chronicclusterheadaches.co.uk

Annette

After about 3 months observing Daniel getting hit daily, I suddenly realised that I could foretell the hit before he even felt the slightest twinge of pain.

I would just look at him and something would tell me that he is going to get hit soon. Often it would be a few minutes before the hit would start but sometimes it could be as long as 30 mins before it came. I would tell him that a hit was comming and he would look at me, puzzled, saying that he felt perfectly fine. Amazingly I had not been wrong once. I have been able to help him very quickly abort several hits by giving him a warning early enough so that the oxygen would work much better.

After talking to several others on the Board, I was interested to learn that other supporters can do the same. This got me thinking. Time is crucial in getting abortives such as oxygen to work, so if somehow we can compile our experience of what we have learnt as "warning signs " so that our CHers can also learn to recognise them earlier, it would really help ?

I have noted down what I have noticed to be warnining signs as below :

1- The cluster eye starts to wander, it doesnt follow the "good" eye properly.
2- Your CHer suddenly becomes more withdrawn into him/herself, for eg would stop the conversation and just sits there quietly.
3- Tension may be seen on the neck, arm and face muscles.
4- Body is warm/hot to touch, especially neck and back.
5- A subtle change in facial expression, a sort of forlorn/loss look.
6- Sudden loss of eye contact during a conversation.

I would love to hear from other supporters with similar experiences.

Thanks everyone and painfree wishes to all.

Annette

Tami · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:33 am Post subject:

What you are saying is very true