Posted by Frank (204.111.53.95) on December 05, 1999 at 21:59:32:
In Reply to: Stereotypical Sufferer Profile Be Damned!! posted by Margi on December 05, 1999 at 21:10:46:
One of my first posts was to tell you young whippersnappers that I had read about an 82 years-young woman with unrelenting clusters. I did fit the (outdated) stereotype: tall, lionine features, type-A go-getter, drinker, smoker, male and middle-aged. First attacked at age 42, an onset in the middle of the day, I thought for sure my right eyeball was going to explode. Now, 22 years later, I am denied Imitrex, the only true, never-failed-me abortive. I had gotten to the point of looking forward to jabbing the needle in my leg. Now, I depend on oxygen, my second love. One small offering of hope, though: I'm aware that everyone is affected differently, but my experience has been a lessening in intensity and a decrease in occurrence with age. I feel truly sad for all of you who suffer from such a young age, and I feel sorrow in learning of the severity of your pains. My image of a "ten" is a mailed fist gripping my right temple from the inside, inescapable and unrelenting in its tightness. As you know, we are helpless in its grip and can only plead for mercy. Those have been the only times when I wished I had a God to plead with. I hope that all of you will be as blessed as me in somehow living through the worst of it. I am encouraged by the progress being made in medications and knowledge as the level of research increases.