Posted by Arman (216.215.104.164) on August 21, 2000 at 14:36:21:
I just finished spending a good couple hours on this site, and in a strange sort of way I feel some comfort in knowing there's other people out there going through the same crap I am. If you all have some time, I'll tell you a little bit about myself (being a newbie and all). I'm a 29 year old Jersey boy living in New Mexico for the last three years. I've had headaches just about my whole life, but they've probably been true clusters starting around 10 years ago. For a while I wondered if the high NM altitudes made the headaches worse than they normally would be, but I doubt it. They seem to be more closely related to seasons. They come and go like clockwork. August cycle lasts around 1.5 months and then again in February (just in time for my wife's birthday which I don't think we've ever properly celebrated since meeting each other). My wife and I married just a month ago, and she's so amazing when it comes to dealing with these damn CH's, I can't tell you.
She's my only family member that has to see me during these hellish CH cycles since the rest of the fam is back east. All of the emotional strain is placed on her.
It took me awhile to convince my dad (who's a practicing internist) that my headaches were not of the "ordinary" variety and that I needed more than just a couple aspirin to help me out. When I'd call him with the hopes of getting a prescription he would quickly diagnose them as stress or smoking related -- A bit frustrating after spending 4-5 sleepless nights in a row dry heaving and crying myself to sleep.
Finally, (and probably with the help of my wife's eyewitness testimonials) he got the picture and is helping me out by prescibing Imitrex injections.
(I've also had some success with Amerge)But nothin can prevent the 3 months a year of getting cluster-f#$*ed. The one thought thats sorta comforting when I'm on the ground at 3am in unbearable pain (and I'm outta medication) is, " At least I'm not passing a kidney stone."
My advise to all fellow CH sufferers, keep your chin up because if there's one thing this site has shown me, its that there's always someone even more f&*@ed than you are. Peace and Love to you all.