Praying for mild weather this year.

Who need alarms when you suffer CH! Again i was woken like clockwork at 3am this morning with yet another attack. Its annoying especially considering i managed to stay pain free all day yesterday with the exception of the early morning beast call. Its seems like my attack pattern has shifted once again. The attacks during the day seem to have disappeared leaving only the late evening and early morning ones to contend with. Don't get me wrong, I still have strong shadows during the day and a sore neck and painful back. If i irritate any of these then i am guaranteed to have an attack during the day. Also if i go out in the cold and the cold wind gets to the side of my face or neck that will also bring on a big attack. So they haven’t just disappeared like i would hope, they are just manageable and if i am careful enough i can stop the attacks from appearing.

I am convinced once again it has something to do with the medication and now that i am almost at the maximum dose we are seeing what i hope are the results as it starts to help to put these attacks to sleep (so to speak). It could change again in a few weeks as this condition is so unpredictable. One minuet i am getting around 8 or 10 attacks in a day and then next i am only seeing 1 or 2. If they continue like this i will be very happy as having to deal with just one or two attacks either late evening or early morning is way better than what i have been going through. If i have to live with this condition for the rest of my life it is important that i find ways of managing it and these latest results are promising. i am getting a lot more rest than i was and i am not feeling so weak all the time.

One thing that i have noticed that is very important, especially in the winter months, is that if i allow the flat to drop in temperature below the 10 degrees mark then the head starts to play up and i will get attacks all day long. If i keep the temperature above this mark then it seems to ease the head and stop the attacks from building unless i do something stupid like pull a muscle or try and do things that will cause me to strain the left side of my body then this will also bring on an attack. This confirms my theory about the cold being one of the major triggers for this condition and something i should discuss with the doctor and specialist when i get my appointment. It can also become very expensive keeping the flat warm during the winter months especially now as the utility companies are all putting their prices up.

Oxygen also plays a huge part in keeping the attacks under control. Ever since i was prescribed the oxygen it has worked to half the length on the attacks and in some cases can help to abort an attack when it comes. Using the oxygen daily not only helps my chest and breathing and makes you feel more energetic but it seems to stop any of the smaller attacks from appearing. I will have to ask the doctor about portable versions of the oxygen treatment and maybe i will be able to get out of the flat a bit more if i had it with me.

There is a big change in the weather coming and i am hoping for the best. I am praying that we don’t get any snow or ice this year but i think its a bit too much to ask as i just know at the end of January it normally drops so dramatically the bad weather follows and usually ends up either sleet or snow falling. I have been doing everything i can in order to keep warm, if i go out anywhere. But no matter what i try, if the weather is cold, it normally sets of an attack and usually it is a big one. Fingers crossed for another pain free day today and hope i can keep the beast from showing its face. If i have to go out it is a case of wrapping up in layers and making sure i wear some kind of hat to keep the head warm. If we do start to get the snow and ice towards the end of the month then it will be time for a scarf to wrap around the face to keep the cold form starting my head off again.

The beast is back!

Oh well i was again woken at 3 am so the beast is back again. It was screaming pain that woke me this morning. A sharp shooting pain over the top of my head and behind my eye and down the side of my face on the left hand side. One thing i do find strange is why does the face droop on the left side when i am getting these pains. I think the pains are from a damaged nerve and if that's is the case then why does the nerve effect the face and make your cheek and eye droop when you get agonising pain.

Thankfully my mother chased up my appointment with the specialist to try and find out the results of my scan. Apparently due to illness all appointments were cancelled in December so they are now re-arranging appointments and will make me an appointment and send it out in the post so i should receive one soon. This is great news as finally i will start to get some answers. It can only go one of two ways. Either i have nothing there that is causing anything and i have to suffer this condition for the rest of my life and will have to find a way of managing the pain all the time or they have found something on the left side of my head where the swelling is and maybe they will be able to do something that will decrease the amount of attacks i get.

Yesterday i managed to stay pain free all day apart from an attack in the morning and a small one late evening. I am hoping for the same today. Let’s hope the attacks stay away and i can get on with things like cleaning the flat and also organising my fishing tackle and getting it all ready for my first fishing match at the end of January. Lets hope the weather stays mild and it warms up a bit by then, if the weather is still cold and wet i wont be able to attend the match due to the attacks and pain i will get. I am so looking forward to fishing this year and will hopefully catch some new personal bests and maybe even a record size fish.

