Ok I have decided to make myself known.
Myself I am 27, married ( with 2 furry kids of the canine and feline persuasion respectively) and I have Cluster Headaches. The name is George.
I live in Athens, Greece and since I do not know of anyone else with CH in Greece I kind of feel like I am the 'only CH man in the village' so to speak.
The PastMy story with CH started in summer 2005. I was living in London U.K, was going to start on my first job in 2 1/2 months, I had loads of times to visit museums and go sightseeing and things were looking fine. Then the CH started.
The good news was that I self diagnosed myself during the first week so I was quite sure that I do not have something life threatening (I am one of those people who see the glass half-full so I believe there are much worse things that one can have that begin with a headache).
The bad thing is my irrational fear of doctors. Consequently, I went through the next 7 weeks without any medication doing 'King Kong' impressions (when he is up the skyscraper screaming and swiping at biplanes) around the house 2-3 times a day.
Eventually I got out of cycle and life got back on track.
The waitingNot sure when my next cycle would be I was quite worried at the begining. The cycle did not come in 3 months, or 6 and I started relaxing. When my CH 'anniversary' passed pain free I was a very happy bunny.
A second year passed, a third passed. I moved to Athens. I started hoping for an one-off but knew it would probably wouldn't be.
The presentI got a shadow or two during the winter and realised something was happening. It was a false alarm.
Finally about 15 days ago I got the first CH. Not a very strong one but it was there. Another one the next day so now I am back in cycle.
This time I did my research and made an appointment with a doctor who seems to know a lot about CH (and some published work too).
We started on Prednisolone 10 days ago and Imigran nasal spray (Sumatriptan) as a painkiller. Also I am taking Pariet (proton pump inhobitor) because of chronic stomach problems (and corticosteroids can do wonderfully nasty things to someone's stomach)
It is still early days but I seem to be getting results. If this cycle is like the previous one I should be having 2-3 attacks a day. Most days I am pain free (for the past two days for example, although I had a huge CH at night the 2 days before) and the Imigran seems to be taking quite a lot of the pain away.
I do not know how it will proceed, especially as the Prednizolone dose is now being reduced, but I am hopeful and all in all satisfied with the result. Fingers crossed I will get a similar attack pattern as the last time and will be out of it in 5 weeks or so.
For the time being I am glad I have the means (medication) to fight it and a supporting family.
I am optimistic and try not to worry about it too much. I see it as a way to improve my 'king kong' impression.
My only complaint is that due to the Prednizolone (I think) I am constantly hungry and have to be careful of what I eat (I love food
).
Also, after I take Imigran it feels like I am under the influence. I feel extremely relaxed and happy with the universe. As far as I know it shouldn't be giving me a high should it? It might just be the fact that I just got over the CH attack though and life is happy once more.
So yes! After lurking for years I am here with my pain troubled brethren. Nice to have found you guys.