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(Message started by: SaxeGotha on Dec 21st, 2005, 11:18am)

Title: Not a typical sufferer
Post by SaxeGotha on Dec 21st, 2005, 11:18am
Hello,
I have just found this site today and I hope a new thread is okay.

I  have been having a certain type of head pain since I was about 15. I am 35 now.

The pain is very short and very painful. It will  come on suddenly, from one moment to the next with no warning whatsoever. It lasts for about 2-10 minutes then goes melts away in less than a minute or two. The pain is exactly what is described on most of tis site. My eye tears up, my nose runs, the pain is on one side or the other. I have felt it in the center also. It mainly feels like a ballon fills up in my head and tries to push bits out. I will get anywhere from 2-20 of these a day. Very brief usually. Some lasting longer, about 20 minutes (very infrequent).

I would not think I was a CH sufferer if it wasn't for my "first" official CH. It lasted for about 5 days before I went to the doctor. After an inconclusiive CTScan and a IV of really nasty painkillers, I finally got relief for about 3 days then it started again and lasted for 3 more days.
I will only get the 2-3 days worth of really intense pain about once a month. Usually something stressful or physically demanding sets it in motion.

I know I don't fit into what appears to be the common pattern of CH's. Is this uncommon or have I not found other posts with the same type?

Any help would be appreciated.

Title: Re: Not a typical sufferer
Post by seasonalboomer on Dec 21st, 2005, 11:43am

on 12/21/05 at 11:18:25, SaxeGotha wrote:
Hello,
I have just found this site today and I hope a new thread is okay.

I  have been having a certain type of head pain since I was about 15. I am 35 now.

The pain is very short and very painful. It will  come on suddenly, from one moment to the next with no warning whatsoever. It lasts for about 2-10 minutes then goes melts away in less than a minute or two. The pain is exactly what is described on most of tis site. My eye tears up, my nose runs, the pain is on one side or the other. I have felt it in the center also. It mainly feels like a ballon fills up in my head and tries to push bits out. I will get anywhere from 2-20 of these a day. Very brief usually. Some lasting longer, about 20 minutes (very infrequent).

I would not think I was a CH sufferer if it wasn't for my "first" official CH. It lasted for about 5 days before I went to the doctor. After an inconclusiive CTScan and a IV of really nasty painkillers, I finally got relief for about 3 days then it started again and lasted for 3 more days.
I will only get the 2-3 days worth of really intense pain about once a month. Usually something stressful or physically demanding sets it in motion.

I know I don't fit into what appears to be the common pattern of CH's. Is this uncommon or have I not found other posts with the same type?

Any help would be appreciated.


Welcome, sorry to hear you are suffering.
Your description of headaches that last 3 or more days... Are you saying the actual pain is constant for 3 days. If so, then, based on the cluster quiz it is less likely that Cluster Headache are your answer. Really intense pain lasting this long would probably require to keep searching for an answer -- and maybe some cluster headaches might point you in the right general direction.

Your description of 2-10 minute bursts is also not in the typical profile, as many Cluster Heads would be happy if they knew that was all the time they had to deal with a CH. I mean no disrespect to the pain you are going through. Pain is pain, whatever the "name" for it.

Most importantly, I'm not a doctor but from all the info I've read I'm just giving a little feedback.

Any of you others got any suggestions?

Scott

Title: Re: Not a typical sufferer
Post by jon019 on Dec 21st, 2005, 12:39pm
Hello SaxeGotha,

Agree with Scott, your combination does not sound typical of cluster headache. However, the sudden, intense and rapidly receding stabs is exactly what happened to me several cycles ago. For cycles before and after I would be described as a typical clusterhead. Until I realized these were a variation, it was VERY scary.

You didn't say what the docs diagnosis was. What did he/she think?

Regards

Jon

Title: Re: Not a typical sufferer
Post by SaxeGotha on Dec 21st, 2005, 12:50pm
Oops, sorry. i never covered that detail. The ddoctor said that I was a cluster headache sufferer. This was after the CTScan. I had never heard of CH in my life before that.

I know that what I am having, based on what I have read here today, is probably not CH. Nor is it Migraines. Maybe I am blessed with something betwixt the two.
Anyway, thanks for thehelp so far.......

Title: Re: Not a typical sufferer
Post by Jasmyn on Dec 21st, 2005, 1:46pm
Please go and get a second opinion.  Headaches are not something to fool around with.

It does not seem to have the normal CH pattern, especially because you had it for so many years.

Nobody should experience pain and not be treated for what they suffer of.  The wrong meds can do much harm.

Regards Jas

Title: Re: Not a typical sufferer
Post by E-Double on Dec 21st, 2005, 2:43pm
Paroxysmal Hemicrania.
Same autonomic features, less in duration and more frequent attacks.
Ask your doc for a trial of indocin for if it is PH then you will find relief almost immediately. It will keep them at bay. Research suggests near 100% responsiveness

You could also have multiple HA types.

Good luck



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