methods has completely broken my husband's cycle this time and we feel better prepared when the next one hits probably in spring. He has tried all sorts of drugs on the market, quickly built up immunities and has gotten little or no support from the medical community.
Anyways, I apologize for the wordiness of this but I do hope that we can be of some help to you both. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you need a shoulder.
Cheers and pain free days and nights ahead for your hubby.
Margi