Posted by Mike R (24.91.108.200) on June 26, 2001 at 21:42:49:
I was tested for dust,cats,pollen,mold,milk etc...,but the only thing that affected me was dust mites. I dont think dust mites have much to do with my problem since almost everyone tests positive to dust mite allergy.
They couldnt test me for chemicals (paint,perfume etc),but I spent NO time in the waiting room today because I started to feel a headache coming on immediatly when I got there from the barrage of perfumes the rest of the waiting patients were wearing.
I found it funny how all these patients in the waiting room are wondering whats causing their allergies while the whole room smells like a french whorehouse. My motto regarding perfumes and colognes has always been "more bathing and less perfumes".
Well now I can probably rule out Sinusitus and common allergies. It is possible that it could be candida due to all the high power antibiotics I was prescribed.
It also may be possible that it`s due to high blood pressure,but I`ve only found minimal info on the subject besides high blood pressure can cause headaches and and damage your eyes.
I do have untreated high blood pressure,I am overweight and just walking to the mailbox will give me a headache.
Whatever the case may be,these headaches are much more serious when i`m lying down. Lying down at anytime of the day or night is a sure fire way to bring on the headache.
The only thing thats keeping me from thinking that i have CH is the intensity of the pain. Everybody is going to have their own tolerances to pain and place their pain at different places on the pain scale.Theres also no way for anyone to ever really compare their pain to another persons since theres no way the pain can be shared or experienced by the other person.
Some of you have compared it to an icecream headache x10 and is NOT what i`m feeling. I`m not even feeling the intensity of a normal icecream induced headache nevermind an icecream headache on overdrive.
I also wouldnt place the pain in the same region of the head of an icecream headache. Dont get me wrong,this really hurts and I end up moving around,pacing or holding/rubbing my head/eye,but it`s not something thats going to make me beat my head against the wall.
I`d be singing a different tune though if it lasted hours or days,but I can deal with the short durations the pain comes in.
What bothers me the most is that I cant do ANYTHING while the attack is going on. I have to stop whatever it is I`m doing and I cant even lay down like I would under normal headache situations. I do A LOT of swearing!
One symptom that sounds like CH and no other disease I`ve looked into is my eyelid getting heavy. This was one of the first things that made me think that me trouble was a bit more than just sinus. Sometimes my eyelid starts drooping even when there is no pain present. The other thing that really makes me think it`s CH is everybody taking about eyes exploding.
I`ve been to a bunch of websites about this and everyone says it feels like their eye is going to explode or pop out of their head.
I`ve been saying this same thing to my girlfriend for weeks now about my eye. I`m quite sure that my right eye is protruding further than my left eye. I`ve even joked about getting an eyepatch like a soap opera guy.
Perhaps I do have a MILD case of CH? I`ve heard of the people with all the CH symptoms without any pain and the other people with terrible mind numbing pain.
Is it also common for some people to be somewhere in the middle? Or is it common for a person to have both weak AND extreme episodes?
I will be continuing my doctor visits and research,but it will be a couple weeks untill my next appointment.
I`m very glad that this site turned up in my searches. I really cant thank everyone here enough for all your opinions and assistance with this terrible problem.
Mike