Bejeeber

Hi Yammy, agreed with DM that an actual headache specialist is your best bet for an accurate diagnosis (NOT a garden variety neurologist - they typically don't know jack). Of course the guy you've been waiting 6 months for very well may be a headache specialist, since a significant percentage of them are negligent about making the patients with the most severe cases wait so long - and with active CH it is an emergency level condition indeed. Speaking of A-HOLES! Grrr >

What Spiny said.

Just for the record, I found your idea of Ruthie hosting a round of Wheel of Fortune and Potter spinning the wheel at the next CB convention to be pure genius and funnier'n hell!! ;D I suppose we should get Potter's input, but I'm guessing he'd be up for it, and I'm practically 100% sure Ruthie would be into it! ;D If this is somehow inappropriate, then I guess we're both in the doghouse now Lenny.Â

Just saw a post from you on the CHf appreciation thread Pixie - does this mean you're officially back in town now and back to the forum??!! We missed ya big time - it'll be so good to have you and your unique color commentary back again. 8-) Some color drained out when you were gone. ;D Did you see that next year's convention will be in Chicago? Wondering if that might mean you could fit it in with another one of your visits there? That would be mighty cool!

I guess we shoulda known. Obviously this term was inspired by and is named after our very own Kaboom - yet another reason for us to burst with pride over the renown of our CBusters family.

;D ;D Well when she's not being booted off of Facebook sites, now her name is associated in the news with bomb scares....everybody better start watching out when she bursts through those saloon doors...

DITTO on every single word and emoticon above! I like to think of myself as the president of the CHfather fan club, but I know we have a LOT of presidents of that particular club here (um..if that's posssible ;D). Clearly CHfather is that rare combo of: ;D

Ooh that is a good find, with the mention of the Trader Joe's brand especially welcome to me since I do most o' me shoppin' there, but hadn't tried their melatonin. [smiley=thumbup.gif]

;D [smiley=thumbup.gif]

Auuggghhh so now we have thousands of Potter posts to go back and decode?! Hmmm now I'm wondering if even the name "Potter" is a code... I know this isn't exactly it, but I'll start off - if we brainstorm and tag team this one maybe we can figure it out: 1)...P...punks 2)...O...oughta 3)...T...tag 4)...T...team 5)...E...every 6)...R...riddle

I was just sort of going with the flow when I spontaneously coined the term *ice cream cones of poison* for them. In fact, I have no education in how to tell what's food and what ain't in the mushroomy world.

Those *ice cream cones of poison* variety of mushrooms look like they think they've found the absolute ideal environment. Does this mean we should inject spores into the cracks in our driveways now in order grow under best conditions?!

WOW, glad and proud to hear how you persevered, sorry to hear you had to do it during a high cycle! Super glad to know that's just black textile in the underarm area. ;D

