Finally, a treatment that worked for my daughter
As a medical professional and skeptic, I took my daughter to a doc who claimed to be specialized in headaches. Boy is he ever!! This is what his research and training taught him and before he went into depth, he told me what type of treatment we were going to do for my daughter ( she's 20 and has suffered from headaches since about 13 years old )
First he said.. no more meds. No more ibuprofen, no more butabital, no more pain meds, no nothing !! I said well she can't go without something for the pain and he said in order to begin treatment she has to " cleanse her system" I was very skeptical and wasn't going to allow her to be pain free but i listened to him. Here was his explanation and treatment.
First of all, he said cluster headaches are caused due to an imbalance in neurotransmitters which when not working right, cause blood vessel dialation in the brain ( huh ? don't pull out the women are nuts and complain of pain because of a chemical imbalance mister ! ) but i still sat and listened.
A person’s brain chemistry (neurotransmitters) falls into two categories: excitatory (stimulating) or inhibitory (calming). For a brain to function properly there must be a balance between these two types of neurotransmitters. And when an imbalance in neurotransmitters exists, headaches or migraines can occur
The 4 neurotransmitters creating this are gaba, dopamine, norepinepherine and seratonin. The screwed up levels here also aggrivate pain due to the lack thereof ( reduced seratonin levels alone can increase pain).
So, if infact this was the cause of her headaches and it wasn't prior diagnosis such as sinus problems improper vision , stress, hormones etc. ( easy diagnosis so they could move onto the next patient) in the past his treatment should work right ? It has and does.
Treatment:
As stated above. Stopping all meds that were previously given, even OTC such as advil, motrin ect. His reason for this was, they are actually contraindicated in the imbalance and if they were still taken, we woudlnt know if his prescription treatment was working alone or not. 48 hours later he began his care plan which was:
He put her on a mild dose of an anti depressant, cymbalta which offers very little side effects unlike others to " reorganize and create balance" of the neurotransmitters but he said this med alone will NOT work as the most important part of getting neurotransmitters working regularly is one of the most important requirements of the human body. SLEEP. Without sleep these neurotransmitters aren't able to rest and regroup.
He put her on a muscle relaxer Zanaflex 4 mg to provide her with a solid sleep of at least 5 hours. This med only has a 5 hour shelf life and does not cause side effects the next day such as groggy, tired nor addiction etc. Also, it would offer muscles in the body to relax and allowed good REM sleeping. Both meds however need to be taken daily and the zanaflex should be taken pretty much around the same time each night to enable regular sleep. He said she needed to go to bed around the same time each night or close to it. I realize pilots just like firefighters, paramedics and others with crazy schedules might not get that but either way, take it before sleep.
So this treatment started nearly 3 months ago and in that time frame, she has had maybe 5 headaches and of those 3 were during her menstrual cycle which weren't nearly as bad as before.
If you want more information on this doc or if your doc is interested in this doc's research, discovery and treatment feel free to PM me. This doc has been a real lifesaver for sure. My daughter is in college and what a difference her quality of life has been without the headaches !!
Best of luck to you !!
PS. some docs put patients on a bp med in place of the anti depressant if their pressure can sustain the reduced BP from the med. My daughter who is an athlete has a BP that is usually on the lower end. I will also add that the cymbalta 30mg he placed her on did not change her mood nor make her into an emotional zombie. We have noticed no difference other than her increased happiness because she's not suffering the headaches every day!
Last edited by SassyPilotsWife; 31st Jul 2010 at 04:13.