Posted by Tina (12.1.252.11) on July 03, 2001 at 13:41:53:
In Reply to: It's rough on every one posted by Bubba on July 02, 2001 at 14:12:33:
You are so right, my 'spousal equivelant' (haha) is a CH sufferer. The first year we lived together was fine, then in 99 he had a 2 month period of them - which at the time we didn't realize there were other people out there with these and we didn't know the name of it or anything. Then he actually had a year off, last summer was fine, then this year, OMG! We went to the ER last night for the first time so I know its bad, he of course hates drugs but when the pain gets unbearable and the headache won't go away, what else can you do? I got him to go to the Headache & Pain Center here locally (we're in Kansas) and they did the lidocaine up the nose treatment, didn't work...now he's taking Topamax...seemed to be helping - he just started it a few days ago, but yesterday he got the biggest one so far and it lasted 3 hours (they usually only last 20-30 minutes a couple times a day) The doctor just said "well we can't do anything but give you a shot" which is all he wanted and knew it's all they could give *sigh* so I took him home at 4pm and he slept from then on and was still sleeping when I went to work this morning. I gotta tell ya though as bad as this sounds, it was a nice break. At least I know when he is sleeping he is ok and not in pain. Of course I want him to be his normal happy self but when these headaches hit for a couple months it is absolutely miserable. I feel so helpless when there's nothing I can do and it is totally depressing on our entire household. We don't have kids but the dogs and cats think he is insane right now with the pacing and the cursing and yelling. Well thanks for letting me vent, there's no one I know that understands this or suffers from it or has even heard of it - they all think its migraines and its not - although he gets those as well but he knows his triggers and they can be prevented. These you have no control whatsover, totally random and a lot of people just don't get that. So we all suffer - although I realize I am the lucky one of the 2 of us after watching this happen to him for a couple of years now and wondering when the cycle will start or will he be in remission this year and blah blah blah....it's a horrible existence for those couple of months (for him) So I'm glad I found this group and glad to know we're not crazy and this really exists!