I just finished going through, yet another Cluster Headache, 4:11 a.m. I'm now not working, I've had to take a 1 year unpaid medical leave of absence. I was in hospital last week for 5 days doing the DHE treatment, unfortunately it didn't work. My life has been reduced to Dr. visits, ER's a lot of medication, using O2 and rocking and crying 8 times/day.Not sure how much more I can take. I have Chronic Cluster Headaches and have not had a break from them in over 2 years. They have completely damaged the quality of my life, my career, my relationship, and any sense of purpose I once had. I've had 4 procedures, none of which worked. I am at the point of begging my medical team to do something, anything, and to do it fast. My will power to continue on is quickly fading!

I would research this website START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Quote:

I was in hospital last week for 5 days doing the DHE treatment, unfortunately it didn't work.

Were you pain free at all during the treatment itself? DHE won't break the cycle, but if it gave you any pain-free time at all while you were in the hospital, it's an indication that the clusterbuster method will work for you. Check Melissa's link. Also try this one:

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Are you going this alone?  Do you have a loved one who is supporting you?  We support supporters too, so if there's someone who helps you out, send him/her here.

You're not alone in this.  Most of the sufferers here can tell almost identical stories to yours.  There is help and good information available, and it might need to come from people here to pass on to your medical team.

I didn't see you mention oxygen.  Read all the links in yellow on the left regarding oxygen.  It's helped a LOT of folks here reclaim their lives.

Check you're other thread.

Oh yes,  there IS hope.  My husband was chronic for 15 years.  He is now in remission....two years.  Alternative treatments do work for many but not all.  We were lucky.



Study all you can both here and on the OUCH site. 

Tell us about your 02 use....how many lpm, type mask, etc.

You'll fine tons of support here.  Keep talking to us.  You are no longer alone in this battle.

Over 8 years chronic here, and yes there is hope. 

I would echo Melissa and Brew's posts.

Jerry

Just over a month from being officially chronic here and yes, as the others say, there is more than hope, there is the reality of being able to control CHs enough to enjoy life between hits.

What medication are you on? Are you working with a headache specialist neuro?

Echoing others posts. Have been chronic since '97 and YES, there is hope for a LIFE... It's just finding it and ATTITUDE about it. '

Give us some details... We're here to HELP and that's what we do.

Talk to us... :-*

For you guys and gals that are chronic... At what point did you realize you were chronic, at 5 months?

Also I was curious what the frequency and timing of your hits are throughout a given, day, week, month.... any other info you want to provide. Im just trying to figure out what I might be able to expect and se if I can detect patterns.

sorry Im still kinda new here to both this board and the beast..

Keep on keeping on... as eric clapton said... it's got to get better in a little while

"Chronic" is a definition: Going for a period of one year without a pain-free break of 30 days or more.

In the early days before I learned some things here I could count on 11 AM, 1 PM, 5 PM, 9 PM 11 PM, 1 AM each within 5 minutes of the time every day.  Some days I got to have one or two others just for fun.  Most of these would be of a K7- K8 variety.

You CAN make it and have a life, but you have to work at it.  In particular, you have to work on your attitude.  When you get to the place you understand you are not defined by your affliction, but rather a living person with an affliction who LIVES life between the hits you will know you are going to be OK.  It is a matter of choice.  It is THEN that you can begin to put your life back together and learn how to deal with this malady. 

There is a tremendous amount of information available here, and more at START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE .  May I strongly suggest you do your own research and determine what is the best method for you?  Feel free to ask questions, but when you do be wiling to accept the answers without getting your knickers in a knot if someone answers in a manner that doesn't suit you.  Very often there is a purpose to the answer and the method of answering.  As Denny (one of the old-old timers that you don't see here much anymore) used to say, "Take what you need, and leave the rest".

Jerry