Posted by Ted (205.188.197.51) on July 20, 2000 at 14:54:40:
(Sidenote: Great job guys and gals contacting this station. We're getting their attention and getting heard. This is a pretty large station that is heard in 6 Northeastern states. Not to mention the other public radio stations that purchase this program from WAMC throughout the world. We're getting the attention of a media outlet with a pretty huge audience. Lets hope that she does do the feature on cluster headaches. This will go a long way in ending being the misunderstood forgotten few.)
Dear Ted:
Thank you for your e.mail, and for listening to The Health Show. I read
your comments with interest, and will check into the website on cluster
headaches. You might be interested to know that we had several other comments
from listeners with the same concern. I am planning a feature on cluster
headaches, and the info you sent will be a great help. Dr. Katz did say that
pain is hard to measure...and that the same pain may register a 5 with one person
and a 9 with another on a scale of one to ten. His comments about the severity
of migranes vs. clusters were based on clinical research and he does believe that
cluster headaches can be worse.
I am forwarding your e.mail to the doctor in hopes that he can respond to
you directly. Thanks again for your interest and for listening.
Mary
Darcy
Producer, The Health Show.
Jayacat2@aol.com wrote:
> Dear Ms Darcy and Dr. Sax,
> I heard your show a few weeks back on migraines during the pain series --
> Well, to be quite honest I listen to your show as well as many other of
> the quality shows produced or procured by WAMC quite often and not just a few
> weeks back -- and all in all your show was very good. But when Dr. Katz referred to
> migraines being more painful than cluster headaches he was mistaken. Study
> after study has shown that that migraines (ranked "severe") rank lower on
> most pain scales than CHs (ranked the next higher level "excruciating"). I
> don't write this for the mere sake of ego-stroking machismo. Because that
> would imply that I'm proudly suffering from CHs. I am writing to ensure that
> a correction is made (not an on-air correction, but one for your personal
> knowledge in case the subject arises on air again). Cluster headaches, also
> called suicide headaches from the number of people who seriously consider it
> and for those who do it in the throes of the attack, are more painful than
> natural childbirth and non-numbed nor medicated limb amputation according to
> those who have endured CHs and one of the other painful events.
> If you have an interest in researching this condition further feel free to
> contact me by e-mail or by phone and I can send you files and links to
> information that I have found from Medscape and other reputable sources of
> information. As the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Organization
> for Understanding Cluster Headaches (O.U.C.H.) I'd be happy to share any
> information that I have with you. I have also enclosed a file copy of our
> first newsletter. If you'd rather not download something from a total
> stranger (understandable) you can find the newsletter at
> www.clusterheadaches.org. And you can garnish a lot of information about CHs
> at www.clusterheadaches.com.
>
> Sincerely,
>