Author |
Topic: Somebody Please Help me!! (Read 3402 times) |
|
George_J
CH.com Alumnus
New Board Hall of Famer
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Gender: 
Posts: 4222
|
 |
Re: Somebody Please Help me!!
« Reply #25 on: Jul 20th, 2007, 8:53pm » |
 Quote  Modify
|
I have very little to add to the excellent advice you've gotten so far. From your description, however, it sounds as if his reactions to the pain may be making his experience of an attack even worse.
I'm convinced that the mechanisms behind an attack are outside voluntary control. You can't make an attack stop by "thinking" your way out of it. But you can control how you react to the pain. And that can help.
I've posted this before, but it's a good time to do it again, I think:
No matter what medications or treatments you use, sooner or later you're going to face a hit with nothing but your naked brain. It's common for a CH'r to panic at times like these, and to act in ways that--while not increasing pain, increase the effects and the perception of pain.
Like anything else in life, experience counts. Most of us who've had these for a long time have had to learn how to cope with a hit on our own. I hope that what follows may be of use, and may quicken your ability to take a hit with some measure of aplomb. Try these things--if they work for you, good. If they don't work--well, what have you lost?
First a couple of caveats: This will most likely not shorten a hit, nor will it decrease the actual pain--only the perceived pain. It probably won't work with anything higher than a Kip 8--the intensity is just too high to concentrate on what you're doing.
There is nothing mystical or spiritual about this--it's simply a way to calm yourself and to decrease your perception of pain.
First, accept that you're getting a hit. Denial won't help, and struggling won't help. Go to a quiet, dark place so you can concentrate. You want everything in your visual field to be fuzzy and diffuse. Sharply defined objects can serve as a metaphor for the focus of pain. Although many clusterheads are not light-phobic, darkness helps.
Sit upright. As you know, it's not possible to lie down. Don't pace, don't fight. Extremely difficult to do, I know, but it's worth it. Sit quietly.
Begin to breathe slowly, rhythmically, and deeply, whether or not you're using oxygen. This will serve to calm you, and will increase the oxygen content in your blood.
Consciously relax the individual muscles in your face, scalp and neck, one by one. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply.
Inside the pain, there is a focal point--a knifepoint--most likely behind your eye. Focus your attention on it, and locate it.
Got it? Now gradually shift the focus of your attention to an adjacent area on the headache side where the pain is less intense. My personal favorite is just under the skin on the forehead. Your attention will shift back to the knifepoint again and again, but don't let that upset you or discourage you. Focus your conscious attention away from the knifepoint.
Next and last, begin to move in some rhythmic manner. I turn my neck slightly to "click" over the knot that forms at the base of the neck, over and over. Others rock back and forth. One person I know of on this board hits his leg with his fist.
Be calm. Don't think about much of anything, and above all, don't worry.
The result is a trance-like state where the pain still exists, but your attention is less focused on it. Sooner or later, the hit will end. You know this. Remember. There is life between the hits.
Again, this won't end a hit, nor is it a cure--simply a coping technique. I think of CH hits as if they were storms. There's nothing I can do about them, so I've learned to get through them as best I can. Learning to cope has allowed me to build a crude little shelter out of burlap and sticks where "I" can hide from the worst of the weather.
Talk to Charlie about "Dr. Wright's Circulatory Technique" as well.
Best wishes,
George
|
|
 IP Logged |
Ah! The foreigners put on such airs
Wearing the tangerine suits
And their harlequin eyes.
The pain they inspire
Draws in harmonica melodies
And the feathers of birds
Which flame up at their touch.
It all comes to light in the sheer
Debonair.
(Ellen)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
Help
Search
Members
Member Map
Login
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print
test rss