wink     ; )

Cluster

Here's a handy synopsis of what Cluster Headaches are.

A friend of mine asked me if I have trouble thinking when I'm having a cluster. I can still think fine, but it takes a lot more effort. The pain obviously consumes most of my attention, so it is very hard for me to focus and/or concentrate. Anything that requires significant focus/concentration (e.g. papers/exams) ends up being done much slower and ultimately is of lower quality.

Of course, things like papers take a lot of time, and the headaches won't be continuous for the entire time--that's why they can get done at all. While the actual headaches are happening, I am able to concentrate if I put forth a Herculean effort, but good luck trying to convince me to care that much about anything. Usually, my only priority at those times is getting a hold of meds.

And that brings me to the next wrinkle: meds. The meds are pretty good at masking the pain, but they definitly dull my thinking. So if my headache isn't too bad, I'm left in a dilemma: dull the pain and dull my thinking, or skip the meds so that I can keep some mental acuity. If the headache is bad enough, then I'm not going to think straight anyways, so I should just take the meds so that at least I'm not in pain. But the lighter ones leave me with a trade off to make. And when I have a particularly hard paper to write, sometimes I have to forgo the meds.

Sorry, I'm just kind of rambling now. I'll stop now.