Well January never seems to disappoint when it comes to cluster attacks. Same time every year, when the first morning frosts begin so does the attacks. It doesn’t matter that the amount of attacks in general has reduced and the last year has been the best so far when it comes to the clusters as every January and start of a new year the beast returns with vengeance. It doesn’t matter how many attacks you have you always feel that once the freezing morning appear so does the highest level of pain. The attacks seem so strong at this time of year. I am sure its got something to do with the body feeling pain more in cold weather. Even though I know they cannot get any stronger than they already are they always seem to be the worst attacks I get all year.
The worst thing about it is the extra pain I am getting this year from the damaged nerves in the left of my neck and down the left side of my back. Every morning when I wake up I have to go through agony just to get out of bed and dressed. By the time you manage to get into the living room and sat down you are covered in sweat from the pain. This is made worst when I starts to aggravate the neck and head and eventually sets off another cluster attack. All you can do is take a few pain killers and hope it doesn’t get any worst. I knew winter was going to be a challenge this year but I didn’t realise how bad the pain would be and at what level the pain would be constantly. When I told the doctors I would learn to live with and manage the pain rather than risk mobility by opting for the cervical nerve root block I didn’t realise it was going to go this bad so quickly. I thought I would have had at least a couple of years before the pain got so bad I could no longer move. Again I think its only become this painful due to the cold weather as I have noticed when I keep my flat hot all day with the heating the pain is a lot less.
I have been using heat treatment a lot during the winter months on the neck and the left side of the back. I have also found that by placing a hot cushion around the back of the neck whilst having a cluster attack helps to ease the level of pain. I don’t actually believe it does anything to the pain , it just helps you to focus on something other than the attack and that in turn helps to manage the pain level. When i first starting having cluster attacks, before I knew what they were, I used to hold my face close to an electric halogen lamp heater. I used to place my face close enough to heat the face up so the heat matched the level of the pain and then slowly moved my face further away so the heat slowly reduced and found that the pain would slowly reduce with it. I know this sounds crazy and I could easily have burnt my face but at the time I didn’t care due to the amount of pain and was shocked when it actually worked to ease the attack. Its not something I do now that I know what the attacks are and how to deal with them but makes a good point on how hot and cold can effect your attacks and how being cold can make your attack seem 100 times worst.
I am grateful that this winter has been a mild one despite the cold weather as I haven’t had anywhere near the amount of attacks I usually get. This is a good sign as it means this year should be a good one and I should hopefully find myself out of the flat a lot more. I have my fishing to get back into and have lots planned for this summer so I am praying my clusters will behave themselves and continue to reduce in number. I am also hoping that the nerve sin my back and neck will begin to ease when the warner weather comes as its really uncomfortable and annoying at the same time. Even sat doing nothing the back is constantly aching. Fingers crossed things will improve soon.
