Posted by Geo (216.112.237.161) on September 04, 2000 at 08:00:27:
In Reply to: What is a headache? posted by VD on September 04, 2000 at 07:30:28:
A 'headache' is at best, a symptom of something else. However, the question is, what is that something else, in particular, why or how does that something else cause one's headaches to become chronic?
A 'symptom' can be said to be contributary to a disease-state, when that disease-state is persistant, and as well goes unchecked by the body's own responses or means of handling it. In the case of CH, I would think that, with any illness, its symptoms are indeed indicative of something else wrong in the body, however I do not necessarily believe that 'lifestyle' has anything to do with the particular disease-state manufactured by CH attacks. If adjusting one's lifestyle were the simplest answer I'm sure that by now we'd all be in the same state of health- Fit as a fiddle, and cluster-pain free. The fact is that not everyone can adjust thier lifestyle at the drop of a hat, and moreover, 'good-health'is dependant upon the individual constitution.Adjusting my lifestyle in such a way as to emulate that of another may do me more harm than good in one direction or other, and vice-verse. I still suspect though that
CH is more than what we feel of it; Since my condition followed a head trauma, I've never been certain that everything in my head was situated properly ever since, and that, coupled with my surgery, the injury itself may've done more head and neck damage than I will ever be aware of, or will ever be known, and because of these subtle alterations in my physiology or anatomy, my body is responding with pain-maybe even in a consistent effort to preserve my own life! It is important that we consider this on a real micro-physiological level, pulling apart every possibility, and weighing the averages, until we get a 'big-picture' that points to somethng tangible that we can work on. Until then, there are no simple answers, and until the research is done, there will never be.