Once again, just as I start to feel well, the beast decides to return and remind me just how painful my condition is. 3 am this morning i woke wondering why I didn't feel tired and within a few seconds of me realising what was about to happen it began. The pain began behind the left eye, a feeling like someone has shoved a hot poker straight into your eye socket. It shot up over the top of the left side of my head and into the neck. The swelling started over the top of the head along the scar I have from where my head was split open all those years ago. The left eye started to stream with water and slowly close and I could feel the left side of my face begin to droop as the pain level rose. You would think after having so many cluster attacks I would be used to the pain levels but no matter how regular they become you always feel like the pain keeps getting worst each time it happens.
I don't know what set it off this time as I couldn't feel the cold on the head like I do in winter. The cold is one of my main triggers and can sometimes cause me to have constant attacks through out the day but this time it is something else that has started the attacks. It could be stress from where I have been feeling ill the last couple of months or it could be down to the severe side effects I have been getting from medication. The doctors have been trying to find out what on earth is going on with me as there is no sign of infections or problems. The have checked kidneys, scanned for gall stones and even done heart traces to check its not a heart problem and still nothing appears. The specialist at the hospital said he had a feeling it could be one of the medications I was on but didn't know which one it could be. I have slowly been cutting out medication that I can live with out but when you have so many problems happening at the same time it is difficult to know what you can and can't take.
Where I have been run down for so long the thrush on the back of the tongue had reared its ugly head once again so I decided to go to the chemist and purchase the Daktarin gel that I was prescribed before by the doctors. When I tried to purchase it the chemist looked at me funnily and said are you sure about this? I asked what on earth she meant with that comment and it was at that point she told me the news. They had a note from the hospitals saying that Daktarin should be taken off general sales in the chemist and it is only to be given to people who are not on any other medication. I asked why and she explained. The Daktarin gel seems to react with other medication and the side effects can be extreme especially if you are on Simvastatin. What a coincidence I told her as that is one of the medications I have to take for high cholesterol. I think the look she gave me said it all. She continued to explain that another gentleman had been prescribed it who was also on Simvastatin and due to severe reactions he was rushed into hospital feeling very ill yet the hospital couldn't find out what was wrong (sounds familiar) but unfortunately he died from the reactions. Well you can just imagine my reaction to this news.
As soon as I returned home I grabbed every tube and box of the stuff and threw them out and now have to make another emergency appointment to see my doctor to try and get a handle on what on earth is going on. Its just crazy the amount of side effects from different medications I have had over the last few years. The neurologist experimenting with the different drugs to try and get the clusters under control almost killed me once and there was no way I would let that happen again. Having an allergic reaction to a medication is one thing but when it is just side effects due to 2 different drugs clashing you would think they would be a lot more careful. If it wasn't for the chemist remembering the problems with the medication being reported to them I wouldn't have known that it was causing a problem and would have probably continued the treatment and possibly continued to become even worst than I already am. Thankfully this medication is no longer available over the counter so no one else has to suffer the way I have been and I am starting to wonder what other medications I am on could be causing me problems.
Thankfully it is now entering spring so my attacks have reduced in number as the weather begins to warm up but I know I will still have attacks during the early hours when the temperature drops to its lowest. I can handle these attacks thanks to the injections I have been prescribed by the neurologist but I will never get used to the amount of pain that comes with the condition. Now the better weather is here it is time to start getting out and doing a bit of fishing to try and relax. The last couple of years I found it difficult to get out but I feel now I have the condition under some kind of control I should be able to get out a lot more so I have so much to make up for this year. I am just praying the beast will behave itself and I start to get a lot more pain free days.