Sigh. I was talking to a long time, very active and tireless forum member at CH.com who I've seen consistently give the most excellent advice (including routinely recommending that CH'ers come to clusterbusters.com) to countless CH'ers for years on end. He mentioned that traffic is down there as of late due to a migration to Facebook. So I figure that CH'ers gravitating to Facebook is a reality that needs to be recognized, even if, judging by my very first look into it tonight, it looks like an unfortunate development so far. Wondering who here is hitting Facebook for CH discussions and what impressions do you have? I'm noticing that as I'm entering "cluster headaches" into the Facebook search box (in order to get an idea what the average CH'er seeking info will encounter), Clusterbusters on Facebook doesn't come up as an option, even though the official CB page does look very well done. Also in this message board universe it's very easy to remain at least semi-anonymous when discussing busting, but since the standard approach to Facebook is to use your full real name and to have your every post instantly broadcast to family, friends and colleagues, that strikes me as an issue for most of us.....? Then the first discussion I just found on CH.com's Facebook page was this following one I've pasted below, and it's seriously pathetic regarding busting: Hello Im from Kelowna B.C. Canada ....I started a new cluster period two weeks ago.....is there anyone in the area also suffering? I Wanted to share some tricks that r helping me Deal with the beast......ora-gel for your teeth ..if u swallow it also numbs the throat ....Ice on neck and head ....i take frova before my next expected attack rather than waiting for the onset ....Has anyone had success with magic mushrooms? 111Like · Jackie Scott likes this. Susie Doug Singmaster Murray I started a cluster 2 weeks ago also. Never tried anything you listed but will look into it. Hope your cluster ends soon August 27 at 5:28am · Like Negus 'Gustafa' Finn my cluster started about 5 weeks ago would like to know any tricks u have,i have only used the nasel spray and painkillers!what is frova my friend? August 27 at 12:04pm via mobile · Edited · Like · 1 Robert Twigge frova is a triptan used to treat a single cluster attack....it is very expensive....about 25 bucks per pill in canada a doctor will likely give u samples for free ....drink lots of water and ice your neck and head i use a thai external liquid and rub it all over my face and neck and also started using ora-gel to numb my teeth and throat....Best of luck! August 27 at 1:08pm · Like Melissa Campbell I personally would not use magic mushrooms August 27 at 1:09pm · Like Melissa Campbell have you spoken to your doctor about it. I do not think something like magic shrooms would be good but I am not a doctor. August 27 at 4:32pm · Like Sandy Kinghorn thought that this might be of interest I have been until recently a long term cluster headache sufferer. In July 2008 I was referred to a consultant at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland by my doctor. The consultant suggested that the cause may be linked to the way I was sleeping. I tend to sleep on my side (foetal/recovery position) often with my hand under my face and also I previously used two pillows. The consultant suggested that the pillows might be putting a permanent crick in my neck during the night and that this might be an underlying cause. He suggested trying sleeping with a very small pillow, or no pillow, to try to keep my spine straight, up-to and including my neck vertebrae, while sleeping. I have taken this advice. I use a very small pillow, and also have tried to train myself to not use my hand as a pillow. (I think that this might also press a nerve in my cheek which might be a cause or trigger). This seems to have worked. I have had one or two individual headache attacks but not a cluster in the same way as before. I have woken up many times with the beginnings of one, but found that I had my hand under my face and/or my neck was scrunched up on the headboard. As soon as I sorted this out (i.e. moved my hand out from under my face and moved back from the bed headboard) the “cluster headache imminent” pain build-up has disappeared, and I have generally been able to go back to sleep. I keep reading reports on line of people with CH clearly going through hell. I remember being prepared to try anything to stop it. This simple solution has worked for me so I am sharing it in a few places on line in the hope that it might help. I put this up on a CH noticeboard on Facebook yesterday and it was apparently removed. It would be interesting to know why. August 29 at 9:00am · Like Robert Twigge I will look into it.....im getting pretty good at avoiding attacks with frova and would like to help other CH sufferers September 1 at 9:22am · Like · 1 Steven Areia OXYGEN is AWESOME to stop the headache in its tracks September 17 at 3:56pm · Like · 1 Steve Lambert I agree with you about the oxygen. While I was in the hospital for 17 days I was able to use oxygen at 15 lpm using non rebreather mask. Consistently, within 15 or 20 minutes the headache would subside. I wish there was a machine that could generate 15 lpm, but I have not found that machine. And, with 5 headaches per day every day (chronic cluster headaches), giant oxygen bottles are not practical. September 22 at 4:41pm · Like Robert Twigge use triptans as weel as oxygen September 22 at 5:50pm · Like

OK so now we know Spiny wields a cutting torch, enjoys making jerky out of Bambi, and digs heavy German industrial music. Oh man I hope she's not packing heat at BusterCon 2013! Ha, just kiddin' Spiny. Your ears must've been burning last weekend when clusterheads were hangin' out in the sports bar and wishing you were there. There was a debate as to whether Spiny is pronounced "spy-knee" or "spinny". I voted for spy-knee.Â

