Yesterday I talked to my doctor – well, not my doctor, but an intern working at her practice – and explained that I suffer from cluster headaches. I told him that sometimes I pass out from the pain and that I used to have a pen-injector with fast-acting painkillers that allowed me to, say, park my car alongside the road. He did some of the standard tests, checking my hearing, my eyes, and the muscles and nerves in my face before he prescribed me an “attack medicine,” predominantly used against migraine attacks. It’s a nasal spray with Sumatriptan. I picked it up from the apothecary this morning. In the brochure it says that it’s meant for migraine attacks – attacks in which too much blood rushes too the brain due to dilated arteries – and it specifically states that if you suffer from other headaches you shouldn’t take this medicine. I don’t suffer from migraine attacks, so most likely my arteries aren’t dilated. Who knows what this stuff will do if I take it. I’m going to have to call this guy to talk it over. Also, apparently it’s supposed to work within fifteen to thirty minutes, which is way too long. I just want something to stop the pain, or at least make it manageable enough for me not to pass out, which certainly doesn’t happen all the time, but still.
While I was talking to the doctor, I realised something; the reason I pass out is not because of the pain – it’s actually quite uncommon for people to pass out from cluster headaches – but more because, depending on the circumstances, I get assaulted by an acute panic attack. If I’m in a public place, or if it’s the first attack in a cluster – basically anything unexpected, I start panicking, and then I eventually pass out.
Fuck, I really hoped that this wouldn’t happen again. The remission time was really very long; seven years, I think. The first time was right before the first Bulldrek Gathering, so perhaps eight, I forget. The last attack in the cluster was in California, at Eva’s place in Sunnyvale. I had another attack several years later, but that was just one attack, and could’ve been something else, I’m not sure. Even now, when I think of the inevitability of a next headache attack, I can feel my heart-rate go up and I feel my face flush.
Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. Pain is temporary. Ad nauseum. Literally.
Wikipedia said: “Cluster headaches are classified as vascular headaches. The intense pain is caused by the dilation of blood vessels which creates pressure on the trigeminal nerve.”
And on the website for Sumatriptan they mention it’s been used in treatment for cluster headaches (“Sumatriptan is also shown to decrease the activity of the trigeminal nerve, which probably accounts for sumatriptan’s efficacy in treating cluster headaches. The injectable form of the drug has been shown to abort a cluster headache within fifteen minutes in 96% of cases.”).
But yeah, you should ask the doctor for an injectionable form of that drug since it’s gonna work faster.
Hmmm, I completely overlook that information. Thanks for that! That makes me feel a lot better about my doctor. :)
You’re welcome. :) And maybe it would decrease a bit your panic if you know you have a medicine with you that it’s suppose to work and that you just have to hold on one minute longer, and then another minute longer… etc “as long as you need to”.
the fact that you panic freaks me out.
pain-panic-atacks, dude, mom had those. get the freakin pen…..please :)
I just did some more research, it seems that subcutaneous and nasal administered Sumatriptan is pretty much the thing to administer when you’re having it. The stuff I used to have, Imitrex, is also Sumatriptan, so I guess I should just trust my doctor.
Ever had a brain scan? Just you know, curious.
You’re doctor seems quite adequate.
Yup, MRI and CAT.
Have whatever makes you feel more secure with you, be it the spray or the pen or both, even if you don’t use them. The pain is awful, but it’s temporary. Right now it’s the panic and the anxiety that’s kicking your ass the other 23.5 hrs a day.
I was thinking about it, and talking to these other people at a online CH support group (yes, I joined one), and they said that just as something you take along you should go for the spray, since you can take it everywhere without people looking at you funny. And they all say that they’re both kinda bullshit for me since it takes too long to start working. I have the nasal spray on me wherever I go now.
Dad is really sympethizing with you, We watched the videos, and he could hardly finish it. It reminds him of the headaches he had when he was a kid. Doing anything to make the pain stop, but in vain, you know.
Praat is met Papa.
Paniekaanvallen Lieve Den, ik hou het maar bij Nederlands, als je het goed vindt. Ook voor paniekaanvallen is een oplossing. Heel eenvoudig, ademhalingsoefeningen. Ik weet dat het helpt. Ik heb zelf paniekaanvallen gehad. Je krijgt paniekaanvallen uit angst voor paniekaanvallen. Adem door je neus in voor 10 seconden lang, houdt je adem een seconde vast en adem dan weer , door je mond, ook weer 10 seconden lang, uit. dit leidt je gedachten zo af, dat je vergeet een paniek aanval te krijgen. Oefen het van te voren om het door te krijgen. Geloof me, het helpt echt!
Hou je (wederom) taai.
Gre
Gré, ik heb even je commentaar naar de juiste plek versleept. Ik gok dat wat je zei aan de hand van dit bericht was. Ik weet niet zo goed of het me veel goed zal doen, want het lijkt erop dat dit soort ademhalingsoefeningen het beste werken als het minder acuut is, wanneer het zich opbouwt en wanneer je naast de paniek ook niet met extreme pijn zit. Hoewel ik net wel de oefeningen geprobeerd heb, vraag ik me af of ik het me allemaal uberhaupt kan herinneren wanneer de tijd daar is om het in de praktijk te brengen. Maar ik doe m’n best!