Whose up for a stupid question?

“They say there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers.

On an off shoot, it came up in discussion on a totally different board. And, I have two (2) stupid questions.

My youngest son suffers from Cluster Headaches (unusual for age), and to treat the headaches (to make it manageable anyway) we administer oxygen at onset (very expensive). Cluster Headaches are very cyclic and he has yet to have an episode on the trail. I believe him to be in remission right now so can't put much stock in that backpacking is the cure to his ill. (But wouldn't that be a great thing!!)

But I was wondering, if (1) purchasing mountain climbing oxygen supplies would be better choice than the monthly rental of medical grade huge K tanks to have sitting at home that is collecting cobwebs anyway. Shoot, I was wondering what kind of equipment they pack???

(2) Water (hydration) habits are so different on the trail that I need some advise on getting him to stop being a kid and drink water at home. Okay, I know I didn't give you a lead in on this one but there is this "water treatment"-- while it doesn't keep the attacks from happening--, it does soften the severity of the attacks in many people. On the trail, he has the hydrater hose permanantely attached at the mouth - how do I talk him into doing this at home??? Why is it only cool on the trail???”

“I don't know what to tell you about 1, but can you use flavored but unsweetened water for 2? DOes he tend to drink a lot of sodas? This could be part of the problem.”

“Recently there was a thread where people talked about a beverage mix that works well in replentishing fluids and electrolites (sp?) and was better than gatorade in taste and lower sugar content. Sorry I don't remember the name of the stuff”

“Emergen C or something close to that.

It had one of those messed up spellings.”

“It is emergen C, but it has no electrolytes....just vitamins and no sugar or sodium. It's available through Alacer corp.”

“one of my kids gets a headache everytime he does't drink enough water.

I make him drink water, also buy that propel water by gatorade. He loves that. Soda is a treat. :) but they are still young, so if I dn't buy soda they won't get it.”

“verging off topic a bit...

have a look at the "nutrition" label on a Coke sometime.

"Cool, only 100 calories" you think. Look more closely... that's for an 8oz serving. A 12oz can has 1.5 servings. A 20oz bottle has 2.5 servings.

Gotta be careful... all that sugar can't be good for ya.”

“Was the product cylotmax (something like that?)

Shu - Little guy could be getting it from soda. I used to get caffine headaches when I was younger from pop, however nowadays I can drink a pot of coffee and I don't get them. One of the things I really hate to see is soda machines in schools. Let alone what they're serving in the cafeteria. Might there be some irritant in the air where you live? Have you had your home tested for Black Mold? It seems really odd that he doesn't get them on the trail. Something bugging him at school? A friend in trouble? Puberty?

I hope he's alright. Max really had fun hanging out with him! After his nap on the way home he asked where he was. Too cute.”

“Has anyone tried the stablized oxygen packs? - seems a gimmick”

“My oldest son, now 13, has suffered from severe migrain headaches since he was old enough to describe the pain. Extreme pain and sensitivity to light, numbness in the extremities, nausia. We could never isolate a trigger (food or environment or circumstances). The neurologist we took him to said he may grow out of them. The prescription nasal mist he was on was sometimes effective but unpleasant. He used to get one about once a month or so, but in the last 2 years has only had 1 I can remember. He is much more active now, backpacks a lot, and drinks almost only water and milk. He carries a nalgene full of water most places - maybe that makes it cool - I dunno. He keeps some "excedrine migrain" with him just in case, which was more effective than the prescription med.”

“My wife has been getting migraines recently. Her trigger seems to be stress, so we've been working on keeping her life more stress-free. It's been working okay.”

“Q: Max made quite an impression on Cam too :-) -- Would like to see the group together again next year--I think it would be cool to see how the kids have grown & changed. (Next time, I park the car, K?)

Actually, at home he drinks lots of milk and in fact has to be scolded for drinking too much. (Actually has been to emergency room for Constipation, poor kid). We do not keep cokes in the house. He is on the "Headache diet" and unfortunately, they don't provide school lunches here so he gets to make his lunch every morning to take to school. He doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink (alchol) so we are covered there. :-)

He was diagnosed w/ CH because it is cyclic. Every 8 days, at 6:00 PM, no matter where he is or what he is doing or what he has eaten or drinken (drunk?), for 90 minutes he gets these intense attack headaches that you can't medicate for or against. They started last August and finally disipated in March. Onset is usually fall for most sufferers and usually in early 20s. He maybe in remission until then (I Hope I Hope I Hope).

I am thinking hydration is the obvious problem - his body obvious treats it very differently than the rest us Schufams. (They have him on this Anti-Histamine "Therapy" ** which is why I was pushing the Benedryl on him at camp** trying to train his body in a proper response to the "attack").

Garfum - think your son can give me some pointers to help encourage him? I am very much encouraged by your post.”

“how old is he? my friend's little sister just started drinking a lot of water after discovering that it cleared up her complexion practically overnight. i didn't drink water when i was little, and had a headache practically every day. one day, i discovered that it was much better with lemon in it, and then i thought water was cool to drink. LOL! actually, i don't think anyone ever explained to me why you need to drink lots of water. have you tried that?”

“Good luck, shufam! I hope we can get everyone together real soon!!”