Dallas Denny

Typically pred is prescribed as a bridging med to give some relief til a prophylactic drug like verapamil has time to take effect.....for most folks it doesn't abort the cycle but provides some temporary relief until you finish the taper DD

Welcome to the community Ryan, but as Moxie said, sorry you have the need to join us! First, I'll reiterate her question about autonomic symptoms of ch....eye watering or weeping on the cluster side and runny or stuffy nostril, also on the cluster side....although its possible to have clusters without the autonomic symptoms, that's pretty rare! Since the onset of your headaches came after a blow to the head I would suggest that you research cervicogenic headaches which mimic clusters without autonomic symptoms! How is your doc treating your headaches? Typical measures include prednisone tapers, verapamil, imitrex injections, and high flow O2 to abort attacks. I forget who he plays for but Terrance McKnight is also a diagnosed clusterhead who plays in the NFL. Dallas Denny

Good news jeler! If you're in the US you can also get the 25 (OH) D test online thru: https://www.lifeextension.com/vitamins-supplements/itemlc081950/vitamin-d-25-hydroxy-blood-test Sale price currently is $37.60 DD

Welcome to the community Kat! CH will absolutely morph over times and I've heard of folks who don't experience the autonomic symptoms. So, in my opinion, what you're describing may or may not be clusters. Do you know if your docs have ruled out occipital neuralgia? Dallas Denny

Found em again...$14.95 on amazon... I'm going to order one for the purple shirt conference pic so will post back about quality when recieved

Welcome to the community Andy....sorry you had the need to join us though! Looks like just about anything I'd have to say has been addressed by others.....as far as age goes.....I'm one of the 70 somethings here and my last cluster activity was early Spring of last year shortly before my 71st birthday.....a doc once told me I'd outgrow them in my late 50's so I'm now wondering what part of my late 50's he was referring to! I will reiterate others O2 comments though, screw the docs and the oxygen suppliers if you can't get satisfaction......as Spiny stated, many of us have used welding oxygen longterm with no ill effects....costs between 3 and 4 hundred bucks to get set up with a large tank, reg, and the Clustero2kit mask then 20 to 25 bucks for refills/exchanges.......O2 is a clusterheads best friend!! Dallas Denny

I really hated seeing this when it happened.....a chronic clusterhead from the Denver area that I've known for several years had absolutely wonderful results with this treatment and was devastated when they took it away from him!! DD

My wife found some cluster related T's awhile back that I wanted but she didn't bookmark the site and I haven't been able to find it again but they had one that said, "Yeah, sex is great but have you ever felt the Beast leave!"

Over the years we've often seen this kind of traffic just before, during, and shortly after the conference!

Ummmm, nah.....don't hold a candle to that day near Red Beach when I spent a few hours laying on the floor of a hooch takin tokes off a hookah with a big ol bowl filled with China white......or, to my LAST day in country before coming back to the world..lol!! Actually, my first day in country was pretty damned memorable as well! Got to the living area around 7p and hooked up with a buddy who was part of an advanced detail and who'd been there a couple weeks......he immediately hands me a j each of Cambodian red and Vietnam black and a big gin screw driver.....I was 19 and had never toked before!! And before the nite was over I swore that I never would again!! Lmao! DD

I was indeed at hill 327 in Dec of 66 BOF.....had been in country for just a couple months.....sat on the side of the hill in a pouring assed monsoon ( 12" in about 24 hours ) to see Bob Hope and company ( Ann Margaret too!!! ) on Christmas Day!! Lol!! DD

G'mornin BOF! Although I've hit the fire station a few times for O2, I've never gone to the ER for clusters.....however, I was transported to the ER at the Dallas VA in 94 for a suspected heart attack! So, the doc does an initial evaluation and I give him my history and meds (all a part of my VA health records), they get me in a gurney and put me in a room, a nurse comes in, asks my pain level....told her a 3, so she gives me a nitro and asks again.......my answer, my heart is racing and I'm about to pass out!!! She called a code and the flippin room filled up with doc's and nurses.....evidently the nitro along with the blood thinner "Enderol" DO NOT play well together! Threw me into an arrhythmia so they wheeled in this machine, hooked me up and shocked the living piss outta me several times.....big enuf jolt that I was bouncing off the feckin gurney! Did I mention that I was in cycle?? Well, I was, and by the time they got thru they had triggered a monster hit! Surprised that the morphine didn't at least make the pain tolerable for you.....that was their remedy for me and it did get me thru that hit and several others for the 3 days I was in the cardiac ward waiting for a heart cath and presumably stents or a bypass....yup, you heard me correctly....3 dammed days!! AND....it wasn't even a heart attack! Veins were clean as a whistle!! Wound up being a large hietal hernia and my stomach had been clamped down on by my diaphragm when it ventured thru the tear!! I did wind up in the ER on Jan 15th and again on Feb 6th of 1998 as a result of suicide attempts related to my worst ever cycle, functional alcoholism, and Vietnam era PTSD but that's another story! DD

That's an affirmative on the pizza and beer Freud! Lmao at "perfect record of resisting honky tonks"......I lived in Cowtown from 68 to 84 and played guitar and sang in bands the majority of that time period.....I imagine I've sang a country song in near about every honkytonk in town!! Sounds like we're gonna have a big crowd with lots of 1st timers this year so really looking forward to meeting all of ya'll...I had the pleasure of meeting Pete in Austin after knowing him online for many years and looking forward to seeing him again......and I've talked to several folks that I've met and known here for a long time ( all from the early days of the board but who are no longer active here) but have never met in person that are coming as well.....AND, I finally get to meet my co-conspirator, err, umm, I mean co-moderator Spiny in person AND, bejeebers is gonna try to make it up from Austin......and, of course, my BFF "hipshot" AKA Hollywood Dan of Nat Geo fame will be there! Shit the bed Loretta! It's gonna get rowdy ya'll......Yeeee Feckin Hawwww! DD

Hey Brian It's been close to 8 years since I escaped the Metromess and to be honest I'm not much of a "foody"....goin out to eat usually means beer & bbq or fried catfish, hushpuppy and coleslaw...lol! But, I'm fairly certain that my favorite bbq place, Bakers Ribs, has a location near the conference hotel. I DO know where some of the best honky tonks and dance halls are though...lmao! DD

You can bet I'm gonna be there dude! Spent almost 43 of my 72 years in Cow Town and Dallas! Looking forward to meeting ya my friend! This will be my 4th conference in the past 10 years...1st in Portland in 2010, only around 40 of us.....we've come A LONG WAY since then.....you'll meet a couple hundred of us I reckon!! Don't worry about O2!!! Clusterbusters will have plenty on hand and you'll be able to check out a cylinder for your room..just bring your reg and mask. DD