I want to know the personal experiences of people regarding exersize and their CH. It seems it could be a trigger for me, but I want to know as much as I can so perhaps I can still workout if this current thing I am going through turns into a cycle.

Thanks in advance gang! I REALLY need to start working out again!

A topic which pops up about every 6-months....
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Lancet. 1999 Sep 18;354(9183):1001-2.
Comment in:
Lancet. 2000 Jan 8;355(9198):147.

A new cluster headache precipitant: increased body heat.

Blau JN, Engel HO.

Exercise, a hot bath, or elevated environmental temperature provoked cluster headaches, within 1 h, in 75 out of 200 patients. This new observation accords with recognised precipitants--alcohol, histamine, and gyceryl trinitrate--perhaps via generalised vasodilatation or hypothalamic activation.

Publication Types:
Letter

PMID: 10501368 [PubMed]
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The other side of the coin: a few people find that exercise will help reduce, even block an attack. My first doc who Dx me suggested fast walking as a potenial abortive.

I assume exercise works for the same reason that the oxygen routine works.

fast walking, sprinting a block or so, and sit ups on a slant board, have all helped me -  but it could just be they give me something to do that keeps me out of trouble while gettig hit, lol.

Unrelated, but I have also found that when I do the 12 hour fasts before blood tests, that seems to lower the intensity of hits during that time.

Charlotte

Exercise has never set off a CH for me...but, people vary. Now...the hot baths/showers make my CH worse when in cycle. It's fall now, and I'm seeing more and more people in cycle at this time..just observing. To all of you who are in cycle, my thoughts and prayers are with you. :-[

Excercise has never triggered an attack for me and I'm a regular gym rat. Before I discovered the joys of oxygen, imitrex etc., I'd go for a hard 30 minute run when I felt an atttack coming. I could often times substantially reduce a hit that way. I gotta say oxygen is a whisker more convenient and a hell of a lot more effective. ;)

Just one more way the beast won't treat any two of us the same.

Guiseppi

I mountain bike, I know, we all know this, but it is tough being on Verapamil and biking. Pace yourself.

Barry is so right about the verapamil. My daughter has CH and is a competitive swimmer. She found she couldn't complete a meet or practice on high levels of verapamil. She became very dizzy and her times were off. She is on 320 now and doing fine although she will take her meds after practice int he morning.

Swimming has been great for her. the cold water seems to stop any CH.

Charlotte

well i don't exercise much but i have noticed when i'm climbing around on a load and doing physical work i usually don't get hit. i noticed in previous cycle when i did flooring i would always get hit after 20 minutes into the ride home. i could run jackhammers all day bust up tile with a sledgehammer, be around all that demo dust and be fine until i went home. of coarse some days i'd get hit all day. if that was the case i would usually call in sick. being a truck driver i don't have to worry about coworkers much anymore.

I quit working out when I have a cycle. Not because the exercise trigger HA's. The HA comes later when the endorphines are released and relaxation comes. At least that is what I believe happens. I can abort HA's doing push ups at onset, even the ones I feel will be k6-10. Usually I have 3 -4 hits a nite during the middle of a cycle. 2 small ones and the hammer wakes me up the third/fourth time usually around 07, and that's when I hit the floor...

While in cycle, I am sure to get hit about ten minutes after I finish exercising.  I'm fine during but once I stop I'm done for.  Even brisk walk will trigger a HA.  

Jeannie

I don't exercise on a regular basis, but it is a trigger for me.  Last kip 7 was triggered when I was hiking and climbing a steep hill.

Beth who should not use this as an excuse to not exercize