Showing all posts by "CharlieN"
Home > Forums > Showing all posts by "CharlieN"
Posted in Magnesium on 17 Jul, 2014 - 8:22 pm
The supplements have little evidence base behind them but Magnesium is a Calcium channel blocker so may have an effect. I've tried taking a mix of Magnesium Oxide and Magnesium Citrate to no avail, but give it a go. It may help mitigate it for you. Provided you don't take too much of it, the worst that will happen is that you'll have more Magnesium in your urine.
As with all supplements, be sure to tell your doctor/nurse what you're taking when they ask if you're on any medication.
Posted in Seasonal Triggers on 15 Jan, 2013 - 9:26 pm
I've noticed over the years that what I now know to be clusters have coincided with the transitional seasons; spring & autumn. This effect was most pronounced in the UK where autumn & spring tend to bring rather changeable weather. Indeed, my current cluster announced itself with the abrupt start to summer temperatures (the first heatwave of Spring here in SE QLD.)
Have any other acute/periodic sufferers noticed a similar correlation?
Posted in on 15 Jan, 2013 - 8:53 pm
No probs.
Posted in Tegretol on 15 Jan, 2013 - 7:43 pm
Hi Wrighty,
Tegretol (Carbamazepine) is used to treat trigeminal neuralgia (AKA tic douloureux) and a host of other issues including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and more.
Trigeminal neuralgia does have some commonality with CH in terms of the nerve that is enervated during an attack and thinking is that it may be caused by damage to the sheath of that nerve, causing it to freak out from time to time. Triggers are different to CH and can include something touching a part of the face etc.
This is subtly different to the current thinking on CH, which reckons the cause to be pressure on the trigeminal nerve caused by the dilation of a blood vessel near it. Triggers tend to be those things that vause blood vessels to dilate; booze, histamines, certain food additives (for me it's E250 & E251; the nitrites and nitrates used to preserve cured pork and make red meat stay red on the supermarket shelf.) Imigran work as an abortive because it constricts blood vessels and the beta blockers work because they lower blood pressure, reducing the chance that the offending vessel will pinch the nerve.
Tegretol does cause the trigeminal nerve to chill out and may therefore work for CH but its list of common side effects includes migraine among other nasties. Some time ago, a GP put me on small doses amyltriptaline, an antidepressant that has a similar effect on the trigeminal. This was back when we reckoned my issue to be sinus-related. It did stop the attacks but made me feel completely zonked and unable to drive for fear of sudden parking in a tree or on top of a cyclist. I suggest you discuss the options with your GP.
Charlie
Posted in A Cure for Cluster headaches!!! on 12 Jan, 2013 - 12:16 pm
I've had some experience with LSD. Unintentional; I ate something at a BBQ that had been spiked. I've also witnessed bad trips and their effects. My advice based on that experience is that there there are risks associated with any psychedelic. If you choose to experiment with one, do so with a trusted friend who's done it before and who stays straight for the duration of the trip. They will tell you what's normal as you go in and tell you what's real and what isn't if it goes bad. It's powerful stuff and I have known people to need intensive psychiatric treatment after a bad trip.
Posted in Heyup on 10 Jan, 2013 - 3:09 pm
Hi there,
I'm twice an immigrant now living in Brisbane and suffered my first cluster whilst living in the UK in 2004. The GPs I saw there misdiagnosed me and until recently I believed that my headaches were the result of messed up sinuses. My GP here in Brisbane suggested CH almost immediately and having ruled out sinus issues or anything else with an MRI, CH is the diagnosis that looks most likely to stick.
My clusters tend to last between 6 and 12 weeks and have had remissions of between 3 and 18 months. Attacks occur mostly at night and maximum frequency is 1 a day (normally at night, within a couple of hours of going to bed.)
I've long known alcohol to be a trigger and with some experimenting have found that nitrites and nitrates (E250 and E251, found in cured pork and smoked salmon) also tend to set me off, albeit not immediately.
My attacks respond well to sumatriptan, provided I take it quickly enough, and their frequency appears to have been mitigated by my taking a significant dose of magnesium before going to bed each night. Magnesium citrate is a calcium channel blocker, albeit one not as potent as the prophylactic CH meds out there, but at 32 years old and having perfect blood pressure at rest, I'm not terribly keen to mess with that so for as long as the magnesium does what it does, I will continue to take it.
I've also found that the frequency of my attacks is reduced simply by drinking a fair amount of water over the course of the day. I glug down between 3 & 4 litres whilst at work (more if I'm outdoors and/or doing physical work) and about another 2l between getting home and going to bed. Periodic doses of Gastrolyte has resolved the cramps that started when I began this regime.
Anywhoo, that's me.
Cheers
Charlie