Posted by Todd (216.199.5.158) on February 28, 2000 at 20:03:10:
In Reply to: Advice, Please posted by Thaya on February 28, 2000 at 18:49:24:
I'm sorry to hear about your (hopefully not) impending cycle. I'm also a bit confused. You were diagnosed in December and feel that you are about to start a cycle now, right? Were you in cycle in Nov and Dec? If so, another cycle might indicate more of a chronic condition, although not fulfilling the 'classic' definition of chronic.
No one here gets upset with the word migraine, nor do we dismiss the concept that one may suffer from both conditions. We do tend to get a bit testy when a migraineur thinks they have clusters, just because their migraines come in waves or 'cycles'. The cycle aspect is but one of the descriptives of clusters.
Shadows happen to be a personal point of interest to me. No-one can really help you with your confusion about them, because they are different for all of us and only you can learn to read your own signals. I believe strongly that learning to read shadows is critical to being able to use Imitrex tabs (as opposed to injections) properly. I also believe strongly that the tabs are every bit as effective as the injections, but less forgiving, hence the need to read your signals. Having learned this, the tabs stop my clusters dead in their tracks in roughly 15 minutes. No-one has ever claimed more rapid efficacy with the injections.
The one exception to this is the mid-sleep attacks. Sleeping through the shadow and waking in a full-blown cluster obviates the ability to pop a pill at the required time, and so the tabs are marginally (or non-) effective, since the cluster will resolve within 30-60 minutes anyway.
Hope this helps.