Posted by Patrick (205.188.195.36) on January 14, 2002 at 01:17:07:
In Reply to: I am at the end of my rope! posted by Brian on January 13, 2002 at 20:42:52:
Brian,
Your story is almost the exact same as mine including the age at which they came on,the time of day and the frequency. Fighting this fucking demon (lets call it what it is) feels like a curse from Lucifer himself. I too left college because quite frankly daytime proved to be a little safer to sleep in. I was miss diagnosed for about ten years and went so far as to have my wisdom teeth pulled and a deviated septum operation to alleviate the agony. As you know, it didn't work. Finally I met a neurologist( at the insistance of my wonderful caring girlfriend who couldn't stand to see me suffer) who understands what we go through and will answer my emails and phone calls whenever and however often I need her. Here's a couple of pointers; sometimes a weeks worth of a corticosteroid called "Medrol" can knock out a cluster and send them away for a while, sometimes "Prednisone" in a twelve to fifteen day step down cycle can knock them out. Oxygen works best when you wake with a blaster that is full bore in the middle of the night. "Amerge" another pill that works like "Imitrex" but has a slower onset but longer duration taken as a preventative during a cluster can keep them away. Clean living (and beleive me I have my vices) can cut down the number of headaches in a cluster. My friend, I call you friend because we both share a pain that few can comprehend, I'm now thirty one and have been living with Beast that lurks inside my brain for over half my life, and the percentages just get higher in it's favor from here on out. But I ain't checking out of this life on a count of him.The trick is to enjoy the times when the Beast is asleep. If your friends are cool at all they'll understand that you need to go be alone for a little bit while you do battle. Carry an "Imitrex" stat dose injector when you go out, or to school, or work, it will knock out an attack in ten minutes or less. Find a special person who is compassionate and will understand if every now and then you need to pace a hole in the floor while pushing your fingers into various pressure points on your head. Get off the hardcore drugs because they'll only increase the frequency and find a neurologist today that can help you. And remember that anything is better than dying because dead is dead. Email me if you need to, Retrom4000@aol.com, I'd be glad to help you out all I can. Take it easy Brian, believe me there is alot to stick around this life for don't let the Beast force you into the afterlife. Who knows what the future will bring in this era of high tech medicine and in your future as well.
Patrick