Posted by Ken Kelly on June 25, 1998 at 11:36:17:
What a bitch….I just ended a cluster this April and two days ago they started again. Usually I get them once a year between November and February, lasting 6-8 weeks, at around 8-11 PM, then again 1-3 AM .
I have tried most of the meds with no luck. Leo P. turned me on to Melatonin and DHEA last fall which seemed to work pretty good. I quit taking the hormones when I was sure my cluster stopped and went back to living a normal life.
I have several Imitrex injections but I don’t want to take them if I can find a more natural abortive measure. Last year I was taking two injections a day before I started the hormones. I have a feeling if I continue with the Imitrex they will kill me sooner or later.
Monday’s headache I aborted after 15 minutes by breathing cold air (from the freezer). I picked this trick up from someone on the net and amazingly it works pretty good. Tuesday’s headache I had to walk off (like in the old days), my left eye tearing, left sinus congested but dripping and that little guy with a hatchet pounding away behind my eye. I couldn’t use the freezer due to a severe thunderstorm that night although, electrocution would have been a pleasant alternative to the headache.
I started taking Melatonin Tuesday night. Last night I felt my left nostril starting to congest then that dull ache or twinge that always precedes a headache. Instead of waiting for the full blown pain, I went right to the refrigerator and within 10 minutes my sinus cleared and all signs of the headache went away. Usually, the headache would have returned after I had fallen asleep but I think the Melatonin helps me there.
The net has been a great source of information for me. I have received more valuable information in the past year, from folks like you, than from all the doctors I’ve seen in the past 24 years.
Does anyone know what reaction my body has from breathing cold air? I suspect it would be similar to the Oxygen and exercise results.
It’s funny, while I was pain free I didn’t check the headache pages. Now that I’m back in the club, 20% of my day is spent with you guys, reading your stories and sharing your pain. God help you guys with chronic clusters.
Good luck and thanks for listening.
Ken