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Title: My first Cluster headache?? Post by tylerw on Nov 2nd, 2005, 12:10am Hello, My name is Tyler and I am a 25 yearold male from Vancouver, BC, CANADA. About 1 and a half months ago I started getting aches & pains in the right side of my face (teeth, jaw, face, temple, etc.). I also was getting the feeling of pressure inbehind and belowmy right eye, and strangely, in the right side of my neck. After a couple of weeks the pain in my teeth was more pronounced than anything and by this time i was convinced that I had an infected tooth, or cavities, or some such thing. So doing what any person would do I went to the dentist. I got x-rays at the dentist and all that jaazz, and was told that my teeth are perfectly healthy. At this point I decided to goto the doctor and tell him of the pains i was having in my face. He immediately said i most likely have a sinus infection and prescribed me some sinus spray, but also booked me an appointment for x-rays of my sinuses. Of course the sinus x-rays came back all good and once again I was told that I was perfectly healthy. At this point my doctor said it is possible I might have Trigeminal Neuralgia. Skip ahead about a month, i have had periods of 3 - 5 days without the facial pain. It's really not that serious or terribly painful, but still uncomftorable and distracting nonetheless. Now skip ahead to this past weekend. Being haloween i had planned a night out at the bar with some friends, getting dressed up in our costumes and such. I had about 5 alchoholic drinks (I rarely drink, and when i do it's usually just 1 or 2 beers). As I was out on the dance floor i felt a strange sensation and one of my legs went slightly tingly. I decided to walk to the bathroom and take a breather and splash some water on my face, etc. When I get into the bathroom I become very lightheaded and notice that my hearing is going, and the strength in my arms and legs is going, i sort of lower myself to the ground, not wanting to pass out and hit my head, etc..., before I know it i am blacking out and am completely on the ground. After coming out of this daze and picking myself up off the floor (one of my friends happened to be in the bathroom at the same time and sorta made sure i didnt hit my head or fall to hard). I felt very hot and so took off my costume and cooled off. It's at about this time while I am coming to that I notice how heavy my head feels. I can feel a tremendous pressure inside my head. During the next 30 - 45 minutes all hell breaks loose. Right after passing out in the bathroom I ask my friend to drive me home and on the drive home the pressure in my head builds and builds and builds. I can almost feel the pressure inside my head moving around. I just remember repeating to my friend "I have never felt a headache like this before... I have never felt a headache like this before". My friend drops me at home, and i get into my apartment. I then spend about the next 30 minutes pacing around in my apartment, the pain is becoming worse and worse. My head feels like there is a tone of bricks on it and infact it feels as though I have a hook or a pole going right through my right eye, another one going through the top of my head, and like a hook going through the upper part of my spine (back of my neck). (Pg.1) - continued on next page. |
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Title: My first Cluster headache?? (pg.2) Post by tylerw on Nov 2nd, 2005, 12:11am (Pg.2) - continued from page 1. The pain is the most intense pain i have ever felt, it is like a brain freeze in the depths of my right eye/face/head/back of neck, but it is about 25X worse than any brain freeze i hav eever had and it just would not let up. I could not sit still and my reflex was to pull my head back away from my right eye and put my hand up in front of my right eye as if i was trying to push the pain back and away from the right side of my head. The more i tried to sit still and relax, the more apparent the pain was, I could NOT SIT STILL. By this time i had gone to the hospital and they had me hooked up to saline, treating me as a migraine (i have never had a migraine before so i assumed this was a migraine). The doctor/nurse asked me if i wanted the light turned out but to be honest it didn't make a damn difference wether the lights were on or not. Also the doctor kept asking me why i was pulling my head back and making a pushing away motion with my hand in front of my face, and i said "because it feels like the pain is RIGHT THERE, right there ..." Hard to explain. Another characteristic of the pain was that it felt like the entire right side of my face was weighted down, it took a tremendous amount of effort to even open my right eye and the doctor had to actually hold it open when he looked into my eyes with a light. Although it didn't necessarily feel swolllen or watery, just extremely heavy and weighted down. The other strange thing was that, for the most part the pain was in my right eye/right side of head, but sometimes the "pressure" or "watery" feeling in my head would seeem to move either to the left side of my face, at which time the weight would lift from the ride side of my face, and