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bean
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Hello, new here; nice to be here, though.
I was wondering, can we talk triggers? Are they different for everybody? (not likely).
I was just looking on the ouch site, and was flabbergasted. totally blown away.
i've had clusters since i was a little kid-25 now- and through luck and the grace of god have kind of gotten the best of them.
but here's the thing, though. on the ouch site, it says shit like how many cigarrettes a day milligrams of msg a day, etc.
to me, thats like fucking how many bullets to the head a day do you want? 10...25...30...
for real, if the triggers are the same for everybody, and i have kind of gotten a little(BIG) hold on my headaches by avoiding certain substances, i just had to tell you all.
FOODS TO AVOID( and sorry if you all know this, but you have no idea how much that ouch site threw me-fucking cigarettes a day... what bullshit... i cant even be around cigarettes for 5 min without feeling ill(precursor to cluster) and also there is a tolerance, as in when you cut back on the triggers, you will wonder how you could ever stand them in the first place.
FOODS TO AVOID-(AT ALL COSTS) !!!!!!!!coffee...cigarettes...tobacco...soy sauce(miso,shoyu,etc)...MSG...wine-esp red... all alcohol...sodium nitrites(in bacon, hot dogs, cured or preserved meats... CHOCOLATE... caffiene...brown soft drinks-coke, pepsi, root beer,- tea...aged cheese(parmigon, bleu, gorgonzola,CHEDDAR!!)...also stress...
i cant remember if theres more- but there is a similarity between just about all the listed foods- they are aged, some for a long ass time,-- coffee,chocolate,soy sauce,tobacco,- someone needs to look those up..hint hint...and they all contain tannins, what makes them dark...
but anyways, I was just looking for some feedback on whether anyone imbibes the un-imbibables, because like i say, when i cut back on these (with a vengence)--(to eat any of these is to invite a headache), my headaches decreased in severity and how often i have them. and are pretty much ok to just take a few hydrocodones and let it run its course.
wives, mothers, sufferers, please post. l gotsta know if you know bout them triggers.
adios, and peace.
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brain_cramps
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Re: triggers
« Reply #1 on: Nov 27th, 2003, 9:31pm » |
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Hey bean
Triggers is a subject that you'll get a million answers on.
Lots of sufferers don't think they have ANY triggers.
Lots have extensive lists.
And like with anything else, there's a LOT in between.
The most common (but not ALWAYS true) is alcohol.
After that, the lists vary more and more.
Besides alcohol, the only trigger I really have are cigarettes. While in cycle, I cut my smoking down to about 1/3. There are a lot of people that DON'T find smokes to be a trigger --- wish that was the case with me.
grant
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Mac
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Re: triggers
« Reply #2 on: Nov 27th, 2003, 9:34pm » |
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Nice to met you but too bad it had to be like this. You'll find that everybody on this site is different. I have never been able to define a specific trigger, although I will say I quit tobacco a few months ago and the amount and severity has gone down by 15 - 20% yeah! 
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| « Last Edit: Nov 27th, 2003, 9:42pm by Mac » |
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Paigelle
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Hmmmm, well here we go. I have had clusters since I was 10 and promise you I wasn't smoking. Nope, no triggers, except alcohol if I am in cycle. Oh yeah, the month of November, that seems to be trigger. Anyway you can avoid that?
Sorry guys I am in a grump ass mood today. Took last prednisone yesterday and I am feeling fearful for tonight.
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don
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Quote:| to me, thats like fucking how many bullets to the head a day do you want? 10...25...30... |
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LMMFAO. Truest statement I've ever read.
Paigelle. Are you or have you been taking a preventative along with the prednisone?
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BlueMeanie
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Every one of those DON'T DO items on your list i've thought were triggers at one time including stress. That's great that you've quit all that stuff and are PF.
After 24 years of trials, I've sampled all of them on your list + plus many more. I've been at least 10 days with & without. No matter if I was either consuming mass quantities (I did on purpose), or completely dependant of your DON'TS, nothing proved the theory of being a trigger except alcohol.
