this should be interesting...

a buddy of mine recently saw me during a hit and asked me what was wrong with my eye.  my guarana and taurine mixture was already at work,  pain subsiding, so i was in an amiable mood and explained CH to him.  we picked up a lively conversation about cazy things we or people we know have done to abort headaches, regardless of the type.

which brings me to this post...
what are some crazy ways you all have either tried or knew someone who has tried to abort a CH?  most of my stories are from before i was diagnosed...
things i have done:

craziest:  tried to drill a knife through my temple once.  normally, im a lefty.  i got hit on the right side once that not only took me by complete surprise, but incited a rage in me that i had never before, nor since, experienced.  there is still a small dent in my right temple.  i call this one craziest because i was completely insane at the time.

dumbest:  squirted concentrated capsicum oleoresin up my nose. ::)  the funny thing is, the first couple times i did this, it actually worked.  i still believe it was because of the hyperventilation from breathing fast, hard, and deep through my mouth, after i got done coughing until i nearly puked.

honorable mention:  ran at a full sprint while barefoot, wearing only a pair of running shorts, with 8 inches of snow on the ground until i simply couldn't move anymore and collapsed and nearly passed out.  this actually works pretty well for me.  i still sprint on occasion to abort or knock the pain down, but it worked SO much better when it was 18 degrees outside.  i wouldn't call this one crazy.  my neighbors on the other hand thought i was high ;D

Ow ow ow ouch about  the knife to the temple thing - although the insanity inducing potential of a major hit like that is completely understood.  :o

I had a couple successes in low cycle with capsicum cream up the shnoz myself.  :D

Agreed that there's nothing crazy about an all out sprint in 18 degree weather. In the 100% free category that cold air and sprinting combo has to be about  the most effective abortive I know of .  8-)

I saw on this website where someone used hot sauce under the tongue for 10-15 minutes. I didn't think I could hold it that long, so I use Atomic fireballs instead, works about 60% of the time...

i use a concentrated pepper extract in some foods.  i love spicy foods and i love chilli, but after spending half a year in the army special forces training course, i was no longer used to eating all that spicy food.  long story short, i got a drop in my eye on accident.  the scoville rating for this stuff was 1.5 million, so it wasnt pleasant to say the least.  i had a shadow bouncing around behind my eye that was gone by the time my eye stopped burning(15 minutes?).  anyway, i looked up pepper and clusterheadaches and saw something about people using capsicum.  maybe it wasnt a crazy idea, but trying it with a pepper extract that is over 700 times hotter than tobasco sauce probably was...  either way, it worked twice then didn't work anymore.

Never actually DID it....(thank goodness)....but held a pen knife to the base of my temple, convinced if I could cut the tendon at its base, it would stop pulling on my skull which CLEARLY was the pain mechanism! ::)

Joe

i really dont have a clue what i was thinking, it was more like i was angry at whatever it was that was causing pain... 
angry is not really the right word.  complete fury maybe?.  i didn't even feel the knife boring into my temple, all i could feel was the CH.  the knife was pretty dull with a relatively blunt end.  somewhere in the midst of it all the knife shattered, but i don't think it was on my temple, i think i slammed it on the ground.  not really sure.

one of the other dumb ones i tried was getting very drunk really fast... i thought, if i can just get drunk enough before the pain starts... 
actually, that probably was THE dumbest one.

yep, by then i knew better.

Pepper up my nose,... I'd heard about the capsazin but only had the powdered version so snorted it and it didn't seem to go up high enough so I then stood on my head.  Then freaked cause I couldn't get down off my head.  Jeesh that was about a decade ago.  LMAO  what I sight that must have been.

You guys and the knives... scary, ouchy!  I've just jammed dull objects into my eye, but thus far haven't caused damage.  I try not to do it anymore.

Wee hours of the morning.  Woke up my supporter out of a deep sleep, handed him the keys and told him to drive around the neightborhood like a madman with me sticking my head out the window like a dog does.. trying to get the cold air.   (this was before 02)

UPS guy at my front door.   Had my head in the freezer while asking him to come in so I could sign for it.  He refused and said he'd be back.   All the while looking at me like I was a crazy woman....which I was.  NO WAY was I going leave that freezer.  (again, before 02)

While living in Spokane, Wa. in the winter, I ran out of 02.  There was this nice snow drift piled up in the yard.  I layed down in it, face-down til the neighbors started coming out.  Thank God,  Jim was there with the explaining.

I was a very bad head-banger.  Kept a LOT of dry-wallers in business.

Linder...maybe it takes another crackedhead clusterhead to appreciate (maybe I'm too far gone ::))...but that there is funny!

I know UPS drivers...bet that is a classic water cooler story.....

