prolosam

thanks a lot.. really appreciate the help

can anyone helpme find the page where it explains the how to grow mushies. I have time today and feel better than i have the whole week so i figured id get out there and get what i need while sending off my payment to ralphster. Has anyone ordered the substrate from him?If so which one is the one to go with?? Thanks. Sam

don't worry i'm not hopping on any more med trains without serious consideration first. That tincture was a big mistake. I'm feeling a lot better off of it even a day later. Thanks for the link

haha crappity smacked = F'd. thats a funny auto correct this forum has

VA, I can relate to you on the not being able to gain weight.. only i'm a chronic and i'm always hungry and eat well. Fortunately, I never had a doctor give me nose sprays other than avamys and i only used that for a few months, it didn't do much so i stopped using it. Have you tried using vaseline to maybe help with the burning? maybe its just crazy dry on top of being fucked with whatever it is that causes it to feel all clogged.

I can't say I agree with all that you've said but to each their own. I've stopped the tincture. Best of luck to anyone else trying it. Hope you stay pain free les.

thanks for the article. Hope you're doing well Ben.. it's nice to have such a library of articles available on this board largely thanks to you.

les, This whole series of hits sounds to me like what I call 'outside in'; environmental or allergic type triggers which when they would hit me would send me on twenty four hour sleighrides to hell. So I would ask you to consider if you have been exposed; also, and this could be painful advice, are you inadvertently triggering yourself.... I know I was in denial myself for 37 years, but when I finally stopped smoking I realized that I was rebound triggering myself with nicotine constantly. (I actually experimented on myself after I quit, I am that masochistic, and I was right.) I was in even more denial over pot smoking. I blamed the inevitable two-hour-or-less after hit on everything but the culprit, which I did NOT want to give up. (I already couldn't drink at all). I finally stopped, reluctantly, and all those hits went away. Bear in mind that ANYTHING which has vasoconstrictor or metabolic action will result in some degree of rebound; nicotine, caffeine, analgesics, etc. . and yes, fluorescents can be a big time trigger. -- I quit smoking cigarettes in april of last year, quit smoking weed in december just weeks before i came out of remission. Haven't slipped up since. I always thought weed ws a trigger but i kept at it... i guess we were in same boat when it came to the denial. I do drink caffeine (do you think i should give it up?) - after weed and alcohol and cigarettes caffeine won't be missed nearly as much. I just hear all the time that caffeine is supposed to help. In terms of flourescents - I know they are a trigger but I need to work so what do I do? I'm more than happy to quit my job but then what do I do? I have a sweet deal at work and they are being very understanding about my clusters but that being said, i went in this afternoon and started shadowing heavily within 30 minutes. That being said, if the flourescents continue to trigger - i will leave the job and try to find a way.4. Is this what you are doing:   Whole plant extract ( root tincture ) 35-45% alcohol strength 1:5 (NOT DGL licorice.. it won't work) -- My bottle doesn't have a ratio on it... it just says its the organic licrorice root in its strange name latin or whateveter name, don't have the bottle beside me so i can't say what it is but i'll edit it when i'm home but i checked that it was the same thing you had posted earlier, i'm not sure if I should be taking more? I've been taking 3 doses daily. I think I need to up the number of drops. Also in terms of analgesics, i don't even take tylenol let alone advil. So anything else you can think of that i should stay away from?? I know my dogs probably don't help but i already have them sleeping in another room. It always seemed to me like it was environmental/allergy but I can't figure out what it is or how to avoid it. for example, flourescents are bloody everywhere.

not impossible, just very difficult. There used to be a place that sold inoculated jars but not anymore. To be honest, I'm trying to just hold on here and inoculating jars seems like it would be impossible for me. Though as I write this, i realize that I sound lazy and should at least try. Is it ralph spores that are still around? I forgot the website. I really thought one of my wifey's friends was going to come through and they had me believing they would. But I guess I need to start taking matters into my own hands.

you are right, brevity is a virtue. Unfortunately, I don't like to leave things incomplete. I guess I can edit it down.

