[HELP][Serious Advice] Cluster Headaches and Fastlane

[sinking_joe]

Hi All,
I kindly request your compassion and advice/guidance for this seemingly insurmountable issue of mine. Long story short, I had started small businesses even before I read MJ's books which turned out to be valuable experiences. Have good education, had some stellar jobs and frugal lifestyle where I could save more than 80% of my salary. Got into a CENT business few years ago(nice migration) but got into issues with government and had to shut it down despite trying to change the focus and market. I couldn't come up with ~300k needed to be independent. Another learning experience. Some of the savings were gone by this and some gone down into inflation/assets loosing value etc due to global changes. Meanwhile the real bummer was the slowly increasing migraines which later turned out to be cluster headaches, wanting to kill myself every time it strikes much like the statistics say. But thankfully/unfortunately it literally paralyses me on bed so this hasn't happened yet. In desperation, I have tried all sorts of treatment which I could afford from English medicines, ayurveda, chinese, reflexology, poster, divine healing,prayer, astrology based,homeo,accupuncture,tibetan, past lives, channeling etc etc etc. I didn't blink when I had to vomit for 3 days straight to remove toxins from body, drink own urine daily for months or only on boiled rice(not even salt) for a month; it's not as bad as that pain. Somedays I think I should just end it but then the teachers say accrued karma would make it even worse in the next. I am not lazy, could work for days on straight before this happened and is still driven when I can.

Now while that sucks, what can I really do to be rich? My target is 3M$ which would be enough for this life. What can I practically do in this situation to get there with this handicap?

TLDR: Have some business experience , decent education, works hard but have severe pain enough to contemplate ending this life. I want to make 3M$ which is enough to buy a small house in a rural/remote place and have rest for bills.

Any guidance/direction is appreciated.

 

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[Mikkel]

Life sometimes deals you a poor hand. Part of life is to learn how to deal with the hand you are dealt and overcome the struggles that come with it. If you feel bad for yourself or self-limit yourself you will only worsen your life.

My suggestion is this, find the good in your life and focus on that. Recognize that you cannot control the uncontrollable, and focusing on things outside of your control will only cause more agony.

When you have your bouts of cluster headaches, those are times when you are going to need to take some time off. Running a business where you are your own boss is great as you can take time off as needed. That also means that it is critical that you build a business where you can hire others to do the day-to-day work as there may be days, weeks, or even months when you are just not as productive due to your cluster headaches.

In regards to your pain, I don't know if there are specifically any solutions to cluster headaches. As someone who had a single headache for 2 years straight with frequent migraines that were debilitating due to second impact syndrome(back-to-back concussions), sometimes you need to learn how to cope with pain.

Some coping mechanisms I used are easier than others to implement.

Place a rubber band around your wrist. When you need a very brief relief from pain, snap the rubber band against your wrist. Your body has trouble interpreting multiple pain sensations. The snapping of the rubber band can elicit a pain response in your wrist that very temporarily can block the pain of your headaches. This was my favorite intentional method

Learn that pain is only a sensation and that our body is programmed to interpret it as bad. Learning to desensitize your body to pain by viewing pain as something other than bad can be of benefit if you are incapable of stopping the pain. This is quite difficult and this was used myself out of desperation and fatigue from constant pain. Personally, I would try and embrace the headaches and try and convince myself that pain was good. I did this with cold too. I would stand outside in the winter without winter clothes and just accept that cold was a temperature. It was neither good nor bad, it just was the temperature.

TENS unit, I don't have concrete evidence for this, but I would imagine a TENS unit would help reduce your pain temporarily (1-2 hours). As a Physical Therapist, I use TENS units all the time to help temporarily reduce patients' pain. It doesn't eliminate the pain completely but does provide great relief.

I wish you the best with this. Face adversity head-on. Don't let it beat you. If you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out.

 

[Simon Angel]

The F*ck man? Vomiting 3 days to remove "toxins" from your body and drinking urine for months?

You do realize that's straight up BS and the people that "treated" you have about as much clue about science as you do – none?

Listen, I know what it's like to be desperate due to debilitating health conditions AND avoiding traditional medicine, but you need to find a good doctor asap.

In the meantime, here are some safe things you can try to reduce your episodes:

• 10,000 iu Vitamin D + K2 per day (we're all deficient unless we're taking a supplement and apparently it has helped people reduce the frequency of their cluster headaches)
• At least 10 glasses of water per day or more (dehydration is a well-known cause)
• Ice cold showers before onset (the vasoconstriction seems to help some people to "abort" their cluster headaches)
• Go to sleep and get up at the same times every day (to normalize your circadian rhythm)
• There's research that suggests 80% of sufferers are smokers. If you're smoking, it's probably a good idea to stop

Finally, get a sleep study done because you might have sleep apnea. A CPAP machine can get you back to feeling normal if that's the case.

