Hi All,

Just want to introduce myself and reclaim my cluster badge.  My name is Dennis, and I've been episodic since 1976, when I was in high school.

My clusters followed me from Canyon, TX where I grew up, to Orlando, FL and Annapolis, MD (where I was diagnosed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1989), and now to Massachusetts.  I originally joined this site back in '98 when I still lived in Maryland, but I only occasionally lurked here to keep up on developments, and I forgot my old login.

I had 4 very good years from '04-'07, with only a couple of very minor skirmishes with shadows, which I dispatched promptly with an Amerge tablet or two, and they stayed away.  However, they're back with a vengeance since late November.

Over the years, preventives prescribed include valium (gotta love the '70s!), amitriptyline, propanolol, topamax, and verapamil (currently on 960 mg/day).  My episodes have occurred at pretty much every time of the year at least once or twice, and have ranged from a few weeks to several months in duration.  Quit smoking cigarettes in 2002, and quit drinking alcohol in 2005.

Back in the bad old days, used ergostat tablets under the tongue for rescue meds.  Sometimes worked, sometimes not so much.  Bad nausea and chills as a side effect.  Triptans seemed to be a gift from God at first, but I've been rebounded and pounded more than once.  Moderation is the golden mean.

Last resort now is an Imitrex shot (generic, of course), though an Amerge in advance will usually buy me a night's sleep or a day's work when I really need it.  Oxygen through a non-rebreather at 15 l/min is my mainstay.  They tend to come back on me hard when I abort them, but I'm just too old to ride them out very often any more.

Thought I had this cluster beat in early January, but I came down with a really bad head cold.  The sinus infection I developed from that cold kicked the attacks back up big time.  I'm on an antibiotic now, and it's helping.  I have a great Neurologist who specializes in headache, and he keeps me in meds to the extent that the insurance nazis will allow.

Thanks for reading this and for being here, and here's wishing peace and PFDAN to all...

Dennis  

Dennis, if you are not up todate on meds, here is current thinking:

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Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor.  It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S.  (2002)
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Michigan Headache & Neurological Institute for another list of treatments and other articles:

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Might talk to your doc about trying Zyprexa (in the Rozen list) as an abortive. Several of us have had excellent results and there is no evidence, so far, of rebound effect.

Welcome Back.


                  Challening, more assertive.. Coach Bill