Posted by DocGreg on February 23, 1999 at 22:09:23:
In Reply to: Re: OK - Let's talk about SUICIDE and WAVES posted by Linda the Brit on February 23, 1999 at 18:17:21:
L,
I too get these waves of pain during the peak of the clusters...and I have only guesses as to why.
Everyone produces a "natural morphine" during pain...possibly this may have some effect in the way we perceive pain.
Cluster headaches are very distantly related to muscular headaches (intensity times a million...it seems), but waves of muscle spasm may be contributing to the pain.
The reason we all like to beat our heads when we are hurting is due to a weird action in our bodies...it's hard for our brain/nervous system to concentrate on more than one source of pain. Pain in a nearby location actually inhibits the pain fibers at another. This is why scratching around a mosquito bite fells good, even though you are not scratching the actual lesion (distant example, but one most of us can relate to). Striking our heads causes our nervous system to temporarily inhibit the pain receptors from the headache. It is very short acting...but something almost all of us have found.
G