Posted by Mike B (65.35.86.125) on July 19, 2001 at 00:11:00:
In Reply to: Yes, No...Maybe ?? posted by Chris.L. on July 18, 2001 at 23:04:58:
Hi,
This turned out a little longer than I expected... Complexities abound.
I too have pondered the issue that you have raised. I used to box, play sports and had various things happen that could all qualify as traumatic events to be sure.
It would be interesting to know if everyone who has CH's here has possibly suffered from a catalytic event. I'm not too sure that an emotional event could cause the Hypothalamus to start malfuncting but perhaps trauma could.
And since you put it that way, how the hell can one go through life without having CH's and then bingo you got 'em? If the Hypothalamus was not functioning properly from birth then why the period of time before the CH's start? It does seem to be a simple logic process that leads one to the conclusion that there must be some sort of catalyst. Unless the Hypothalamus can just start malfunctioning, just for the hell of it or through perhaps a disease process or a traumatic event, which are all still types of catalysts. All blowing the whole birth defective Hypothalamus issue out of the water as the culprit.
Also, how can one possibly go into remission (as in episodic CH's) if the Hypothalamus is still malfunctioning and that is what causes the headaches? Unless of course, the malfunctioning Hypothalamus just produces less of something than normal and it is used up periodically, leaving a defecit which, as a by product, causes CH's, until normal levels can regained.
Why are CH's so seemingly tied in with time, be it a recurrence of the CH's on a daily basis at certain times or a recurrence of them episodicaly at certain times of the year? One can see a great deal of issues could affect that. Sleep and work patterns and diet and a myriad of other possibilities come to mind, including simple gravity.
You raise many good questions. The more one thinks about it all the more complex it becomes until it may give one a headache. Too bad we don't get paid to bullshit about it. :)
Quite a riddle, Michael B