The Shadow Knows. It Watches Over You & Stirkes When It's Ready !
That's just me. People who don't know my clusters usually ask me that. SORRY !
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jadedgazer
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Re: triggers
« Reply #6 on: Nov 27th, 2003, 11:53pm » |
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I think it varies from person to person, just like what works as a preventative or abortive works from person to person.
Lots of people use cold with their O2, while I can't stand the cold. No cold showers, no ice in my drinks, no cold wind on my face...cold is a sure fire trigger for me. I despise the winter time.
Another screwy trigger for me is taking a nap. If I take one I am going to pay for it the rest of the day and pay in spades I will. Real bummer, because I miss my afternoon naps. Especially when the beast won't let me sleep at night.
I did notice a slight decline in the number of ha's per day when I quit smoking for a few months. It was slight and it could have been the meds too as I was making a major preventative med change at the time.
Anyway it is hard to tell sometimes if it is really something or just the beast rearing its ugly head. At least for me it is. I get hit too often to tell anymore.
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sandie99
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Re: triggers
« Reply #7 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 6:08am » |
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I think this beast comes when it wants to, it doesn't really need a trigger... 
I do know, that the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to get a visit from the beast. And the last time I had prigles it meant CH attack, too. But that does not mean that you guys should give up on them, too. I have a healthy diet these days, but still CH comes daily! 
So who knows...
Best wishes & PFdays,
sandie99
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mikeyd
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Re: triggers
« Reply #8 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 9:24am » |
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Hey Bean!
Your DONT's sound like my daily diet! hehehe 
I can't see there being any triggers for me except beer...canned beer (draught beer is ok) when I am in cycle...everything else is fair game for smokin', eatin' and drinkin' whilst trying to round out my skinny assss. 
i haven't changed a lick o' nuttin since I started my cycle...I refuse (except the canned beer), I'm stubborn that way, decidedly thinkin that if it's ok out of cycle how can it not be in cycle. Alcohol is an exception because the properties of alcohol change hormonal balances etc.
I eat handfuls of chocolate at a time (esp. when depressed...even while in a CH, I can eat chocolate...mmmmmmmmmm) I smoke like a chimney in the winter,mmmmmmmmm, smoke!!!!!lol
I eat all that stuff on your list....yummy!
None of it triggers CH for me, but then that's just me...the beast comes and goes as it pleases as far as I'm concerned. But I agree with Bluemeanie that we all have something in common...the same burnt out wire in the primary ignition...lol
Triggers...BAH! I loved the how fucking many bullets comment...lmaoooooo
mikeyd
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Giovanni
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Re: triggers
« Reply #9 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 9:27am » |
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Tranquility (the moments just after sheer exhaustion)
Naps and sleep
Alcohol
extreme stress
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Prense
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Re: triggers
« Reply #10 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 10:25am » |
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on Nov 27th, 2003, 9:09pm, bean wrote:| Are they different for everybody? (not likely). |
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Hrmmm, unfortunately it seems triggers are quite different from person to person.
I am a chronic sufferer, and I have 365 days a year (for the last 10 years) to see what triggers what for me. If I start drinking a beer, within 20 minutes I am getting hit. When I run, within 10 minutes I am getting hit. Those are triggers for me. If I eat a chocolate bar (I rarely eat chocolate), and I get hit sometime later that day, I cannot consider that a trigger.
So far...running, beer and rum definately trigger about 80% of the time for me.
Chris
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bean
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Re: triggers
« Reply #11 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 12:35pm » |
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OK, well mabye "triggers" is a subjective word. Only one time can I remember eating something and feeling that something caused a headache nearly instantly- twas a mountain dew,twas- but more than a few times after *gorging* myself on chocolate, later in the week i would get a headache and just feel like one big piece of chocolate, same with MSG, one big flavored yuck. Same for smoking, too. Definately. Being in a club one time full of smoke brought one on.