At the end of 2012 i set myself a challenge as i don’t want to let my condition get the better of me and dictate how i live my life due to getting the attacks and pain all the time. I challenged myself to take on the rivers, streams, lakes and fisheries around Wales. To travel around and try out fishing at different venues in and around Wales an to write a review of every place i visit. We will also be trying out some places outside Wales as well as we are booked to go down to Cornwall in April and spend a week at a very nice fishing resort. I am really looking forwards to this holiday as not only will i be doing something that i love, fishing, but will also get a chance to take a look around the area and visit some sites while i am there. I am also thinking of going to France either at the end of the year or next year for our holiday but due to my condition i will have to take precautions if i do go. This is something i have to discuss with the other members first.

Well again i have been kept awake all morning as i was unable to go back to sleep after the attack due to the level of pain and the level of the shadow i have been getting afterwards. The neck again feels like i have a golf ball stuck inside it and the head is very tender to the touch. Normally i would say i was going to get another attack either soon or later in the day but just lately even the shadows have been easing off during the day and only seems to return at night or early hours so i am wondering if the medication is finally starting to work. I do still keep getting shooting pains up the back when i walk and down the front of my legs but it is not every day so i think this is something else and has nothing to do with the attacks. Maybe it is arthritis as i thought and that in turn aggravates my condition every now and again. Lets hope i am wrong and eventually even the pain in the back will eventually disappear, fingers crossed!

Wish the weather would maker up its mind!

I managed a nice lay in this morning and wasn’t woken by the beast in the early hours like normally. I did have an attack about 2 hours after i woke but nothing too bad. I am hoping this is the sign of a break coming up as i could really do with a nice long pain free period at the moment. I have been feeling run down just lately and feel like all my strength has disappeared. I have tried everything i know to try and make myself feel better. I have had early nights and tried to make sure i get plenty of rest but i am still feeling tired and run down all the time. My diet leaves a lot to be desired as i just don’t seem to have any appetite anymore. Even when i don’t feel hungry i have been forcing myself to eat and with the help of my mother and stepfather cooking lovely cooked dinners on the weekend you would have thought i would put on some weight or at least have strength but nothing seems to work.

Sometimes i really get so fed up with having the attacks all the time. Each day starts with pain and normally ends in pain and i get very few pain free days at the moment. I am praying to god that it starts to get better as the weather starts to get better and hopefully from March onwards i should se a reduction in the amount of attacks i get in a 24 hour period. I am currently at 250mgs of Pregabilin tablets in the morning and then again the same at night. I only have another 50mgs to go before the maximum dosage of 300 and hope that the medication will show some results soon. if it doesn’t it means having to reduce myself and slowly come of the medication in order to start all over again with another type. I have my appointment with the doctor on Friday so i will be able to discuss with her ways i can improve my chances of the medication actually working to put the attacks into remission.

I am still waiting for my results of the brain scan and am wondering when they will actually call me in to discuss them. I am still positive there is something there that is causing me to get more attacks than i should be getting with this condition but i could be wrong. It is so annoying not knowing what is actually causing them to happen. If i knew what sets them off then i would be able to take precautions not to set off the attacks but i am unknown territory. All i know are the main triggers such as cold or bright light or freezing temperatures that set off my condition and i am able to avoid situations where i irritate it. Lets hope the specialist will have some answers the next time i get to see him.

Well we are now into 2013 and the new year looks like its going to start very wet and cold. The temperatures are fluctuating constantly so its hard to tell if the weather is set to improve or not. I am patiently waiting for the milder weather to start so i can get back out on the river banks fishing again as i am missing it like crazy. I managed to get out on new years day but again i chose wrongly and it was close to freezing conditions and very little fishing action. Fingers crossed it improves soon.

Short rest better than none…

I actually managed to have a lie in on Saturday morning but continued to have attacks during the day and the evening. They were only small attacks so i was able to manage the pain and with the help of the oxygen managed to keep them from turning into big attacks. Unfortunately i was again woken at 3am this morning with another big attack. It was as if someone had turned on the taps and i was dripping sweat everywhere! It was pouring off me. The pain was so intense all i could hear was the ringing sound in my ears and my head felt like it was throbbing.

