Posted by Todd (152.170.184.7) on May 15, 2000 at 19:26:48:
In Reply to: Am I the only person on the face of the planet that got clusters after severe Head Trauma? No one in my Gene Pool has them? NT posted by sailpappy on May 15, 2000 at 09:43:54:
your clusters may have first presented at some point in time following a head trauma. What does this mean?
Nothing.
The biggest problem we all have (aside from the actual demon visits, of course) is the dearth of meaningful research. The limited info we do have, which includes the anecdotal survey here at ch.com, indicates that head trauma is not a precipitating factor.
Dr. Goadsby's research indicates that clusterheads have excessive gray matter in the area of the hypothalmus. This tends to point to either a genetic abnormality or a symptomatic affect of clusters.
Most clusterheads have no family history of clusters. This indicates that genetics either don't play a role, or that the conditions required are extremely rare. i.e.--one in a gazillion men carries the 'ch' gene, which is only 'activated' when and if he happens to mate with the one in a gazillion women who carries the complimentary gene. And even then the activation is less likely if the resulting off-spring is female.
Here's another way to look at it:
When I was very young, my older, very sneaky, brother convinced me that laying down a line of gasoline on the dirt road we lived on, lighting it and then driving our go-cart through it would be cool.
It was. It was also hot and the resulting fire on the sleeves of my shirt was quite dramatic. Although not as dramatic as the 'lesson' Dad taught us later that night.
Point being, my clusters began subsequent to this 'trauma', but I'm positive there is no cause and effect relationship.
I love theories about clusters, but we have to carefully examine the probabilities and the frequencies of incidence before we even begin to draw conclusions. When it comes to head trauma, the data just doesn't back up a connection.
KTSSU,
T