Posted by Rob on October 28, 2001 at 23:27:41:
Hello All,
I've dropped by the site for the last few years, not really opening my trap, but just taking in all of the site's bounty and this wonderful msg board of fellow CH sufferers.
Anyhow, my cycle for this half of the year is here and I'm experiencing some strange phenomena accompanying the attacks.
I'm getting the bulk of the clusters while I sleep. When I get a particularly bad attack at night that warrants more than pacing, doing millions of push-ups or drinking massive amount of water, I do my usual hot shower routine. I'm a quite sensitive to light when I arise in the dark (as most people are), so I forego turning on the light in the bathroom. Once I'm in the shower's stream and I'm rocking to and fro in the water, I've been noticing that I have these brief flashes of bluish light... almost as if my eyes are like a camera aperture that someone opens all the way in the dark. I'd think the visual disturbance was just a byproduct of the pain, but I am actually able to make out the shadows and lines of objects that I usually could not see in the dark.
The other "new" symptom that I'm getting this time around is an incredibly dry mouth that seems to be almost swollen near the back of the jaw near the salivary glands and a little lump that I can feel with my tongue that arises on the roof of my mouth on the same side of my cluster.
Anyone else have these symptoms or is it time to go for another MRI? I went the whole MRI route during my initial diagnosis just so the doctor could be sure that there weren't any other factors that would contribute to my headaches. All was clear about 5 years ago, but I've heard that visual or olfactory disturbances are cause for alarm when accompanying a headache.
Thanks so much,
Rob