Here's my current take on the subject - I think CD burning might be more trouble than it's worth Spiny, as a more efficient and convenient new paradigm is to just download/install something like the Spotify app where you can legally search out and stream most any tune, any time (well except for a couple hold outs like Led Zep) and keep songs in playlists for quick'n easy replay etc. Or you could do a similar thingy with iTunes where you'd be downloading the tunes and the artists would be getting paid something reasonable. Yep actually burning things onto plastic is a comparatively cumbersome and time sucking approach that's definitely on the way out. Now you're all caught up to date. According to me. ;D

Nice. If this Grooveshark link will work to take anyone directly to the stereo version of Surface of the Sun, it could be worth clicking on (I found that after searching out Surface of the Sun on Grooveshark, when I clicked on the first version in the playlist that came up it was actually in mono instead of stereo, and this music seriously cries out for the ol' stereo action). http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/The+Surface+Of+The+Sun+Sunshine/3RAMzw?src=5

You corralled a heckuva bunch of VIPs into just this one photo alone. Cool. 8-)

Maybe Geppetto = Guisseppi? Was it a wooden puppet? ;D

So CHf and I were having a conversation offline prior to the conference where he came up with the idea of me holding up signs with emoticons etc. when attempting to express myself at the conference since I'm known to be more reserved in person than on the message board. Fast forward and there I am minding my own business at the conference when Dan/Hipshot takes it upon himself to draw up and hand me the sign seen below containing my infamous and oft used catch phrase "LORDY". I really don't think CHf and Dan had discussed this subject beforehand LOL. So does Dan qualify for a second career opportunity as a 900 number hotline psychic or what? ;D

I heard it was around 100 (!). That's not a hard statistic, but it was also mentioned that it was believed to be the largest gathering of CH'ers and supporters ever. [Edit: I now see DM and Alleyoop beat me to the reply on that]. Spiny, we were bummed you and the many other crucial CH'ers and supporters here who couldn't make it weren't there. :'( Time for y'all to make plans to party down in Chicago next year if at all possible! Potter was there. Oh BOY was he there! WHOA. As far as entertaining, humor filled talks go, he and Dan were a couple of fellers that had everyone howling and ROCKED the place. LORDY, I hope there's some good film of that! I'm surprised the other conventions in the vicinity didn't either demand we pipe the hell down or just proceed directly to calling the cops on us. ;D

Last year I attended the wedding of my 50 year old cousin who was getting married for the first time. I guess he was waiting all that time for the perfect match because he and his now wife are indeed perfect for each other. How did he finally meet her?! Well it was with a method I hadn't given much thought to before, but I think might be something for not just Jeff, but others who have responded here to consider. It wasn't through some random happenstance, striking up a conversation with a stranger, only to somehow find that person to be single and exceptionally compatible (what are the odds?). I was surprised at first to find out my cousin had met his wife online through some sort of match/dating site, but then realized it was actually an effective way to weed incompatible people out of the process right from the get go - now it seems like a smart and efficient way to meet the right person...? In their case they knew right on the first date when they met for dinner that they found their match. I do have another relative, a wonderful gal, who was rejected as a participant by match.com for no apparent reason, so I don't know if that site in particular is any good (since then I've seen a news story about how they had been caught being really heavy handed with their rejections and were supposedly changing their ways). Am I being naive, and just don't realize that admitted clusterheads can't get a good date online? Maybe someone here will test those waters at one point and report back. 8-)

Well the Jeebs-o-meter ended up pegging at 110%! Nuttiest bunch of wackos I ever met there in Vegas. Wouldn't have it any other way. I was told that with my no smokin', no drinkin' etc. ways I come off like a certain classic TV personality, so here's my photo from the conference: Will bring red sweater to Chicago 2013. ;D

LORDY, there were a whole lotta crazy CH'ers and supporters flying through the air of Fremont tonight on zip lines! Seriously.Â

What Jeff said! My internet access has been unexpectedly FECKED due to a failing laptop but I've been able to get a couple PMs sent out to Jeff et al asking to be notified of any impromptu shindigs. 8-) Will also be checking back for updates here by hook or by crook. I ran into Brew, BlueBalls, Potter and Linda Howell in the lobby when registering earlier. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]