Posts by Matthew Bishop44

So, I just finished my EEG and everything came back totally normal, which I guess means epilepsy is probably off the table. The closest thing I could find online to what I'm feeling is "brain zaps," but those usually happen to people tapering off anxiety meds or antidepressants, which definitely isn't my situation. Right now, I’m waiting on my neurologist to review everything because these headaches have been hitting me almost every single day—it's brutal. I'll likely need to get an MRI done soon, though my last one back in 2009 was perfectly fine. My neck is also a total mess, so honestly, it might all just be related to that. But man, the way I fall asleep is just so weird... it’s like I hit REM sleep in a literal millisecond. It feels like some kind of glitch between my body and my brain, or maybe I should just describe it as a sudden electric shock to the head?

I mean, honestly, I’d say like 90% of what you just listed are classic anxiety symptoms, though obviously, you’d need to get everything checked out properly first by a doctor

I’m honestly not sure if this falls under neurology or psychiatry, but man, it is such a nasty feeling... it’s like I die for a split second, you know? And it feels like it's happening way more often lately.

I actually have a whole separate forum dedicated specifically to treating fungal infections—assuming we're talking about the same kind of stuff 🍄—so if there’s anything else you’re curious about, just shoot me a DM! I don't want us getting banned or anything

From what I can tell, if you need medical oxygen around here, you pretty much have to go through Airgas. They’ve got a facility out in suburban New Jersey, but it’s not like you can just roll up to the window and ask for a quick refill, you know? I guess you actually need a formal referral from your neurologist first before they'll even deal with you.

Man, I dealt with a trigeminal neuralgia diagnosis for like 10 whole years... :(

Honestly, there’s zero reason to be scared of oxygen! It’s totally harmless, and the gas itself isn't even pricey—I used to grab a big tank for maybe $10, and I was going through one every month or so. (That’s basically less than the price of a fancy latte, right?) I guess the real sting is just that initial setup cost, but you can definitely find way cheaper deals if you look online. Look, I feel like I know exactly what kind of cycle you're dealing with right now... you're probably relying on imported stuff just to handle the actual attacks, and honestly, *that* is what you should actually be worried about. Maybe it's worth looking into renting a tank and a regulator first, just to give it a shot

Oh, and one more thing! My neurologist actually suggested I start an initiative and file a formal request with the Department of Health to get oxygen therapy recognized for cluster headaches. Honestly, people on the online forums can’t believe that it isn't covered here in the States. I mean, if you think about it, the monthly cost for oxygen per patient would only be like, what, maybe $15 or $20 for the government? And then you've got the meds, which run at least $150 or so. It was weighing on my mind for a while, but honestly, it's just so hard to reach out to all the other patients—my doctor has about a hundred of them under her care, but you know how it is with privacy laws and HIPAA and all that blah blah blah... so I kind of lost steam. Maybe something has changed in the last three years, though I really doubt it.

Honestly, rushing to the ER is kind of pointless because the whole trick with oxygen therapy is starting to inhale the second you feel an attack coming on. The more it ramps up, the longer it takes to calm down. Unless you literally live inside an emergency room... which, okay, nobody does. That’s why having a little portable tank (enough for maybe 2 or 3 attacks) is a total lifesaver if you get hit while you're at work or out and about. And seriously, you need two big tanks because you do NOT want to be stuck even a single minute without supplies when the first one starts running low, trust me. I'm not sure where you're located, but here in Washington, D.C., a few neurologists have actually taken an interest in clusters, though it's still pretty hit or miss. The best example is their recommendation to breathe oxygen at a flow of 7-15 L/min!!!!! Look, a person at rest breathes maybe 12-15 times a minute, and you know damn well that during an attack, it feels like you're sprinting a 100-meter dash. An absolute bare minimum is a 15 L/min regulator, but newer research actually suggests 25—you basically have to hyperventilate the oxygen. But here's the catch: the regulator they sell at Airgas only goes up to 15 L/min and costs around $667 if I remember right. You can definitely find better stuff on eBay for a way cheaper price. So yeah, it's a big upfront investment, but it is worth every single penny. It'll totally fix your life for those 2 or 3 months while your cycle lasts, and you'll see how much muuuuuuch easier everything becomes.
Btw, I actually have a large tank sitting here, so feel free to reach out whenever you (and if) an attack hits, and I'll lend it to you.

