Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> CPH Help
        
(Message started by: Thorns on Sep 7^th, 2005, 9:12pm)

Title: CPH Help
Post by Thorns on Sep 7^th, 2005, 9:12pm

I'm a fellow cluster sufferer. However, I haven't been on the boards for a while due to much success with the ever so popular alternative treatment.
At any rate, my mother-in-law has been experiencing symptoms of what appears to be CPH (as suggested by her recent Dr. visit) and I was hoping some CPH sufferers or people with access to papers (floridian I remember you use to have access to a bunch of medical journals) on this topic could help beyond the general information you find on this site and the internet. There are a few symptoms that she experiences that I can't find anywhere (i.e. dizziness and attack frequency is usually 2 per day not 10-20). However, everything else seems to match: short attacks (~5 to 10 min.) for a few days with many months of remission. Anyone with similar symptoms or any info. would be greatly appreciated.

~Thorns

Title: Re: CPH Help
Post by floridian on Sep 7^th, 2005, 9:41pm

2 per day is not out of the question for CPH.

Quote:

The attack frequency usually is 10-20 attacks per day and may range from 2-40 attacks per day. Attacks usually last 2-25 minutes, but they may last as long as 60 minutes. In one prospective study, mean attack duration was 13 minutes (range 3-46 min). In a retrospective study, the mean duration of attacks was 21 minutes (range 2-120 min).
http://www.emedicine.com/NEURO/topic67.htm

If it is CPH, Indomethacin may work wonders - that is the first thing to try if CPH is suspected, and not a bad idea to try if there is doubt if it is clusters or CPH. Need a doc to diagnose and work with some options.

Dizzyness could occur with most neurovascular headaches (migraine, cluster, CPH). The balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic gets out of whack, for some people, this results in dizzyness. It could also be something else causing the dizzyness (blood pressure, circulation, etc) - and for that, you need a doctor to investigate.