Posted by jeff glickman on April 01, 1999 at 18:32:38:
In a recent post, Bob Berryman stated,
"I have found that if I can generate a hangover, either by drugs or alcohol,
that clusters dont occur (or at least they are less frequent and less severe)
the following day. Its like I'm swapping one kind of headache for another, but
we both know which we would rather have. This phenomenon is one of the few that
have stayed consistent thru the 9 years I have been dealing with CH. I am
curious to know if you or anyone else has observed this hangover effect.”
Allow me to share with you Bob, and the list users, the following in regard to your question,
for I’ve had experiences with some similarity:
I am an episodic, right-sided CH-er whose average remission period is a year to year-and-a-half.
The cluster prior to my current one ended close to three and a half years ago. I never had a remission
of such longevity. At some point during that time however, I began to experience headaches on my *left*
side. I call them “left-siders”. They are in the temple, just above the ear.
The left-siders (LS) are not particularly offensive. Unlike the CH which wakes me up and propels me out
of bed, the LS gives me the tendancy to lie down (which I could *never* do with a CH). Well, one time when
having a LS, I broke a 50mg tab of Imitrex approximately in half and popped it. Within only a matter of
minutes, as I’m lying back on the couch watching some tube, I notice the LS sort of evaporate. This has
remained consistent for most of my LS’s.
Now, after going 3+ years in remission, I was starting to think maybe no more CH. Now that I’m ending my
third month of the current cluster, I look back on that remission period as if I *missed* a cluster. Instead,
I had the left-siders ... which I would *gladly* “suffer” from if it meant not having any more CHs. So Bob,
in this regard, and for that significant time period, it *is*, in hindsight, as if I swapped headaches,
though I never had the hangover effect per se. I have had times when I’ve had other headaches, including LS’s,
that were very bad, and I noticed that those nights, I did *not* get any CHs.
So now I’m suffering through this current cluster and getting minimally 2-3 per night/day. But additionally, I’m
also getting the LS’s. Is it possible that my left-siders are actually mild CHs? I don’t have any other symptoms
of the CH on the left side and as I stated, my behavior is almost opposite to the right-sided CHs. When I mentioned
the LS to my doc (long before this current cluster), she said that since the Imitrex tab worked on the LS, it had to
be migraine or cluster “in nature” or the med wouldn’t work. The half tab of sumatriptin works on the LS just about
every time.
So just what is this “left-sider” of mine? I am a chronic headache sufferer, going back to very early in life. My CHs
began around 1975. I never had these "left-siders" before and I began to think they are some type of migraine. I just
don't know what to make of it. Comments are most welcome.