Jim and I go to a new Iranian restaurant tonight in Madisonville.  Yes, you heard me right.  Iranian restaurant in Kentucky. Go figure.

We have a great dinner and there are 4 others in the room. We're talking, having a great time and it turns out the woman in the group is a pharmacist at CVS.  I say kiddingly to her...lower the price of Imitrex. LOL

Her husband says I used to take Imitrex for cluster headache.

O.K. as Joe would say...my spidey sense is aroused.

Me:  you have cluster headaches?
Him: yes.  about 3 years ago.
Me:  Tell me your symptoms
Him:  dark room, aura, throwing up, etc.etc.etc (everything.. Migraine symptoms)

Me: ever have running/stuffy nose, watery eyes, feeling like you have to bang your head, can't sit/lay still?

him: oh no...but it was definetly Clusters. Doc told me so.   Lord, please don't let me bite my tongue clear off.  I may need it to educate someone...anyone else)

On the way to the car,  Jim says to me in his best Val Kilmer from "Tombstone"  voice...."Your strain was mo than you could bare" 

Me:  Why Ike...what evah do ya mean"

And the educating goes on.  Just not from me tonight. Pfffttt   >:(

We've been successful just enough in getting our message out there that CH is now the diagnosis du jour, being used for every thing from hangnails on up.  Two steps forward . . . on step . . .

Jerry

Linda I FEEL your pain...

Once in an IRS audit - I got hit - explained to the woman that I had to GO and why. She calmly told me, "My son has THOSE and he just soaks his feet in hot water - you should do that!"

I THREW a file at her and told her I was going back to my office and get her butt fired and I DID. She was UNeducatable!

Honestly?  I would have gotten the name of the doctor (without going into detail to the stranger) and took it upon myself to write a lovely letter later on.

Oh I love that.! Your no headbanger...or daisy, as it goes.
Your a daisy if you do. ;)
tachead

The  herbalist has positively diagnosed me with CH of the left hip and prescribed goji berries but my astrologer said,  "No, not with Venus on the cusp of Uranus!"

My friends at SynusBuster all agree that I need help, but my accupuncturist has faith even after all this time.

You should reccommend these specialists to your friend, Linda, and give him a fighting chance.

If I had a dollar for every time someone has said, "Oh I get those" or "I know 'so and so' has Clusters."

Of course, I always ask the exact same questions. Where do you feel the pain? How long does it last? Does it hit several times a day.

What I find frustrating is, here I have had them most of my life. I know the second I feel that twinge in my eye or my temple that one is about to come on. I know when I am "in for it."

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones though. It only affects one side, mostly my eye, temple... and that thread coming from the eyeball through the base of my skull trying to yank it out.
I'd HATE to be one of those Clusterheads who get them all over the front & back of the head, all day, for days on end. I don't think I could handle that, without a couple of Tylenol and a warm cloth (as has been suggested to me.)  ::)

I feel yer pain, Linda.
Carl D

People like this should be forced to wear locaters so we wouldn't be arrested for beating them to death....better still experience a cluster....no not even I am that nasty.

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

Charlie

Carl, since I live so close to Rosemont I'll be happy to bring you some warm cloths when you come to the CB convention.  That was funny.

Brian,  :-X

Jerry

Quote:

Venus on the cusp of Uranus!"

You can have that removed you know?

This is so funny, I love you guys. Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

For the first five years my wife always wanted to give me a face massage. Now she runs to hide under the bed with the dog.. Just kidding.. we don't have a dog.

Peace of mind

Thanks everyone, I really needed a laugh today.  But it is sad.  I have people tell me all the time, oh I know, I have migraines and they are really painful.  I, too, bite down.  It is not they are not painful.  However, with a daughter with migraines and a son with CH, I would take the former everyday over the latter.

It's a shame I can't locate that ole' country doctor that "cured" my mother's migraines.  I mean seriously!!  He gave her an injection of rattle snake venom.  She never had another headache.  Wonder if it would work for CH. where is a good ole' country doc when you need one?

My friend's son has migraines.  At a neuro appt she mentioned to his Dr that she had a friend who had clusters.  He told her that "your friend may have MIGRAINE clusters, but she does NOT have true clusters.  Women don't get them."   

It's hard enough to get people to understand what we go through without someone you've never met diagnosing you.  I have learned to hold my tongue though.  Sometimes there is just no changing peoples' minds. 

Jeannie

Jeannie wrote on Mar 9^th, 2013 at 4:04pm:

He told her that "your friend may have MIGRAINE clusters, but she does NOT have true clusters.  Women don't get them."

He ain't seen what I've seen.....

More often than not I just tell people I get really horrible headaches.

Although it does not do justice to what I actually go through its far easier than trying to explain just what they are and how horrible they truly are! The people that are close to me know how bad they are and that they are more than just a headache or migraine. When I was talking to my grandfather about it, he used to get migraines, and he said  "I know how horrible mine were, but I cant even imagine what your going through. Pain in your head is the worst"

Sometimes its nice to have people appreciate just how horrible they are without having to explain it.

[i]Sometimes its nice to have people appreciate just how horrible they are without having to explain it. 
   [/i]

It's why I hang out here so much! ;)

Joe

Jeannie, everyone knows wimmenz don't get clusters!   :D 

Dr's like that are morons and ought have their licenses under review for malpractice.  Just my opinion, I know, but how many people have had their lives ruined because of some imbecilic "medical" opinion such as that? 

Jerry