群発頭痛奮闘記

やはりまだ右目の奥辺りに嫌な違和感はある。吐き気も少しゆるやかになったがまだある。台風が日本の近くに二つ発生しておりその内の大きめの台風が東京を通過するらしい。頭の締め付け感もあり吐き気もやはり乗り物酔いする人にとっては出るそうだ。山道を車で何度もくねくね揺られるもしくは巨大なフェリーに乗ってゆっくり船酔いしているような感じだ。本格的な頭痛には至ってないがトリガーとなるアルコール（料理に使われる少量のアルコールも含む）やチョコレートやココアに含まれるカカオなどに注意しないといけない。音にも敏感で現在オリンピックの影響でヘリコプターが爆音で上空を飛び回っているので少し辛い。モーターヘッドなどのラウドなロックやビッグブラックなどのノイズロックはeargasmなのに街や生活環境の中の騒音は苦手だ。都内の頭痛外来に数年前から通い始めとても良く効く痛み止め薬を処方してもらっている。一回の受診で処方してもらえる錠剤の数は限られている。５錠が通常の量だったが今は一回の受診で10錠にしていただいた。頭痛の始まりを和らげる頭痛拮抗薬も処方されるが効果は個人的には実感はない。痛め止め薬の方はよく効くので重宝している。市販では手に入らないものだと思う。群発頭痛の痛みは1-10の段階で示すようにされているが自分の場合は群発頭痛期間に入ると常に9-10レベルの痛みでかなり辛い。例えていうと右目の奥をえぐられるようなジンジンした痛みが規則的に数時間続く。痛みに伴い涙がポロポロ自然に流れる。日常生活がままならなくなるほどの痛みなので処方された痛み止めの薬を飲んで横になって安静になるほかない。一年の間で１〜２期間程のペースでここ数年群発頭痛と付き合っているが今年は何故かまだ頭痛期間が一度も来ていない。梅雨の頃や台風が接近してきた時季節の変わり目がトリガーになるのだけどまだない。なのでこの台風が無事に過ぎ去ってすっきり復調していることを願う。

Struggle of Cluster Headaches

I still have an uncomfortable feeling behind my right eye. The nausea has eased up a bit, but it's still there. There are two typhoons near Japan, and the larger of the two is supposed to pass through Tokyo. I felt a tightness in my head, and nausea was also said to occur for those who get motion sickness. I felt like I was being rocked over and over by a car on a mountain road, or like I was slowly getting seasick on a huge ferry. It's not a full-blown headache, but I have to watch out for triggers such as alcohol (including small amounts of alcohol used in cooking) and cocoa in chocolate and cocoa. I'm also sensitive to sound, which is a bit of a pain right now with all the helicopters flying around due to the Tokyo Olympics. Loud rock like Motörhead and noise rock like Big Black are pleasant to my ears, but I have a hard time with noise in the city and in my living environment. I've been going to an outpatient headache clinic for a few years now and have been prescribed a very effective painkiller. The number of pills prescribed per visit is limited; five used to be the usual dosage, but now they give me ten pills per visit. They also prescribe a headache antagonist to relieve the onset of headaches, but I personally don't feel that it is effective. The painkillers work well and are very useful. I don't think they are available over the counter. The pain of cluster headaches is supposed to be on a scale of 1-10, but in my case, when I enter a cluster headache period, the pain is always on a scale of 9-10, which is quite painful. For example, I get a burning pain in the back of my right eye that lasts for several hours on a regular basis. With the pain, tears flow spontaneously. The pain is so bad that I can no longer do my daily life, so I have no choice but to take the prescribed painkillers and lie down to rest. I've been dealing with cluster headaches for the past few years at a pace of about one or two periods a year, but for some reason I haven't had a single headache period yet this year. It is triggered during the rainy season, when typhoons approach, and when the seasons change, but I haven't had one yet. So I hope this typhoon will pass safely and I'll be back to normal.

My Top 10 Big Black Songs

My Top 10 Motörhead Songs