Posted by Arch (24.4.252.251) on May 10, 2000 at 03:06:20:
I am a 31yr old male ... I've been reading from time to time and keeping up on what others have tried to relieve the CHs.... I'm in the Air Force currently working as an instructor of satellite communication systems, and also currently going through a medical discharge from the service due to CHs... I suffer chronic CHA's, at least 2 to 3 per day, sometimes more. The Air Force has deemed me as non-deployable so I’m being medically discharged. They are severencing me out and giving me a 10% disability through the VA. The reason for the 10% and not more is that they cant find the cause of CHs... Better than nothing. I’m entitled to anything related to CH's as far as treatment and prescriptions. That brings me to my reason for responding... I went to the doc about 2yrs ago because of my HAs. They did all the preliminary checks and diagnosed me as a chronic CH sufferer. I went threw a C-scan, chest x-ray and a MRI, All turned up normal. They also did a blood pressure measurement over a period of 2 weeks, it turned out that my BP varied from check to check, there is a med term used to describe it but I cant recall it at this time. It something like liable, libel, don’t know :)
Anyways.... I was put on 80mg verapamil which did nothing, I went to 240mg which seemed to shorten the pain period, I was also put on the following meds at different times and some not at the same time: Motrin 800, Napersin 500, Nortriptaline (anti-depression stuff),Midrin, and most recently a beta blocker called Inderal. All of these seemed to make my CH's worse or more frequent. My girlfriend, which her and her family have been very understanding of my CHs, researched some alternative meds...She found some info on herbal substitutes, I'm currently trying a herb med called fever few to see how that works. Seems to help a little so far, I’m also taking a multi-vitamin along with that.. One last note on the sansert, according to my nerve doc this is supposed to be effective to treat CH but the side effects are great, abdominal scaring, kidney trouble and so on... doesn’t sound good. Also I asked about the shots and evasive meds for treating CHs, the reply was that as a chronic sufferer the dose would be more harmful than effective, the game plan is prevention rather than treatment per HA.
Anyway, I know this is a long msg so I will end here for now. I'm grateful for this site DJ and I will continue to monitor as time goes on. I will let you know of any different ideas or treatment plans I receive through the VA. Everyone hang in there....
Feeling your pain daily,,,,,,,,,,,Arch
PS.. I read something on the msg board about frozen beans/rice a while ago, you guys might want to try frozen peas, sounds messed up but they seem to give a more intense cold feeling which for me helps. I use them when I get the CHs… sometimes they work along with hot shower afterwards…anyways… later my frens….