 

[Mikkel]

The F*ck man? Vomiting 3 days to remove "toxins" from your body and drinking urine for months?

Ya. I certainly agree with the sentiment. No reason you should be drinking your own urine. The whole statement of Trying to remove toxins and then drinking urine is totally counterintuitive. When you urinate, you release uric acid. The body releases the uric acid because it is a toxins. So you drinking urine is just putting toxins back into your body. Terrible idea and whoever told you to do that, you should probably never take their advice again.

Ice cold showers before onset (the vasoconstriction seems to help some people to "abort" their cluster headaches)

Intresting, I never heard about that. I actually thought it was the opposite. I know migraines are not the same but my understanding was decreased blood flow worsened migranes. Usually this is done by the release of serotonin(I believe) but maybe also due to cold and vasoconstriction? I don't know. I think OP should try some different methods one at a time and see what works and what doesn't. Sometimes we have to be our own scientists to find our own solution.

There's research that suggests 80% of sufferers are smokers. If you're smoking, it's probably a good idea to stop

Same with alcohol. If you drink alcohol, you should stop. It only makes the symptoms worse.

Go to sleep and get up at the same times every day (to normalize your circadian rhythm)

This is a very good idea. No downside and good potential upside.

 

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[sinking_joe]

Ya. I certainly agree with the sentiment. No reason you should be drinking your own urine. The whole statement of Trying to remove toxins and then drinking urine is totally counterintuitive. When you urinate, you release uric acid. The body releases the uric acid because it is a toxins. So you drinking urine is just putting toxins back into your body. Terrible idea and whoever told you to do that, you should probably never take their advice again.


Intresting, I never heard about that. I actually thought it was the opposite. I know migraines are not the same but my understanding was decreased blood flow worsened migranes. Usually this is done by the release of serotonin(I believe) but maybe also due to cold and vasoconstriction? I don't know. I think OP should try some different methods one at a time and see what works and what doesn't. Sometimes we have to be our own scientists to find our own solution.


Same with alcohol. If you drink alcohol, you should stop. It only makes the symptoms worse.


This is a very good idea. No downside and good potential upside.

Life sometimes deals you a poor hand. Part of life is to learn how to deal with the hand you are dealt and overcome the struggles that come with it. If you feel bad for yourself or self-limit yourself you will only worsen your life.

My suggestion is this, find the good in your life and focus on that. Recognize that you cannot control the uncontrollable, and focusing on things outside of your control will only cause more agony.

When you have your bouts of cluster headaches, those are times when you are going to need to take some time off. Running a business where you are your own boss is great as you can take time off as needed. That also means that it is critical that you build a business where you can hire others to do the day-to-day work as there may be days, weeks, or even months when you are just not as productive due to your cluster headaches.

In regards to your pain, I don't know if there are specifically any solutions to cluster headaches. As someone who had a single headache for 2 years straight with frequent migraines that were debilitating due to second impact syndrome(back-to-back concussions), sometimes you need to learn how to cope with pain.

Some coping mechanisms I used are easier than others to implement.

Place a rubber band around your wrist. When you need a very brief relief from pain, snap the rubber band against your wrist. Your body has trouble interpreting multiple pain sensations. The snapping of the rubber band can elicit a pain response in your wrist that very temporarily can block the pain of your headaches. This was my favorite intentional method

Learn that pain is only a sensation and that our body is programmed to interpret it as bad. Learning to desensitize your body to pain by viewing pain as something other than bad can be of benefit if you are incapable of stopping the pain. This is quite difficult and this was used myself out of desperation and fatigue from constant pain. Personally, I would try and embrace the headaches and try and convince myself that pain was good. I did this with cold too. I would stand outside in the winter without winter clothes and just accept that cold was a temperature. It was neither good nor bad, it just was the temperature.

TENS unit, I don't have concrete evidence for this, but I would imagine a TENS unit would help reduce your pain temporarily (1-2 hours). As a Physical Therapist, I use TENS units all the time to help temporarily reduce patients' pain. It doesn't eliminate the pain completely but does provide great relief.

I wish you the best with this. Face adversity head-on. Don't let it beat you. If you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out.

@Mikkel : good sir, thanks for your kind reply. I am sorry to hear about your issues as well.

