Posted by Wayne Ghost Writer (208.238.207.14) on September 02, 2000 at 12:10:20:
I am thirty years old and my earliest memory of a cluster headache is from my early teen, though I didn't know what they were at the time. I was diagnosed by a neurologist as having cluster headaches when I was 21 after getting sick of suffering from the pains. There were times when I would be in such pain that I would bang my head against the refrigerator and there was one time that I litterally went through a window because I hurt so much. I scared my wife and kids whenever I was afflicted with a cluster which was a goodly portion of the time. Days turned into months, months into years. Hard isn't the word. I suffered and I still do, my most recent cluster having ended in Feburary of this year. When a cluster starts my doctor prescribes Propranolol 40mg 3x daily, and Ergotamine in pill form. I have repetedly informed the doctor that it doesn't help, but he refuses to change my treatment. We did try some sort of nasal spray which had the opposite effect that what we were looking for. Instead of stopping an attack, it excellerated it. That was the one and only time I took that medication. I know I need to get another doctor, but I work for a living and the place where I work offers no medical and I cannot afford to pay a doctor without using installments and the doctor I am seeing allows me that. So, I basically suffer through every cluster. I am single now, my wife left me directly because of my headaches. She "couldn't handle the raw violence I exhibit during an attack". There is little help, but I have found, or I think that coldness helps relieve my headaches. So, when I suffer an attack, I cool myself down to the point of shivering... sometimes it actually does help, most times not. But I will do anything to never feel such pains again.