Posted by Hutch (208.11.185.15) on July 02, 2000 at 10:16:25:
Hey Gang,
This one's for any of you number crunchers out there...I read somewhere that CHs attack only .04% of the male population. If this figure is correct it would make the condition pretty darn rare (however we all know this as a result of the blank stares we receive from so many "medical profesionals" don't we?) Anyhow, I'm not to sure that figure of .04% is correct, and here's why: My doctor claims to have treated "at least 4 or 5" CH sufferers. Ok that's not too weird until I tell you that I'm an active duty Marine...and there are only 174,000 Marines. .04% being 1 in 40,000....well, there should only be 4 Marines with cluster headaches! And my doc has treated all of them? This doesn't add up, especially because I know of more than just the 4 or 5 he treated. OK, so here's the question, is anyone familiar with this figure of .04% (I got it out of a Naval Medicine handbook) and could it possibly be correct? I have noticed quite a few other military CH sufferers, could this be due to some kind of psychological predispostion between Cluster Heads and military service? (yeah that's far fetched) I'm also interested in suicide figures among us. I know this is not a cheerful subject , but does anyone know? When I was first diagnosed the Neurologist told me I had a 75% chance of commiting suicide (I can't begin to tell you how much that "brightened up" my day, NOT!) Can you believe that!? I certainly do not. I am not, by any means, "high on life" but I would say I have a better chance of choking the crap out of a Neurologist than I do of suicide. And my last question...this one's a fact not a figure...I have also read about a phenomenon amongst us that is described as "orange peel skin" ie a facial complextion like that of an orange (in texture not color). Has ANYONE else ever heard of this, and is anyone familiar with its cause, could it just be from the stress of the attacks? Either way, I have "orange peel skin" and am pretty darn curious. Thanx in advance.