Posted by Thomas Blower (198.111.51.20) on May 29, 2001 at 15:09:44:
After all of these years I finally have found people who understand just how bad the pain is. I know that my family assumes I have a headache and it must hurt like a sore toe or a bruise. I have asked doctors for more than twenty years and they usually suggest I have a sinus infection or migraine. But reading the descriptons - I definitely have clusters. I am currently going through a bout (about five weeks now). Yesterday my head hurt all day (24 hours) but at a much reduced intensity. I am hopeful that this may be a signal for an end to this bout. My last bout was about three years ago and the one previous to that about two years previous. When I am in remission, I can't believe that these headaches are part of my life. But when they start up (every night an hour or so after sleep) and repeat during the night two or three times, my sleep really suffers. My wife thinks that I'm lazy because I need to be inactive when I am fighting an attack. I must sit erect and wait for the pain to reach its peak. When it starts to subside it acts quickly. But the total time is about 90 minutes. In the past the only thing that I thought helped was Excedrin, but only if caught very early. And it seemed to require larger doses over time until I was getting sick from taking too much Excedrin. Now I just try to wait it out - sometimes with an ice pack. Thanks for you guys being there. I feel better already. -Tom