Posted by gary g on March 22, 1999 at 13:34:42:
In Reply to: suicide and other stray thoughts posted by brianj on March 22, 1999 at 02:20:09:
answer for me has been "cutesy" mental discipline
day at a time
count my blessings
remember pain isn't real
(no it ISN'T - it's a perception & can be dealt with - drop down to thread re: Zen, etc)
my experience:
28 years clusters
got real bad years 5-15
became willing te try things I always claimed I was too "tough" for
(mental attitude disciplines, prayer, quit drinking, stopped trying to overwhelm the CH, etc)
since then my "running average" has been improving
will say absolutely, looking you straight in the eye,
I have a BEAUTIFUL life today
even during my fairly long cluster this past fall & winter, there were MANY MANY wonderful moments and even wonderful days
(in between the relatively short incidents of agony)
try making a "gratitude list"
actually write it out
number a sheet of paper 1-20
at #1 write:
"cluster headache is NOT a progressive fatal disease"
at #2 write:
"there are resources available now, starting with the msg board, that no clusterhead ever had before, and lots of them have done just fine"
you take it from there
it's free
can't hurt you
has no negative side=effects
can be mixed with ANY medicine
only requires willingness
good luck, gg