French Documentary on Cluster Headaches

[ClusterHeadSurvivor]

Some kind member here on Cluster Busters seen this video and saw me in the video and sent me the link.

About a year ago I was contacted from someone from Switzerland asking to use my video for a documentary.

6 months ago a surgeon from Paris France asked the same.

This video was on in Switzerland but it is in french so I am not sure which person it was that asked for it. Either way I am gratefull it got airtime.

A medical team in Japan contacted me and is now making a educational video for patients and doctors using my video again. They promised me a translated copy in english.

If you speak french....awesome,enjoy. If you dont, Blank face like me.... I am at 23:40 mark in video

http://www.rts.ch/emissions/36-9/4656157-migraine-le-casse-tete.html

[ClusterHeadSurvivor]

I have had 100,000 + Youtube Hits. I started my blog mid december and ad over 3200 hits. Which in todays world is a blip on a computer.

My goal is to raise awarness. I am no one special. Maybe the poster boy for CH but thats it.

Funny, my parents and brother are born in Germany and immigrated to Canada from Switzerland. My family lived there in 66/67. Beautiful country. I have many relatives there, love to go one day. Never be able to afford it though

Thank you very much for the link

How did you find it?

[ClusterHeadSurvivor]

a french canadian friend did best translating it for me

(22:52) Besides migraines, there exist other types of extremely painful headaches such as cluster headaches also known as suicide headaches due to its violent and frequent attacks. Unlike migraines, cluster headaches affect primarily males. It is said to be the most intolerable pain anyone could experience.

Marie-Christine Alessi says: “suffering like this is not something which is possible. It feels like your head is on fire. You rip out everything from the side of the head, especially the eyes, the nose, the teeth… You can’t speak. Everything is stuck. It feels like you’re going crazy. It’s intolerable.”

Tom’s video plays…Neurologist says: “these are the types of images we’re seeing more and more on the internet. They’re patients who film their attacks. He is a typical patient with a cluster headache. They affect men 5 times more frequently than women, more regularly men between 15 and 40. What is important to note in this video is the patient’s state of agitation. We see that he is holding his right eye therefore the pain is primarily on the right side. Often they’re the patients who do the “100 steps in the room” as opposed to patients with chronic migraine headaches who seek obscurity and calmness. These attacks are extremely and violently painful. They manifest through attacks lasting from 15 minutes to 3 hours depending on the patient. They can repeat during the day, sometimes up to 8 times a day. Also, these attacks repeat for several consecutive days or weeks. The pain is often described or compared to the introduction of a burning “flame” directly into the eye. This is an image patients often give us.”

Marie-Christine Alessi is for the most part out of this hell due to the services of xxxxx?? at Morge hospital. She benefited from the implantation of a xxxx nerve stimulator whose goal is to blur the pain signals. Regularly she comes in to ensure proper functioning of her equipment. “It is functioning perfectly, the battery is still good and thereÂ’s no need to tweak it. You are feeling the benefits in the right location? You are satisfied?” “Yes, itÂ’s perfect.” The material that we implant is a “flexible electrode”? put under the skin which is linked to this type of battery which is also under the skin. It acts as a generator for the electric epulsion. On this patientÂ’s x-rays, you clearly see this electrode under the skin into the xxx. It functions with electricity which means there are no toxic side effects. Blah, blah (technical stuff). “You were implanted in February 2011. ItÂ’s been almost 2 years. It has improved your quality of life?” “Yes. I donÂ’t often have an attack, I still continue to have them but theyÂ’re not as strong as before, thatÂ’s for sure.” “Before that, you were having an attack once a day at a minimum?” “One or  two a day: one during the day and sometimes one at night.”. “You are using the simulator permanently now?” “Yes, I never turn it off” “YouÂ’ve never tried to turn it off?” “No IÂ’m afraid to do so.” Nights for Marie-Christine are always affected by attacks but they are shorter and not as often. “Yes, they hurt thatÂ’s for sure but they canÂ’t be compared to what they were like before, thatÂ’s for sure. If they wanted to remove the stimulator, I would be against it. I cannot live without it!”