Posted by Keith (24.12.40.70) on March 06, 2001 at 13:30:49:
In Reply to: Cluster/Trigeminal Headache Cured posted by Robert G. Frie on March 05, 2001 at 12:35:59:
I have been a Clusterhead for nearly 30 years. I have not met many people who have shared this affliction in real life, however since finding this site a few days ago, and spending a little time roaming through the post archives, it is incredibly evident - at least to me - that we all share a few common traits.
We all have incredible agony. Some of us suffer day in and day out without respite for years. I for one, can not even begin to imagine how they can cope - my heart goes out to each of them.
We all have seen MANY doctors, quacks, and crazies in our own individual efforts to make this monster go away. We know quite a bit about the physiological aspects of our afflictions and have come up with our own theories based on the things we've tried - we're experts on what worked and what didn't.
As evidenced by the lead-in page at the OUCH website on crisis intervention, I don't think there are too many of us here who haven't at least considered carefully the "ultimate cure" on many occassions.
We stand ready to close ranks and help someone, however we may, who is starting a new cycle or having a difficult time with an old one. There are many calls for help in the archives. There always seems to be someone who responds IMMEDIATELY and without reserve to do what they can to relieve the suffering of someone else.
In light of all that, I find it hard to believe that if a true sufferer had by chance or design stumbled onto the "cure", a new button on the left side of this page would not be added within seconds of that discovery. There would be no air of mystery; no one would ask "e-mail me for my report"; no fees applied for the knowledge that would surely set us all free of a demon that hunts each and every one of us.
I, personally, have experienced MANY promised "cures". The amount of hope, and the incredible dismay when yet another experiment fails is sometimes worse than this cursed headache. The depression that follows is beyond my ability to express, and I feel that there isn't a soul on these boards who has never felt it, and began exploring the "ultimate cure" one more time in earnest.
And so, Mr Frie, I want to believe your claim. With all my heart, I want this beast dead so that I can carry on a normal life without the fear of going to sleep and waking up as I did yet again last night. However, I simply can not believe that your 33 page report [sic] is not sitting on a web page somewhere to benefit those of us who suffer each and every day.
I have a very hard time understanding how a fellow sufferer, such as yourself, could show us the magic wand (with a price tag still attached, I'm sure) and at the same time tell some of us that we deserve to be miserable. It impugns your own credibility, sir.