I honestly feel like Propranolol is just a preventative that ends up making your cycle run faster, so I’m not totally sure why you're even starting it now. If you're looking for prevention, I guess the best bet is just slamming high doses of Omega-3 and Vitamin D3—like, maybe four times the daily recommended amount? It helps with both the cycles and the oxygen stuff. In the States, as far as I know, Airgas is pretty much the main place to get oxygen. You should definitely check out a cluster headache forum; they have everything laid out there. For me, my cycles usually hit in the fall; over the last three years, they just start off as mild attacks and then sort of fizzle out on their own. I don't know if that's because of age (some people say it stops after 50), the oxygen, or the vitamins, but personally, I wouldn't bother with those meds anymore. Regarding the oxygen, if you're certain you have clusters, it works 100% of the time. As soon as an attack starts, you just rush to the tank and within a few minutes, the pain subsides before it drives you absolutely insane. You might notice the attacks happening more frequently during the first few days—I actually went from two a day up to ten at one point—but don't let that freak you out, it's totally normal. Equipment-wise, you'll need at least two 200-bar oxygen tanks, a small portable one, a regulator, and a mask. A few years back, you could rent gear from places like Airgas for a tiny bit of change (besides paying for the oxygen itself, which is maybe $70 a tank), but from what I hear, our healthcare system has basically banned that kind of thing now. I guess they'd rather we pay big pharma for drugs that are 1000x more expensive than just using oxygen.
Whoops, I totally rambled there! Feel free to shoot me a PM if you want; there's a ton of other stuff you should probably know, and seriously, go check out that forum I mentioned.

Honestly, I don't think there's any point in me copy-pasting a list of symptoms for this absolute monster known as cluster headaches. If you're actually living through it, you already know exactly what kind of hell we're talking about. I’ve been battling clusters for 15 years now, and man, during my worst cycles, I’d drop like 20 pounds just from the sheer agony—it seriously pushed me to the breaking point. Not to mention all those endless doctor visits, getting totally misdiagnosed, swallowing mountains of heavy meds, and bouncing between different neurologists who were just scratching their heads. Things are looking up lately, but back in the 90s? It was like nobody in the medical field even knew what hit them. I basically had to become my own detective, Googling everything until I finally figured out what was happening, walked into a neurologist's office, and was like, "Yeah, this is it." During my second-to-last cycle, I finally gave oxygen therapy a shot, and oh my god, it absolutely kills the pain. Plus, I think I actually found a way to stop the next cycles from hitting. If you guys don't mind, I'll drop a link to a cluster headache forum. I see so many people still going through the wringer, popping Imigran and other stuff that leaves you feeling like garbage because of the side effects, when oxygen is honestly a miracle worker. It feels completely natural, safe, and zero side effects. So yeah, please feel free to ask me anything! After 15 years in this nightmare, I feel like I’ve basically earned a PhD in cluster headaches.😁:

So, a few days ago I whipped up two batches of syrup. One batch turned out this absolutely brilliant yellow, but the second one... man, it came out looking kind of dark, reddish, and honestly just a bit funky and mushy. The recipe was totally identical for both—just the usual classic setup: 5 liters of water, 3.5 kg of sugar, about 50 flowers, and 100g of citric acid. Day 1, I let the flowers steep in the water. Day 2, I strained everything through some cheesecloth and then mixed in the sugar and the citric acid.
I wonder if anyone knows where I might have messed up on that second batch?

Hey there!
How long does recovery actually take after getting surgery for a fistula and hemorrhoids? I've been scrolling through the last 20 pages here, and man, it’s all over the place. Every clinic seems to claim their specific technique is the absolute best—they promise you'll be back to your normal routine by the next day, blah blah blah... but then on the flip side, I know a few people who went through it (I'm not even sure which method they used) and they were dealing with unbearable pain for up to a month. So, I'm really hoping anyone who's been through this could share what their experience was actually like after the surgery

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