Posted by Jun on March 08, 1999 at 10:50:18:
In Reply to: A rambling first post to this site. posted by pinksharkmark on March 07, 1999 at 11:44:29:
Welcome to the club. Just wanted to add a few comments to some things you mentioned.
You should try the vigorous physical exercise. At first, I was just like you ("no way!"), until I tried it. Now, at the very first sign of an attack, I do about 120 to 150 jumping jacks, 20 push-ups, and 5 pull-ups. It works to abort at least the mild attacks. Pros: it's free. Cons: it might be hard to spontaneously start working out if you're not at home, depending on where you are and what you're doing.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only clusterhead that doesn't do the pacing/head-banging stuff. Yeah, sometimes I feel like smashing my head in pieces to distract the headache, but does that help in the long-run? Nah. Like someone mentioned in a Website somewhere, "cluster headaches are not harmful, but how you respond to it can be."
I detest people who think there is a simple litmus test to differentiate migraines from clusters by the existence/absence of the pacing/head-banging behavior. I think it's reasonable to assume clusters are far more painful than migraines, but that doesn't mean all of us have to choose to express that pain by pacing and head-banging. Besides, I've never read that pacing and head-banging actually helps stops the attacks. Although I suppose if you pace and head-bang hard enough, that might count towards vigorous physical exercise!
It's funny and sad how your doctor asked about the duration of an untreated attack. Someone would have to pay me at least $50 grand to go through even one attack like that, and even then, I'd probably grab the Imitrex half-way.
One other thing: your sleeplessness might be coming from the Prednisone. That became a problem for me after 7 days of 80 mg/day.
Good luck!