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Topic: Instant relief with no medication (Read 2710 times) |
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seasonalboomer
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If I think hard enough maybe it'll go away.....
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #25 on: Dec 14th, 2005, 8:17am » |
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on Dec 9th, 2005, 9:19pm, Jonny wrote:
Ive heard less shit coming out of a dogs ass!!
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When my dog takes Rimadyl for her arthritis I notice that she gets constipated. Which would make this a relevant contribution to the discussion. Is this the kind of thing you're referring to Jonny?
Scott
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seasonal boomer
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chewy
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #26 on: Dec 15th, 2005, 8:22am » |
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Quote:In the last 4 days, I have been:
1. called a f-ing punk.
2. told I speak shit like a dog's ass.
3. called a drunk.
4. described as medically uneducated, illiterate and ridiculously pompuous.
5. told I'm f-ing stupid.
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Thats just wrong! Should have just called you a meeegrainer and been done with it.
You SIT and play cards during an attack?
"The Medical Offices of Dr. Sultan and Tidge"
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| « Last Edit: Dec 15th, 2005, 8:25am by chewy » |
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GingerS224
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I hate pain!
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #27 on: Dec 15th, 2005, 11:47am » |
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on Dec 8th, 2005, 4:32am, tidge wrote:Hi all
I have had chronic CH since 1989. I haven't been without one for more than 2 weeks since. Last night I had 5.
I've learnt to deal with them and minimize their effect on my function with a simple technique that I have honed over the last 10 years. I hope it helps someone else. I am a doctor so I'll be using medical language - if you don't understand, please visit a doctor with this post for an explanation.
It all started with holding my head (right side), placing my small finger on my nasal artery, my ring finger on my temporal artery and my palm on my cheek. I found that occlusion of these vessels helped a little with the pain and my right nostril unblocked quicker (my sign that the CH is on its way). Then I went for the *big one* - the common carotid - with my thumb, other fingers still in place.
I learnt how to compress the carotid artery in my neck slowly and carefully, so as to prevent uncomfortable hyperventilation. My thumb must be in my neck, not at the angle of the jaw, because there is a structure there called the carotid body that regulates blood pressure. If you compress that, your brain tells your heart to pump a lot less. If you compress below (in your neck), your brain tells your heart to pump just a little more.
There is no need to worry about your brain not receiving enough blood - you have two vertebral arteries that combine with the carotids at the base of the brain in a circle. So occlusion of one carotid artery (below the carotid body) will result only in decreased blood flow to the external carotid artery on that side. The external carotid provides blood to the face and head outside the skull, where the nerves are that give you the pain (the brain does not have pain receptors). Reducing the pressure in these vessels stimulates a feedback mechanism that tightens the vessels to increase local blood pressure. The vessels constrict and the CH disappears.
When I say disappear, I mean disappear - absolutely no pain. But there are a number of nuances and exceptions that you must be aware of:
1. Start compression at the first sign of a CH - the earlier the better. I am now at the point that my thumb is in place before I even know that I'm getting a CH. Friends point it out to me before I recognize it myself. If you are sitting at a table, you can rest your head on your hand and no-one will even notice. If you are standing, it looks a little strange, but is a whole lot more comfortable than the CH.
2. Compress slowly. If you occlude too quickly you may hyperventilate. This technique takes a while to learn. Find the balance between benefit and discomfort. I now occlude completely within a few seconds, but it took me a while to get there.
3. Compress the artery with as much surface area of your thumbprint as possible. You don't want to hurt your neck.
4. When the pain has gone, release slowly. If you suddenly take your thumb away, the CH will come back with a vengeance.
5. Find the balance between amount of compression/occlusion and CH pain. It has become a mental, meditative exercise for me. Occlude only as much as is neccessary to remove the pain and constantly adjust the pressure as the pain subsides.
Unfortunately I still suffer from the nighttime CH. By the time I wake up the CH is at full tilt and compression has minimal effect. I find that a quick dip of the sore half of my head in a basin of cold water has an immediate relieving effect (also based on artery constriction) but is not sustainable until the CH has passed. The nighttime CH's are still tough to handle and are the only ones where I still perform the cluster dance.
After trying pretty much every medication in the books for the first five years, I haven't taken any meds for the last ten. I hope this helps you get rid of the expense and dependency that comes with the medication.
PS: don't abstain from alcohol - it's not worth the sacrifice ;^)
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tidge : I am new here and was quite interested after reading your post. Is there anyway you can provide an Image of hand/finger placements so that I could try this method ? There are times when I either don't have a shot available to take or any other option other than to suffer through the excrutiating pain.
Thanks!
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MJ
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #28 on: Dec 15th, 2005, 12:26pm » |
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Look in the cluster headache specific section for Carotid Occlusion thread.
Tidge has laid out some pics and further methodology.
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MJ
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GingerS224
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I hate pain!
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #29 on: Dec 19th, 2005, 10:30am » |
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Thanks Bunches MJ 
Ging...
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floridian
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #30 on: Dec 22nd, 2005, 5:15pm » |
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Your not the first to say that strategic pressure on an artery or two can reduce the pain. I won't insult you, but the idea that its ok to drink and provoke an attack is hard to follow, even if you can reduce the pain by pressing on strategic pressure points.
For one thing, the excruciating pain is just part of the cluster enchillada. There are lots of other disruptions; I have had a painless cycle and still felt messed up for about 2 months - irregular heart beat, swelling and tic in one eye, disturbed sleep, all the other problems that I have in a cycle, just no pain. And I still felt like I was going to die.
Yeah, peer pressure is a bitch. Until you realize that everyone is a schmuck. A real friend will tolerate a little 'strange behavior' (like no alcohol when you are sick) ... a drinking buddy will not.
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Ghost
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Farting relieves the pressure
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Re: Instant relief with no medication
« Reply #31 on: Dec 22nd, 2005, 5:55pm » |
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Hey tidge welcome and i see you got a good way to meet new friends. Hope you stick around and help others and hopefully be helped too.
Mike
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