Posted by dancer (130.113.193.16) on December 12, 1999 at 09:36:24:
Hi! It took an alergy specialist to diagnose my clusters, and ten years later I'm still trying to manage them. 3 days one side, 3 days the other, each 6 day episode sometimes only a week or two apart. Strange smells sometimes, burning nostril, post-nasal drip, drooping face, pain in sinus, eye, temple, ear, teeth, sometimes neck; photo-phobia, vasoconstriction in periphery. I can walk and function minimally, by the 3rd day I'm useless without medication. Caffergot works magically in 1/2 hr, takes away the 3 days, or atleast awhole day, but bad Renauds syndrome (perihperal vasoconstriction). Amerge works slower, feel dopey for a day after, headache comes back. Zomig is good for 4-5 hours, fewer side effects. I use it to spell off the Caffergot, which I try to use only for one episoded a month. more than that and I think I am triggering the next bout. Right now I'm in bad shape because I have a recurrent virus, with headaches, which trigger another bout of CH.
Would love to talk to anyone struggling with HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and CT. And I do think the severity was getting less as I age, until I hit this batch of virus infections.