It usually feels like a cork only the side getting the cluster, only the cork seems to be coated in something that causes so much pressure and pain to build in my sinus that i want to tear my nose off. Drives me nuts. Hard to stay calm and breathe through the pain when you can't even bloody breathe. I guess its because the trigeminal branches out into the sinus?

just an update as far as my experience with licorice root goes.. I started it tues jan 11 and went cluster free until this past saturday where i was disturbed out of a sleep 2 and a half hours in(big time trigger for me) i didnt get hit right away but sure enough the clusters ensued at 3 am. The next night at 3 am they came back but on the other side of my head (rarely do i get attacks on my left side) It wasn't nearly as painful as the clusters normally are and very short in duration. If there was ever a "puzzling" cluster i would have called it that. I kept on with the tincture.. got through Sunday ok but monday I was hit at work, probably a combination of triggers (stress, glare from ridiculous amounts of flourescents, but who knows anymore). This morning I was hit at 10am for an hour and a half... it has my body still hurting 4 and a half hours after. I'm not giving up on the tincture.. hell after my friend didn't come through with the mushies what choice do I have. Hopefully the sleep disturbance was the culprit and things will settle back down. I'd be lying if I said I was hopeful though. These clustercrappity smacks are something else. How do we live like this. I find it hard to come on the boards when I see people who have been chronic for 37 years or in that vicinity. How in the hell do you hold on? Any angels out there? I'm losing hope fast. Keep you all posted. PS Les, scary shit that they came back on other side after the trigger point therapy fixed them on the right.. any suspicions why? Hope you are doing alright and not living in Canada. It was -20 yesterday and +4 today. Even the squirrels around me must be suffering migraines or clusters because i don't even see them out.

les - i hate to post this but as I do i'll just keep knocking on wood like crazy. I took the licorice tincture yesterday.. divided it up into 3 doses each time 10 drops which is equivalent to 130mg (according to the bottle) I waited about an hour and a half between each dose and took it when I started to feel the cognitive problems that I associate with the shadows. I know it can just be psychological, trust me I know, but the entire night I felt pretty damn good and this morning I arose with more energy than I ever have in recent years. Of course i'm anxious and tramautized from yesterday (and all the years of this beast) but time will tell this morning how it goes. This morning I took 10 drops when I woke up at 6am and I just took another 10 drops when I got into work at 730am. No cluster feeling but i'm anxious as hell. I bought the skullcap but wanted to know more about it before trying it. I currently take a beta blocker and anti-anxiety meds (oxazepam) which btw IMHO is a much better way to control anxiety associated with clusters than a long term SSRI like paxil or effexor. It's unfortunate that in Canada less than 5% of docs have the guts to dispense high dose benzos, thankfully mine ain't one of them. I'd have probably become a complete recluse if it weren't for them getting me through the hardest of times. Also, as an aside, I got my first treatment of mesotherapy in my neck and back yesterday. I've also been getting prolotherapy treatments since September which have undoubtedly changed my life. I also see an accupuncturist weekly for about 6 months now to help with the trigger points in my neck and before the clusters returned on dec 31 - i believe that the accupuncturist work was instrumental in keeping my cycle from returning. I know I'm one of the lucky ones - trust me I know - and my heart goes out to all of you that have to struggle just to afford triptans. The system is unacceptable - even in Canada - unless you have means - you're SOL- but at least being a chronic sufferer since I was 20 years old makes me all the more resolute that when I'm older and if I have means - you all should be damn sure that I will commit my life to changing the way clusterheads are treated. We deserve so much more and I just pray God gives me my health and the chance. Keep you all posted. Thank you again Les and of course alleyoop.

I wonder what percentage of cluster sufferers have been on an SSRI. My clusters started when I was on effexor XR and I hardly believe it was coincidence.

Never relax ever. Welcome and you have gotten good advice above. http://www.plainboard.com/ch/chtherapy.pdf Study and read, knowledge is power the bb What do you mean "never relax ever" - I've always found that the best way to avoid being hit is to be busy and absorbed. Is that what you mean?