[at-l] 2003 in Review

[Slyatpct at aol.com (Slyatpct@aol.com)]

In a message dated 1/2/2004 7:57:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
AThiker@smithville.net writes:

> I woke up yesterday with a 
> near migraine. I COULDN'T get up until nearly 11. Makes for a painful 
> day of hiking when it hurst to open your eyes. I'm pretty certain that 
> was the most 'sick' I've ever been while hiking.

Dude, I feel for you.  I'm a cluster headache suffer, like migraines only 
reportedly worse.  It's hard to measure what size spike is piercing your head and 
not something you can get used too.  Many become suicidal, the pain's so bad. 
 The only saving grace is that they will end eventually.  I get them 2-3 
times a day, everyday for a couple months.  Generally most get then every year, 
although I've been lucky the past years since I started hiking.  This last 
episode went from Sept to Dec.  Ironically, one of the only things that helped was 
walking. I sure I got some stares walking down the the road with my fleece 
wrapped around my head like a turbin holding the side of my face.

A few saw me an this years Gathering with them and I wasn't a pretty site.  
Since then (and just recently) I found a cure and a preventative for future 
episodes.  Completely illegal mind you, but I'll be damned if I have to go 
through that again for the 20th time.  Let's just say it's natures way of providing 
a little "magic" and it worked for me.  There's a few doctors that are picking 
up on it, but it's not likely that the powers that be will ever accept it or 
even study it for that matter, when the drug companies are making a fortune 
selling costly drugs. Some of the side affects of such prescription meds, like 
Imtrex, can cause heart attacks.  I'm not so sure my ticker would be up to it.  
That said, the "cure" isn't everyone, but works for most.   If you become 
chronic or cluster prone, I could direct you to a website for more info.

To a pain free 2004!

Sly