UHAM051

34 * UNDERSTANDING HEADACHES AND M IG RAI N ES

can mean that I have to dnve everyone around instead of being one of the party, as it were. When they happen, it is always on the Left side of my face, and the pain is indescribable. I feeL as if someone has put something into my face, Like an injection of acid. If someone tore my eye out I am surę it would not be any less painfuL My eye usually streams with tears; not just a little bit, but Li ke I am crying. I fee L Li ke I can't do anything to take the pain away, and I don't know what to do or where to go. The pain takes over everything. I am disabled by it, and can't do anything but feeL pain. I walk around and around, not knowing where to go; I want to be able to run away from it. I have resorted to hitting myself, because sometimes it can be distracting to do so. Thats the main thing really, the need to find a distraction. I tend to get them in the Winter, which madę the doctor think I was having episodes of neuralgia, but l've had neuralgia when I was younger and I know the difference. Then the doctor thought it was sinusitis, but that too wasn't the answer. I now have oxygen from my doctor, and take it when I feel an attack coming on. It works most of the time. I have tried many other things to keep them in check, but for me the best thing has been the oxygen. It may sound odd, but I have heard that water helps a lot of people. They say it flushes out the system. I do try to drink minerał water as much as possible, because it can't do any harm.

I tend to get my cluster headaches for about three months at a time, with anything up to five attacks a day. Sometimes they are over in ten minutes, but sometimes they last for a couple of hours or morę. When they happen, I can't do a thing. I just pray that they will stop.^JJ

Samuel, 4-2

We have seen in this chapter the kinds of feelings people have about their headaches, and what the pain means to them and their lives. These stories show exactly why we need to take people seriously when they are experiencing headaches and migraines. Most of us get a little headache from time to time, but some people really suffer again and again, and those people deserve the best care that doctors can provide. Eąually, they need all the support they can get from their families, friends and employers.