My cycle is that I get them about twice a year. So the cutting out the "triggers" for 10, 20, how many ever days just won't cut it. Has to be a permanant (or damn near) elimanation of the offending product.
But I do know that when I cut out the products my headache intensity drastically decreased. And it was over an extended period of time, too, as in years. Kind of a trial and error thing. I just couldn't bear to stop eating chocolate, eating MSG, etc. At least till the next headache came. After that, fuck, i'd give up a lot more than the occasional snickers, you know?
And the thing about tolerance wasn't noted either. Its a cumulative effect. I used to smoke and be around cigarettes all the time. No problem. I was used to them. And then have my monster headache whenever it decided to come. But since I quit being around cigarettes, now when I am around them, I can feel the sickness start to start within minutes. Same for everything else. It might be so because I am extremely sensitive to stuff. I can feel a change when I take a vitamin, too. Kind of a high. Clean, though. Also, some kinds or brands of vitamins I can't take too regularly because even they have something in them that makes me feel ill. Mabye the B-12. seriously.
but in a lot of posts, people have said when they gave up stuff like cigarettes the intensity went down like 15-20%. What if that is cumulative, too? Cigarettes, 15-20%. Chocolate, 10-20%. MSG 20-40%- at least; MSG sucks something I won't say here  .
And as for lists and what not, how can you make a list for what you've eaten for the past 3 or 4 months? If it IS a cumulative thing?
All I'm saying is try this. I swear, it really does make a difference for me. The last headache I had (here goes, knock on wood), I'm not even sure it WAS a headache; it just stayed a shadow. And the last couple of majors, I swear, not even CLOSE to the ones I had before I went off the crack.
discussion, onward! Peace.
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floridian
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Quote:| OK, well mabye "triggers" is a subjective word. |
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Right about that. I think we need a new word for something that increases the frequency of headaches, but isn't a surefire rapid trigger. Maybe "promoter" would be a good term for something like Prense's chocolate that seems to increase the risk of getting a headache several hours later.
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Prense
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Re: triggers
« Reply #13 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 1:11pm » |
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True, but how can I assess the increased risk of the occurance of something that I don't know when it will occur anyway? Not only that, I have periods of "lighter" attacks...again, unpredictable.
I am sure that if I lived in a plastic climate controlled bubble in a comatose state, I probably would not get attacks...I am not ready to take that step yet.
Chris
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BlueMeanie
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I went a whole 18 months (longest remission ever) without a CH. Still ate, drank alcohol, drank coffee, smoked cigs, went outside in the cold, breathed air, smelled flowers, etc. Sure is funny isn't it ?
ps. Ate Chicago style hot dogs too. YUM
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| « Last Edit: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:16pm by YOSIMITE » |
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jadedgazer
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Re: triggers
« Reply #15 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 1:17pm » |
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I have an allergy to chocolate but it doesn't trigger CH's. It will however throw me into a full blown migraine within a couple of hours if I eat a Hershey bar. Not a pretty sight and it will last for two or three days. But my migraines are on the right side of my head while my CH's stay on the left.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 28th, 2003, 1:18pm by jadedgazer » |
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Jackie S.
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brain_cramps
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Re: triggers
« Reply #16 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 1:37pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 12:35pm, bean wrote:| ...but more than a few times after *gorging* myself on chocolate, later in the week i would get a headache and just feel like one big piece of chocolate,... |
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I have reread this a few times and it still doesn't make sense.
a) are you saying that you have "triggers" that you can identify days later? I'm not sure what you are meaning by "later in the week".
b) "just feel like one big piece of chocolate" --- I'm not sure what you mean by this either. an urge or craving?
Help me out here please. I must be reading this entirely wrong. (Sleep deprivation sometimes does that.)
grant
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bean
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Re: triggers
« Reply #17 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 1:53pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 1:11pm, Prense wrote:True, but how can I assess the increased risk of the occurance of something that I don't know when it will occur anyway?