Again the swelling came up on the left side of the face and always seems to be at its worst when the weather is bad. Its the same with the pains i get in my back and when i am walking. They always seem to be at the strongest when we have rain or low pressure weather passing over Cardiff. When its wet i get so many aches and pains all in the joints you would not believe it. I have only been getting these pains since my head started to get bad and become a daily occurrence. I am starting to wonder if i suffer arthritis of the joints. I know my mother suffers the worst kind so if it is in the family it could be possible. Where i have had accidents and breaks seem to be where the pain starts and it is always bad weather that triggers the aches. It explains why in Cyprus i didn’t get the pains as it was “always” hot there, even in winter. When i came back to the UK is when it all started to become bad. The attacks turned from once a year to once every couple of hours and the aches and pains in the joints started to appear.

If i do suffer with arthritis there is nothing i can do about it anyway apart from take the correct medication to relieve the symptoms. It is possible that is also what irritates my head this time of year. Maybe the swelling that comes with arthritis is causing pressure on the side of my head making my attacks worst and more frequent. There are so many different things that could be causing me to have my attacks is un believable. Its not until you sit and try and analyse the problem you realise how many things it could be and why these scan results are so important to me. I am hoping that it won’t be much longer before i am called in about the results and we can hopefully see what has been going on. I have my appointment with the doctor this coming Friday so i will be able to ask her to push them a little and try and find out what’s causing them.

I have been watching the forecast very closely and i have noticed that this weekend is the last of the mild weather as there is going to be a huge drop in the temperature starting Monday. A drop from 11 degrees down to 5 or 4 will be causing hell with my attacks and i know i will be in for a rough time. Some are saying it is the start of the bad weather about to come, this so called “beast from the east” and with it comes snow! I am praying we don’t get snow this year as last year was terrible. I couldn’t even step outside the front door, as soon as the cold hit the side of my face it would immediately set of an attack and i would have to run straight back indoors. I wasn’t even able to go shopping for the 2 week period of snow we had and i am praying we don’t have a repeat this year!

Trying to hide from the beast!

It was another bad day yesterday with me getting attacks every couple of hours and feeling like i had my head split open all over again in between the attacks. The pain was so intense and just didn’t want to go away no matter what i tried. All the massaging of my head that normally eases the attacks when they happen was just making it feel sore all the time. Every trick i tried to ease the pain just didn’t seem to work yesterday for some unknown reason. I even used the electric fire again when i had an attack and by placing my head close to it so that the heat would be at the same level as the pain and then slowly move away so it cools down and then the pain will also decrease at the same time but for some reason yesterday when ever i tried this trick it just wasn’t having none of it.

Again i was woken early hours with yet another big attack and i also have some strong shadows again today so i think it will be another day of trying to do things in between attacks. It really gets annoying sometimes as you try and plan your day so you can get as much done as possible and then the attacks start and all your plans go out the window. All i can do is continue to take my medication as i am still on the increase with the drug and will be going up to 250mgs by the weekend witch means only 2 weeks until i hit the maximum dose of 300mgs. I am hoping when i get to the top dose that the attacks will start to ease as when i started taking this medication they were an lot worst than they are now. I can honestly say the medication has halved the amount of attacks i get in a day so it must be working. Also the oxygen plays a huge part as it half the length of time an attack can last and sometimes is a life line when it is needed.

The weather is set to improve over the rest of the week and weekend so i may even get another fishing trip in before the bad weather decides to pay us a visit. I have been watching the weather closely due to my condition and the fact that the weather is one of my main triggers for the attacks. They are forecasting a sudden change in the weather and wind direction saying that it will be coming from the east bringing not only very cold weather but also sleet and snow. They are calling it “The Beast from the East”.

I am praying it doesn’t snow this year as it will cause me agony and i will get another period of non stop attacks and pain. Fingers crossed we only get mild weather and the beast stays away from us. All i can do at the moment is the usual thing of staying warm and staying out of the cold wind. I will have to try and time things for when i don’t have the attacks and try and do my shopping and cleaning in between the pain periods. It can be done!

The beast is attacking!

I haven’t updated my blog just lately as i have just been way to ill to do it. i couldn’t sit long enough at the computer before another attack would start and i couldn’t see the screen or even concentrate enough to write it. Even today i am still in agony and have an attack building as i am sitting writing this.

