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Topic: Aargh! the pain... (Read 227 times) |
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tekysan
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Aargh! the pain...
« on: Jun 11th, 2004, 5:04pm » |
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I am not sure when my headaches really got started, it may have been around two years ago. At that time, they were very infrequent and only seemed to happen if I went to sleep after drinking some beer. Then I would wake up with an excruciating headache centered around my right eye. Along with that was a sinus pain and a runny nose from my right nostril. And the right eye would get sort of puffy and teary sometimes. If the headache lasted more than an hour, it would start to radiate out until my teeth started to hurt, too. But the longest headaches lasted no more than around two hours. But with the excruciating pain, it sure seemed like more than two!
A typical episode always starts about a half hour after I go to sleep. It's gotten to the point where I know I'll be meeting Freddy Kreuger whenever I sleep, as I've seen a poster on this forum mention. Just the onset of the pain alone wakes me up. So I just get up and resign myself to the coming pain. It always subsides in around an hour or so, but sometimes two hours. At first I thought that maybe the meals I eat around two hours before I sleep might have contributed to the problem, so I started making sure my stomach was empty before sleeping. That didn't make any difference. I gave up drinking beer over seven months ago, and that seemed to help for a little while. But they soon returned - around a couple of months ago, they started to happen once a day and always after I fall asleep at the end of the day.
I have discovered something yesterday that helps ameliorate the pain so that I can at least lay down and rest until the headache subsides. I put a heating pad on maximum heat over the right eye where it hurts so bad, and the relief from the pain is almost immediate. After that I just lay down with the pad on my eye and drift back off to sleep. Before, the only things that seemed to help at all were breathing hot steam from a pot of boiling water, a hot shower, a VERY hot, wet wash cloth over my eye, and/or time.
I discovered this site after an extensive search over the internet for information on what I was suffering from. At first, I thought it was a sinus condition or migraines. But as I don't have any upper respiratory conditions, and I don't suffer nausea from them, I concluded that it was something else. After reading other sites on the symptoms of cluster headaches, I was astonished! The symptom list completely matched the symptoms I had - the severe pain on one side of the face, usually over the one of the eyes, runny and/or stuffy nose, duration of one or two hours, occurrence at the same time/times of day, and so on.
I wouldn't wish this kind of thing on my worst enemy, that would be cruel indeed. Sometimes I beg for mercy from my Maker, "Eloi, eloi, oh Lord, oh Lord, how long? How long??"
I have heard clusters compared to lions while migraines are gentle sheep. That came as a surprise because I've always heard how painful migraines were.
I've been known to literally cry, tears and all, with relief after a cluster episode. And that's coming from a forty-something year old man, imagine that! Crying? If one ever experienced that kind of pain, one wouldn't ask about the crying part.
It is comforting to know that I'm not alone in suffering from this condition. I know I shouldn't self-diagnose, but the match up is almost exact. I have no other health problems that I'm aware of. I'm going to wait and see if this is episodic, or what, before I take the step of seeing a doctor about it.
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Superpain
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GOT O2!?
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Re: Aargh! the pain...
« Reply #1 on: Jun 11th, 2004, 5:19pm » |
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Welcome!
Don't wait to see a doc...
Find a neuro that specializes in headaches and has experience with clusters! There will most likely be a wait to see him so the sooner the better!
Read up here on the medications and treatments that are most successful and go into the appt informed.
Try to get O2 as soon as possible. It works wonders for most.
It sounds like you get hit pretty hard and long. O2 could possibly knock your headache out in 5-10 minutes... Maybe more maybe less, but it's a helluva lot better than 2 hrs!
Prednisone, verapimil and imitrex should be the first new additions to your vocabulary. With any luck those will take care of it along with O2. If not, there are other options. But you need to see a good neuro before you can get any relief.
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Chris
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Lobster
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Re: Aargh! the pain...
« Reply #2 on: Jun 11th, 2004, 5:29pm » |
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Agreed with SP... why suffer? Go see a doc.
If you have a GP you like, arm yourself with info from here then see him/her. I have never bothered with a neuro myself.
This thingy is very manageable for most of us. Check out the meds board.
To narrow things down for you... my personal mix (everyones is different) is...
Preventatives == Topamax, Verapamil
Abortive == Imitrex Injections (vials, not autoinjectors)
And read up on Prednisone to get you through the next week until the preventatives kick in.
Best of luck mate. Good to have you here.
Lobster
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Rock beats Scissors.
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Gator
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Re: Aargh! the pain...
« Reply #3 on: Jun 12th, 2004, 2:28am » |
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Welcome to the site dude. Ditto everything that has been said, read, read read and then prrint it out and take it to your gp to get that referral to a good neuro.
Crying, hell yeah. Been there done that and I don't cry over nothing. I have a really high pain threshold and this crap kicks my butt.
Rock, you posted this earlier. I read it and then printed it out for my neuro. He gave up on verapamil at 480mg. This says some neuros prescribe it all the way up 1g. I'll post it here for tekysan if you don't mind.
Tekysan, try reading this as well as everything else. Good info on treatments in here:
http://www.future-drugs.com/admin/articlefile/ERN020304.pdf
Personally, I use Zomig Nasal Spray and O2 as my abortives. Still looking for that magic preventative. This crap keeps up and it may be a "magic" solution indeed.
Gator
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Superpain
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Re: Aargh! the pain...
« Reply #4 on: Jun 12th, 2004, 3:02am » |
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That's a great source Rock.
The only discrepancy is O2 flow rate needs to go as high as 15 for many people.
Thanks for the pdf...
oppps. I mean Gator... 
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| « Last Edit: Jun 12th, 2004, 4:59pm by Superpain » |
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Chris
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Lobster
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Re: Aargh! the pain...
« Reply #5 on: Jun 12th, 2004, 11:09am » |
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Yeah guys... I stumbled across that PDF one day... liked it a lot. Had most of the current treatments in it. Gave a copy to my GP to read up on... he thought it was great.
Rock
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Rock beats Scissors.
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