Its always around this time of year when I look back at all my blog entries and realise just how much of a fight dealing with this condition it has been. When I was first told about the condition and what it actually was I thought to myself my life was going to be over. How on earth would I be able to live a normal life having to deal with extremely painful attacks constantly all day every day. I never once thought it would get any better or that i would eventually get them under control. I have to admit it wasn't until i was into the second year of treatment that i saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
When i started taking the injections to abort the attacks i thought finally i have something that would be able to control the attacks and i could get on with life as normal. Boy how wrong i was! The injections turned out to be another problem all together. When you start taking the injections on a regular basis they start to give you side effects and can actually work against you. Because you become reliant on them for aborting the attacks it seems like the amount of attacks increases over time and your body starts to get used to the injections. Then i found they were giving me severe colic and trapped wind that was causing all types of pain around the body.
It wasn't long before i realised what was happening and started to reduce the amount of injection i would rely on and this eased the side effects for a while. It was when i was diagnosed with the damaged nerves in the left side of my neck i started to manage the pain a little better with the use of small exercises on the neck and heat treatment to the neck and face when an attack is building. As i began to cope with the pain down my left side of the body i realised i was getting less and less cluster attacks as time went on and now i find i am having a lot more cluster free days than ever before. Unfortunately i cant say they are pain free days due to all the other issues i now have on the left side of my body due to all the damage the attacks and nerves have caused.
At least i can say things have improved over the last 3 years compared to the previous years. I have less attacks and more time where i feel i can live a normal life. I am thankful that i was still able to go fishing when i wanted as that has been the one thing that has helped me cope with everything going on. Its the one constant in my life that i can focus on when times are hard knowing i will eventually pull through. I am looking forwards to 2018 as i intend to get my fishing back on track now all the hospital appointments and investigations are over and will be getting out a lot more and hopefully some travelling around the country next year will do me the world of good.
I would like to take the opportunity to wish all readers , friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and i wish you all pain free days ahead.
