Posted 7/29/2006 4:59 AM (GMT -7)
Great News!!!!
I am a 64 yr. old woman that has had chronic,
cluster migraines since I was 31.
In my 30's, I had horrible one sided head pain, auras, vomiting...bouts that lasted 3-4 hours.
I got them 2 or 3 times a year. No effective medication. When I couldnt stand the pain I would wind up in an ER and they would shoot me full of knock out drugs. It didnt relieve the pain, I just was unconscious through them. In my 40's,
they became more frequent but I didnt vomit as much. I'd get maybe one every two or three months. Then about 50, they increased to 2 or 3
a day. Shorter in duration, the vomiting was replaced by heavy sweats. By this time I had seen every specialist from neuro to psycho. I had tried blockers of every type, all the medications known at the time. None helped.
I bought a gun
because I couldnt stand much more.
One day I went to my regular MD in horrible pain, groaning and crying (It sure gets you seen fast) and his partner asked if I had ever tried oxygen. I hadnt. He hooked me up to a tank and I breathed it for maybe all of two minutes and the headache simply stopped. That was the second beginning of my life. The gun was replaced with an oxygen tank that I have used ever since. The older I became the less effective the oxygen was but the headaches diminished in strength and in frequency. Then Imitrex came out and it was a God send because if I didnt get the oxygen immediately, the headaches were fierce and Imitrex stopped them. Life still wasnt normal but bearable. I know of many triggers for myself, from barometric pressure to exercise to foods I simply cant eat or drink. The last 5 years I have had less severe headaches and fewer but still average about 4 a week. Not eating will bring on a headache so it's difficult to diet such as eating two meals a day instead of three. Recently, I tried a new product called "Hoodia"
hoping to cut back on meals and not feel hungry. After 5 days, I realized I hadnt had a headache......hmmmm. I stopped taking the Hoodia and within a day, I had the usual 4 pm headache with yawning spasms about 9p.m. and the duller 2:30 a.m. one that wakes me up and I can eliminate with oxygen, and get back to sleep. I went back to the drugstore for a different type of Hoodia to see if the same thing would happen. IT DID! That was two weeks ago. I havent had a headache, aura, yawning spasm,
or any sign of a migraine. I know this is a short test but I also know, that Dr.'s, drug industries and the like, arent going to tell you about something they arent making a profit prescribing to you.
There are a lot of different types of migraines. Find out yours at the National Headache Foundation.com website. They have a questionaire that will indicate what you have by your symptoms. I have cluster (meaning they repeat within 24 hours) chronic (they are weekly as opposed to yearly). Very helpful!
I hope Hoodia brings relief to you as it has me.
By the way, Ive lost 3 pounds.
If it helps, I'd love to hear from you.
retouch