I am grateful somedays I am alive, other days not so much.I have tried similar methods to what you prescribed, but sadly they only works till a level of pain. And in my case the highest I could was boiling oil(another story), at which the power of mind/will couldn't take anything beyond.

The F*ck man? Vomiting 3 days to remove "toxins" from your body and drinking urine for months?

You do realize that's straight up BS and the people that "treated" you have about as much clue about science as you do – none?

Listen, I know what it's like to be desperate due to debilitating health conditions AND avoiding traditional medicine, but you need to find a good doctor asap.

In the meantime, here are some safe things you can try to reduce your episodes:

• 10,000 iu Vitamin D + K2 per day (we're all deficient unless we're taking a supplement and apparently it has helped people reduce the frequency of their cluster headaches)
• At least 10 glasses of water per day or more (dehydration is a well-known cause)
• Ice cold showers before onset (the vasoconstriction seems to help some people to "abort" their cluster headaches)
• Go to sleep and get up at the same times every day (to normalize your circadian rhythm)
• There's research that suggests 80% of sufferers are smokers. If you're smoking, it's probably a good idea to stop

Finally, get a sleep study done because you might have sleep apnea. A CPAP machine can get you back to feeling normal if that's the case.

@Simon Angel : Thanks sir, I don't smoke or even go near any of those things. I even avoid cold water, so you get a feel for things.Those were the kind of treatments which were done over the course of almost 2 decades. I know it sounds silly out of context, but when the bio-medical system gives up after prescribing many members from family of benzos and then offers a medication which gives medicines with high chances of alzheimers but no guarantee of reduction, one becomes forced to look at other avenues. In this case, one of the the diagnosis from chinese medicine was that it was due to liver heat arising to top of head and something to do with gall bladder toxins. So the solution was to bring the toxins out of liver bit by bit and get it out. It did help for a while, but not for much. The drinking urine was from a yogic system which talks of a compound made when one's asleep or when photons don't reach the cornea. It's sounds a lot more rational when they explain the pathways of origin and it makes sense.

I have had multiple supplements(incl D3+K2), magnesium, B12 iron,compounds, whole list from multiple naturopaths one don't see in normal world etc etc etc etc. Multiple times, I got ice in a bucket and kept the head in just to see if it helps in desperation. And the opposite almost boiling water, which scaleded the skin as the homeo doctor theorised less blood to head causing this and this was to see if it could be solved this way. Pain makes one do many things. The sleep thingy wth supplements for sleep, extra oxygen, different pillows, oils etc etc were also tried. Unfortunately this is on a different level.

In summary, thanks guys and let no one have such pain.

 

[Simon Angel]

@Mikkel : good sir, thanks for your kind reply. I am sorry to hear about your issues as well.

I am grateful somedays I am alive, other days not so much.I have tried similar methods to what you prescribed, but sadly they only works till a level of pain. And in my case the highest I could was boiling oil(another story), at which the power of mind/will couldn't take anything beyond.



@Simon Angel : Thanks sir, I don't smoke or even go near any of those things. I even avoid cold water, so you get a feel for things.Those were the kind of treatments which were done over the course of almost 2 decades. I know it sounds silly out of context, but when the bio-medical system gives up after prescribing many members from family of benzos and then offers a medication which gives medicines with high chances of alzheimers but no guarantee of reduction, one becomes forced to look at other avenues. In this case, one of the the diagnosis from chinese medicine was that it was due to liver heat arising to top of head and something to do with gall bladder toxins. So the solution was to bring the toxins out of liver bit by bit and get it out. It did help for a while, but not for much. The drinking urine was from a yogic system which talks of a compound made when one's asleep or when photons don't reach the cornea. It's sounds a lot more rational when they explain the pathways of origin and it makes sense.

I have had multiple supplements(incl D3+K2), magnesium, B12 iron,compounds, whole list from multiple naturopaths one don't see in normal world etc etc etc etc. Multiple times, I got ice in a bucket and kept the head in just to see if it helps in desperation. And the opposite almost boiling water, which scaleded the skin as the homeo doctor theorised less blood to head causing this and this was to see if it could be solved this way. Pain makes one do many things. The sleep thingy wth supplements for sleep, extra oxygen, different pillows, oils etc etc were also tried. Unfortunately this is on a different level.

In summary, thanks guys and let no one have such pain.

Damn, it sounds like these headaches are a real bummer man. Going by your first post, it looks like they got worse around the time you started having financial troubles.

You got anyone to care for you when you're in the midst of an episode? Wife, kids?

I've contacted someone that might be able to help (and has also gone through all of the treatments you have) and I'll share their advice once I get a response.