Posted by John Braganca (142.150.129.12) on August 12, 2000 at 02:48:45:
Ted and Todd:
Ted, thanks for the apology. It made me feel a whole lot better. But really, you shouldn't be drinking beer if you're in a session.
Todd, beautiful letter about Tourette’s and all, then you go stick me with the saracastic bugger on the sidelines image-sitting on a lawnchair no less. C’mon man, that smarts.
All of this ill-treatment to a newcomer and all might give a person the impression that this site is cliqueish. But not me. I can tell you guys are faithful to the core.
But hey, getting back to Tourette’s. Excellent example. But don’t you know why Tourette’s is so well known. It’s got a hook, silly. Think about it: who’d have ever heard of Tourette’s syndrome if all it involved was a bunch of kids going around saying “Garsh darn,” or “Jumpin’ Jehosephat” or “Golly gee willikers”? NOBODY! Tourette’s has edge. It has a hook. If we really want to make it onto one of the big 3 infomercials, such as 20/20 etc. we need to develop a hook. Now let me think. Everybody likes sex. So let’s use sex.
I don’t know about you, but after a CH I get a bit randy. If enough clusterheads admit to similar side effects then BINGO, we’ve got a hook. Think about it: CH: the sexy headache. Some people may even want to know how to get one. If they’re successful that would increase our numbers and the rest would be history. Success at last!
Now about those troublesome numbers. 36,000,000. Hmmmmmm. Okay, 36,000,000 of us. 6 Billion on the planet. 250,000,000 in the US. That means there should be, wait, let me get my calculator . . . 1.5 million clusterheads in the US alone. How many registered with this site? 1000+? How many dialogue regulary on this board? Enough to fill two Volkswagens, maybe? Something doesn’t add up. OK granted, most people in the US speak SPanish not English. But English is still a popular language in the US and elsewhere. So why are the numbers so dismal? My doc only has two maybe three clusterhead patients. I don’t know how many overall patients he has, but even having 2 clusterheads would put him above the norm for most doctors, I think. All I know is that I’ve never accidentally met another clusterhead. And I don’t think I’m likely to. (I know, Ted –if you’re still reading-- I can’t end a sentence with a preposition.)
Bottom line is: we’re rare. We suffer and so does the rest of the world. No one dies from CH. No one develops permanent brain injury from CH. Suffering is boring. Make suffering from CH sexy, and the pharmaceuticals will beat a path to this website.