Posted by Janet (198.155.189.7) on June 22, 2001 at 08:13:46:
In Reply to: Cluster Headaches posted by Matt Bondaruk on April 09, 1999 at 17:43:35:
Dear Matt,
I was surfing for info on hypnotherapy in the treatment of cluster headaches and came upon your posting. My husband is a chronic cluster headache sufferer. He only has a few days between clusters. In March he had 64 headaches, in April 'only' 43, May was a bonus only 20 and so far in June he has had 58. Like you he has tried everything in the drug line but eventually was so fed up with being a zombie with no effect has weaned himself off the drugs and is trying alternatives. He finds oxygen a help and Tramadol powders when he has a headache. He also has injections for the really bad ones but can only have 2 of those in 24 hours. We are trying accupuncture and homeopathy at the moment. A friend said a prayer for him a Llourds. It is so frustrating that no cause is known. If we knew for example that eating certain foods was a trigger we could keep off them, but after keeping a diary of everything he did, where he went, what he ate, drank etc every day for months it showed that there was no single thing that was the same in every case. He can get up to a week to 10 days respite if he takes a mega dose of steroids - 12 a day for 4 days, 8 for 4 and 4 for 4 - but this is something he can't do very often. My husband has had these headaches for about 6 years now, he has age on his side he is 58 and the older he gets the more chance there is that they will stop. He has a very supportive doctor but the neurologists just give him drugs. If you find something that works let me know and we'll do the same. It helps being able to 'talk' to a fellow sufferer. Regards Janet