The last couple of days have been pure hell. I have never had so many attacks in such a short period. \it seems like as soon as one stops another is building in the background ready to pounce as soon as you get rid of the one before. The level of pain varies from attack to attack some are small but many of them are massive attacks and so painful not only does it weaken you but it also scares you half to death. I can only assume it is due to the weather change as no matter what i do to try an avoid the attacks from coming or aggravate my condition i just keep on getting attack after attack.

Not only am i being woken up at 2am or 3am with a big attack but the attacks keep on going through out the day and by the end i am so shattered i just tend to pass out on the bed. My face constantly feels sore and my neck is in bits. No matter what i do if i move a tiny bit i get shooting sharp pain from the point of movement up the spine or down it if the case may be. The pain over the top of my head is so sharp all the time its like someone is cutting through it and also trying to pry my eye out with something hot as i get a burning pain behind the eye socket.

I must be averaging over 10 attacks per day at the moment witch is the worst i have been for a long while. The swelling on my head is right up and i can now feel it all the way along the left side of my head and down the back into the neck. Something is seriously aggravating my condition and i cant for the life of me think what it could be. i am taking so much care of my health at the moment the only other step i can take is to move into the hospital itself. I can only think it is the stupid weather causing it and just can’t believe how much pain the human body can endure in a 24 hour period.

All i can do for now is keep warm as usual and pray to god i get a break from it all soon as it is really draining my energy fast. I find myself out of breath more and unable to walk as far as the supermarket with out stopping to take five. At my age that is absolutely ridiculous and no way i should suddenly feel so unfit. I know it will pass as soon as my head starts to ease again but how long its going to take before i get my break i just don’t know. lets hope the year will continue and its not going to be like this for the rest of 2013 as i don’t think i will be able to take it. I have got to get to grips with this condition and find a way of getting the attacks to reduce or even better go to sleep again. I have got to beat this thing as there is now way i will let it beat me!

Happy New Year… 2013 will be GREAT!

Yesterday i spent the day nursing my head as from early morning i just seemed to get attack after attack and no matter what i tried i couldn’t stop them from coming. I am sure it was my neck that was causing the attacks to build all the time as it was so painful there wasn’t a pain killer on the market that would have eased it. I had planned on visiting my aunt with my mum and step father but because my head was so bad i couldn’t go. It just messed up all my New Year celebrations and i ended up spending the day alone in the flat and even went to be early just because i was so fed up of being in pain all the time.

My head is a little better this morning but still sore, I have had a couple of attacks but no really massive ones yet but i am sure they will come later. I don’t care what happens today as i am off out fishing at my local lake. I have been putting it off because of the weather and my head playing up all the time but not this time. I intend on starting the year as i mean to go on and there is no chance that i will let this condition dictate to me and control my life. The weather has actually improved slightly and we are forecast a clear days with a bit of cloud later in the afternoon so that is why i am off fishing. I will leave around 7.30 am to get down the lake by 8-8.15 as that is when the sun is set to rise. Hopefully i will catch a few fish today and start the year as i mean to go on.

Well its the beginning of 2013 and lets hope i can make it a year to remember. This year i will get some answers as to what causes these attacks all the time and maybe even find the solution once and for all. My mum has planned a holiday in April down in Cornwall so that is going to be a nice break to look forward to and its also a chance of fishing some brilliant fishing spots while i am down there. Also we se a start to “Fishing Adventures Wales” as its is my first fishing trip of the year today and will get a chance to update my web sites and get them started properly. My first fishing match is this month towards the end so that is another thing to look forward to. I intend on entering quite a few competitions but only the small club ones for this year so i can get a lot of practice ready for 2014 and maybe even enter the big competitions when i feel i am ready. i have been made a member of the Llanrumney Angling Club, my local club, so that has made me really happy and i now have a group of people i can go fishing with.

Well 2013 looks like its going to be a good year for me so far so i am chuffed and actually woken up with a smile on my face despite the constant pain in the side of my head. There are so many things i am looking forward to but after the last 10 years of struggling and feeling so low you couldn’t imagine, i have become impatient and want all these things to start happening now. They will when it is time i just have to learn to be calm and take things as they come. Let me take this opportunity to thank all my readers and wish them all a Happy New year and i hope 2013 turns out to be a great year for you too.