Chris |
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mabye not knowing 'when' , but having them be less painful when they do happen.
its just that the "promoters" are so similar, you have to give pause- coffee- aged for what, months, years? *note* I just looked up coffee aged on google and saw 3,7, and 14 years for sale--Chocolate- fermented for not very long, so i cant pin that one except the tannins- and the caffiene+other stimulants--- tobacco-- aged for 12 to 24 months-- soy sauce, aged and fermented for the longer the better( like 2 to 6 years). red wine? longer the better.
so tannins, caffiene,... dont know where MSG fits in, but it does,
and mabye the final anecdote-- once when I was sitting next to someone who was smoking, the smoke straight from the cigarette before it had time to dissapate any went straight up my left nostril and lodged behind my left eye- swear to... you know, and stayed there for 3 or 4 days till it came out in a attack.
any hoo, just trying to help someone out. peace.
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Prense
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Re: triggers
« Reply #18 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:00pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 1:53pm, bean wrote:mabye not knowing 'when' , but having them be less painful when they do happen.
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Which is precisely why I also said...
on Nov 28th, 2003, 1:11pm, Prense wrote:| Not only that, I have periods of "lighter" attacks...again, unpredictable. |
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I can't help but being skeptical. I applaud any efforts to help others though.
Chris
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bean
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Re: triggers
« Reply #19 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:00pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 1:37pm, brain_cramps wrote:
I have reread this a few times and it still doesn't make sense.
a) are you saying that you have "triggers" that you can identify days later? I'm not sure what you are meaning by "later in the week".
b) "just feel like one big piece of chocolate" --- I'm not sure what you mean by this either. an urge or craving?
Help me out here please. I must be reading this entirely wrong. (Sleep deprivation sometimes does that.)
grant
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a. try delayed trigger/ promoter instead
b.try literal. not urge, not craving, like one big sick hersheys kiss. like i put on a hersheys kiss costume, if that helps helps you to visualize.
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brain_cramps
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Re: triggers
« Reply #20 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:00pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 1:53pm, bean wrote:| once when I was sitting next to someone who was smoking, the smoke straight from the cigarette before it had time to dissapate any went straight up my left nostril and lodged behind my left eye- swear to... you know, and stayed there for 3 or 4 days till it came out in a attack. |
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OK ----- I'm pretty sure I'm NOT reading this wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the only way that smoke could get into, and stay in you nasal passage for 3 or 4 days is if you weren't breathing through your nose? And even then, I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe it would stay for more than a minute or two.
grant
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brain_cramps
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Re: triggers
« Reply #21 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:10pm » |
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I don't see how you could possibly draw any type of relationship between eating a lot of chocolate one day and having a headache later in the week. In the mean time, how many headaches did you have? or do you go for days without a headache?
ya lost me!
on Nov 28th, 2003, 2:00pm, bean wrote:| ...like one big sick hersheys kiss. like i put on a hersheys kiss costume, if that helps helps you to visualize. |
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Holy crap, dude! You're scaring me now!
grant
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Prense
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Re: triggers
« Reply #22 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:12pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 2:10pm, brain_cramps wrote:| I don't see how you could possibly draw any type of relationship between eating a lot of chocolate one day and having a headache later in the week. |
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Oh no! That means taking a dump could be a trigger? 
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Patrick_A
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Re: triggers
« Reply #23 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:22pm » |
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Alcohol and any foods requiring lots of preservatives are my triggers, but only during the cycle.
Patrick
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bean
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Re: triggers
« Reply #24 on: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:46pm » |
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on Nov 28th, 2003, 2:00pm, brain_cramps wrote:
OK ----- I'm pretty sure I'm NOT reading this wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the only way that smoke could get into, and stay in you nasal passage for 3 or 4 days is if you weren't breathing through your nose? And even then, I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe it would stay for more than a minute or two.
grant
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mabye not the actual physical smoke, but it happened. kind of like a smoke razor that had frost on it... spacey metaphors are my speciality
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| « Last Edit: Nov 28th, 2003, 2:47pm by bean » |
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