Imagine the worst pain you’ve ever experienced. Now multiply it by ten, localize it behind one eye, and repeat it up to eight times a day. Welcome to the world of cluster headaches, often called “suicide headaches” due to their intensity.
Now imagine trying to track that pain on a piece of paper with just one line per day. For all eight attacks.
That was the situation I found myself in during a recent hospital stay for cluster headaches. One line. Per day. To track up to eight attacks, each with varying intensity, triggers, and medications. It was absurd.
The existing tools were inadequate, especially for cluster headaches. So I decided to build a better one myself. That’s how the Cluster Headache Tracker was born - right there in my hospital bed, between attacks.
Coding Through Adversity: A Familiar Story
This wasn’t my first time coding through adversity. While building Freshflow, a venture-backed AI-powered food waste reduction system, I faced a 1.5-month bout of cluster headaches. Two weeks of that time were spent coding from a hospital bed. Adversity didn’t stop innovation; it fueled it.
There’s something about the combination of pain, frustration, and the quiet solitude of a hospital room that seems to focus the mind. Within hours, I had a functional version of what would become the Cluster Headache Tracker.
Lessons from Building in the Face of Adversity
1. Necessity Truly Is the Mother of Invention
When faced with an inadequate solution, I didn’t just complain. I created. The Cluster Headache Tracker was born out of a genuine need - not just for me, but for countless others who struggle with this condition.
Takeaway: Your struggles uniquely position you to create solutions. What problem do you face that you’re uniquely equipped to solve?
2. Start Small, But Start
The first version of the tracker was built in hours, right there in my hospital bed. It wasn’t perfect, but it was functional. It solved the immediate problem of accurately logging my attacks.
Takeaway: Don’t wait for perfect conditions or a fully-formed idea. Start with what you have, where you are.
3. Open Source Can Amplify Impact
By making the Cluster Headache Tracker free and open source, its potential impact grows exponentially. It’s no longer limited by my time or resources, but can evolve with input from a global community.
Takeaway: Consider how you can leverage community and collaboration to increase the impact of your work.
4. Constraints Can Fuel Creativity
The limitations of a hospital bed and bouts of intense pain led to focused, efficient problem-solving. These constraints forced me to think creatively and come up with solutions I might not have considered in more comfortable circumstances.
Takeaway: Look at your constraints not as limitations, but as potential catalysts for innovation. How can you turn your challenges into opportunities for creative problem-solving?
5. Resilience Is About Getting Back Up
Living with cluster headaches for a decade has taught me that resilience isn’t about never experiencing setbacks. It’s about how you respond to those setbacks. My bouts come every three years and last about a month. During those times, life is challenging - photophobia and phonophobia kick in, sleep is disturbed, and certain foods become triggers.
But between bouts? Life is full, productive, and remarkably normal. Each bout ends eventually, and each challenge brings new lessons and opportunities for growth.
Takeaway: Reframe your challenges. How can they make you stronger, more knowledgeable, or better equipped to help others?
The Power of Personal Experience in Innovation
My journey with cluster headaches and the creation of this tracker reminded me of my experience building Freshflow. Both involved coding through pain, and both aimed to solve real-world problems.
These experiences have taught me that our personal challenges often contain the seeds of innovative solutions. We just need the courage and perseverance to nurture those seeds.
Creativity Beyond the Hospital Bed
It’s important to note that creativity and problem-solving aren’t confined to hospital beds or times of extreme adversity. These experiences have simply highlighted a fundamental truth: innovation happens when we actively seek solutions to the problems we encounter, wherever and whenever they arise.
An Invitation to Create
If you’re facing a problem with inadequate solutions, remember this: you might be the perfect person to create a better one. Your unique experience, perspective, and skills could be exactly what’s needed.
So I invite you:
- If you suffer from cluster headaches, try the tracker: https://clusterheadachetracker.com
- If you’re a developer interested in health tech, contribute to the project: https://github.com/crmne/cluster-headache-tracker
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If you want to support this project and future innovations, you can buy me a pizza:
- If you’re facing your own challenges, consider how they might be transformed into opportunities to help others.
Remember, it all started with a piece of paper with one line per day. What will your frustration spark?
I’d love to hear your stories of turning challenges into opportunities. Have you created solutions born from personal need? Share in the comments or reach out directly.
Let’s create the tools we wish existed in the world.
