Posted by Cathy (24.95.189.21) on September 11, 1999 at 10:25:55:
In Reply to: A quick question. posted by drummer on September 11, 1999 at 04:52:01:
Drummer, et. al.:
Suffering from both clusters and migraines, this is how I perceive the term "cluster migraine":
A cluster migraine is a migraine "cycle" that comes in clusters. Example---Over the summer I get many migraines, or what my neuro calls "stress release migraines". School is over, I can relax more, and the migraines appear in "bunches" during my teaching hiatus. During the school year, these migraines tend to appear in these "bunches" on week-ends and vacations. (Thus, the "stress-relief" my neuro has applied to the migraine.) I can go thru several months without a migraine, and then be hit for several week-ends or "work-free" days. This is similar to actual clusters where I am cluster free for a year or two and then hit for 3 to 4 months, sometimes several times a day---the "cluster".
From experience, there is no comparison between a cluster attack and a migraine headache. As I have stated before, I hate both and will not say one is "worse" than the other. However, the pain is very different, the symptoms are very different, the reactions are very different. Both are dibilitating for me, and disrupt my daily living. The only similarity between the two is I can now abort either with Imitrex.
As stated in the subject of this post, this is my definition, or a "layman's definition" of the term "cluster migraine". Don't know if that's how others who use the term intend the meaning to be.
Cathy