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Pituitary gland?


kymera_gr7
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I saw my new neurologist today and had another CT done. He found what he thinks is my pituitary gland either being smashed up against my ocular nerves, OR its just flat out swollen.  :o

He gave me Migranal and Veparamil 120mg (40mg 3x Daily) and is going to have me get an MRI to hopefully see better whats going on up there.

Could any of this have attributed to the extra nasty cycle I just finished up?

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120 mg of Verapamil seems to me like a very low dosage. I was taking 720mg before busting.

About the pituitary, well to me it would be normal to find that it's swollen after an extra nasty cycle, but my opinion is that it would be more of a result than a cause of the cycle.

I am of course no brain specialist; I have been reading intensively on all these matters for the past 2 months, and all I can say with a neuro-endocrinian point of view is that the hypothalamus sends hormonal messages to the pituitary gland, and the pituitary then sends messages to the rest of the endocrine system and other glands.

Based on the theory that CH result from an unbalance with the hypothalamus, it would make sense to me to find that your pituitary worked over time after receiving bad messages from your hypothalamus.

I think I'm making sense  :-/

Here is a nice and clear basic explanation of the brain I found. http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/index_i.html

After thinking a little, I theorize it could be rather your suprachiasmatic nuclei being swollen (since the scan didn't seem clear). It's located just above the pituitary. It would make even more sense with the theory about the source of CH, theory explained here

http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/yabbfiles/Attachments/CH__Dreaming___Neurogenesis.pdf

a little excerpt:

(...) However, the third and possibly most important clinical feature is the uncanny timing of both attacks and bouts themselves which originally

suggested an involvement in the brainÂ’s master-clock: the hypothalamus or more particularly the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). It is now thought that an abnormality within the hypothalamus is the root cause of the pain, which, when in cycle, releases hormones and chemicals that

innervate the trigeminal ganglion, in turn causing the domino effect (...)

or here http://www.ouch-us.org/chgeneral/hypothalamus/hypothalamus3.htm

Nitric oxide is involved in light-induced phase shifts of the function of the supra-chiasmatic nucleus during the night. The suprachiasmatic nucleus lies within the area where activation was found on positron emission tomography, and there is evidence that phase shifts of the chrono-biological clock occur in cluster headaches. The signalling pathways in the supra-chiasmatic nucleus change with the temporal domain in the circadian rhythm, but the critical gating probably takes place at a molecular level downstream from the second messengers.

Then, a more esoteric point of view would teach that the suprachiasmatic nuclei is the third eye, and ... hmmm I'll never mind this path for now although I think it's an interesting one: not enough data, etc.

I hope I'm making sense and that my post can help you in any way, and please anyone correct any foolish things I could have written... this is all very complex

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I think Purple is on a good track. The cause and effect thing I mean. Also, with regards to Verap. dosing.

However, sometimes the dose is started low, on purpose so that you take the least amount needed to control the CH. Or, because you already have low BP. Verap lowers your BP and your resting BP is lower than what is recorded at the Dr.'s. So, it drops when you sleep. Dr. may get a reading of 110/80. If you relax and take a few deep breaths before taking a reading, the result might be 90/70. 360mg gave me a resting BP of 80/60. A higher dose would have been hazardous.

MRI and MRA are fairly common tests with CH from my reading and personal experience.

Problem is, we would like for them to show something and usually they don't, which then confirms the CH apparently. >:(

Also, with the $hitty weather patterns this year, folks have reported nastier than usual cycles!!!!!

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My blood pressure is normal. Like 110/60 up to 120/80. It always gets really high at the doctors office though, like 140 or 150 over 90.  :-?

As far as I know, the MRI is being ordered to check my pituitary gland BTW :)

And yeah, I agree with the weather cycles. IDK how many of you are in Texas, much less Austin.. But it's been very gray, rainy, and gross this year after a very long dry spell.

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