then my left side would become completely weighted down, or the pressure woudl seem to move to the back of my head and i would get incredible stabbing sensations in the top of my back/base of my neck. Infact today my neck muscles are still sore from this and I can still feel the lingering sensation of those pains. When the pressure would move completely to the back of my skull i would feel the weight of it lift off of my right or left eye. Also, has anyone had facial muscle spasms while having one of these attacks, every now and again I would get the sensation that muscles in my face were spasming and or moving uncontrollably. Since the weekend I have had a few more slight attacks of aching/pain in my face/head/back of neck, however nothing like the weekend which left me completely debilitated, crying, and essentially begging god to take the pain away. The attack was completely exhausting, even after the head pain started to die away it still took me nearly an hour to stop my muscles from uncontrollably twitching. Does this sound like a cluster headache??? HAs anyone else had the feeling of pressure/water moving around and weighing down one side of the face, only to shift and weigh down teh other side of the face??? any feedback is very much appreciated. After this weekend I have a new found respect and sympathy for people who suffer with this on any sort of regular basis. May god bless you. sincerely, tyler. |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by MJ on Nov 2nd, 2005, 1:33am TYLER Hi I am not a doctor but I would suggest that you have an immediate medical opinion generated. EKG, MRI, etc.. Some of what you describe does not fit with cluster HA ie; tingling, passing out, loss of hearing, lightheaded, black outs. Neither does it fit with general migraine. These are signs of a potentially very serious situation. I would make haste to a nuerologist ASAP and have yourself triple checked. Clusters are a possibility but from your description you may have a larger issue. Best to find out for sure and then If the diagnosis is truly clusters then welcome. |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by Jasmyn on Nov 2nd, 2005, 1:35am Hi Tyler. It sounds like CH but I'm no doctor. Yes we have the one side of our face weigh down but that is second to the watery eye, droopy lid, stuffy/runny nose on the side we get the pain. Sometimes switching sides happen, but not regularly and in me only at the end of a cycle. I would strongly reccommend that you make an appointment with a Neuro to get your condition confirmed. On the left are many links and info that will educate you more, this will also help you to know the meds and treatment available. Good luck and this is the best place to be for a CH sufferer. Jas ;) |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by BMoneeTheMoneeMan on Nov 4th, 2005, 3:11am Hi Tyler. Welcome to the site. From what you describe, it doesnt sound to me like the symptoms described by lots of other CH sufferers. From what you have said, your doctor visits went very typically. Its good you got the scan on your sinuses to rule that out.....the docs gotta go in a sensible progression. Its very important to get to your doc and describe this to him/her, and take the next step in getting a disgnosis with whatever you may suffer from. From what you describe, i think any decent doc would order some blood tests and probably another scan or image. A medical doctor needs to find out what is wrong with you, and it may very well be cluster headaches and some bad clams for dinner. [smiley=laugh.gif] Get back to the doc. PF wishes and good luck BMonee |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by E-Double on Nov 4th, 2005, 8:26am Get thee to a doctor for tests! Rule other things out then come back and let us know. Some symptoms sound right, others do not and sound potentially dangerous. However, did you pass out from extreme pain overload? Some have. Tingling has only occured with me when I was on certain meds. Good luck and feel good! |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by unsolved1 on Nov 4th, 2005, 4:35pm If it is cluster headaches, it'll come back again and again and again .... Consult with a neuro asap! UNsolved |
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Title: Re: My first Cluster headache?? Post by burnt-toast on Nov 7th, 2005, 3:54am Sorry to hear that you had to find us. You describe symptoms that are CH related and several others that may indicate the potential for some other disorder. You need to get a thorough neurological exam. Proper diagnosis is important and we are not doctors, just suffers like yourself. I've found neurologists who practice out of headache clinics to be more familiar with CH than general neurological practices. It may be a good place for you to start seeking a diagnosis. Keep a journal of your symptoms and be prepared to dislcuss them in detail during your early visits. Be prepared to go through some medical testing to rule out potential physical causes, and the possibility of having to see a few docs. before you are confident with your diagnosis. Best wishes on your journey. Let us know how things are going. Tom |
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