Auban....I have done so many crazy things I can't even recall all...desperate times call for depsperate measures...doncha know. I never thought I'd tell this, but dang.....early in my ch career  I was convinced it was a tooth problem....cavity/crack...something.....so I'd put an antacid tablet between cheek and gum...and in a few minutes...IT WORKED!

Sheesh..I was so proud of my "discovery"  ::)

Best,

Jon

what would we do without a sense of humor?   
before i knew about any abort or prevent meds, i would tense my core muscles and hold my breath until i passed out for the really bad hits.  i was basically increasing my thoracic pressure until it put enough pressure on the vessels running to my head to burst blood vessels in my head, eyes, chest, shoulders... pretty much everything from the nipples up.  it would knock me out for a few seconds as well as knock the pain back several notches.  looking back, i could have had a lot of fun trying to explain why i would suddenly turn into a walking bruise.  that is actually how i got diagnosed.  my squad leader saw me in the morning looking just fine, then half an hour later i was black and blue.  talk about a freakout... [smiley=yikes.gif]
lucky for me the PA i was forced to see knew his stuff. :)

i was basically increasing my thoracic pressure until it put enough pressure on the vessels running to my head to burst blood vessels in my head, eyes, chest, shoulders... pretty much everything from the nipples up.

Okay...that just hurt to read. :'(

Joe

petechiae has the appearance of a bruise without the pain. it worked a lot like a blood choke... it actually wasn't that painful, just looked really dramatic. 

Drank an 8oz glass of vinagar once cause someone said it would help. It didn't.

Don

Two crazy things I've tried:

• drinking Red Bull when I get a CH - but it works, despite what 99% of people will say as they think you are mad
  
• breathing oxygen - for a headache, seriously? But again it sure works

So sometimes crazy things do the right thing, although I too was told to do the vinegar drink which didn't do anything for me at all.

AubanBird wrote on Oct 13^th, 2011 at 10:45am:

craziest:  tried to drill a knife through my temple once.  ;D

:o :o :o :o :o...Dude...where were you in my partying day's

LasVegas wrote on Oct 20^th, 2011 at 11:33am:

craziest thing I did was back in 1998...clenched a fist full of hair and ripped it out of scalp to deviate the pain. all this resulted in was regret with a large bald spot requiring me to shave my head bald that night so I looked somewhat presentable to the public the next day. ps...I do not look handsome bald and took 3 months to grow my hair again

Hmmm......Jimi and DJ are  making more sense now! ;D

Joe

We have a strip of tile from the floor to the ceiling between our shower and the sinks.  I stand in front of it and rock back and forth banging my forehead on the tile.  I get a split second of relief when my head hits the tile, rock backwards, then bang my head, lather, rinse, repeat.  Not as crazy as a knife through my temple, but I have come away with some very nice bruises in the middle of my forehead that are hard to explain.

AND, not too long after the whole "slam two Red Bulls" craze hit this site, I was on a road trip and got hit by The Bastard.  Ran into a 7-11 type store and...no Red Bull.  So, I bought two Monsters something or another and slammed them.  2 minutes later I was on my knees in the parking lot throwing up neon green foam!  Haven't tried the caffeine experiment again.  (I can still taste that crap coming back up!)    :P

I cant say Ive really done anything too crazy yet but its the thoughts I have that worry me. Ive hit my head on the wall, punched myself, and pulled my hair out just to feel some other feeling. My thoughts worry me most though to think about removing my eye and teeth. Doubt it would help anyway but still crosses my mind...

Shane, if you ever see a pic of the trigeminal nerve path, you'll understand those feelings better. People have had teeth pulled, I've chipped molars grinding them together, pushed my eyeball so hard I'm suprised i didn't damage it. :'(

Oxygen changed ALL of that! :)

Joe

In the S&M scene (that is Sado-Masochism for those that don't know) we have a game (if I can use that word) we play called needle play. You pinch a bit of the skin to create a fold, and then push a hypodermic needle through it. The needle goes all the way through the skin and back out the other side. There is no syringe attached, so nothing to inject. We do it for the pain fix. During needle play, someone might take 10-30, to 50 needles. Depending on the objective and what their pain level is. Google 'BDSM Needle Play' it if you are brave enough to see pictures.

I've found, that when I have a cluster headache, I can do needle play and it is very effective at instantly aborting a cluster attack. Since the body can only process one pain source at a time, when a new, and very intense pain source is introduced, the mind diverts its full attention to it. And it only takes 2-3 needles to abort an attack. Also, needle play releases massive amounts of natural endorphins, which are very calming.

My clusters normally last 15-30 minutes, and usually closer to the 15 minute mark. So things like O2 and other abortives don't have time to work for me. The beauty of this, is that it is instant. The down side is that I have to be at home, and the attack has to be such that I'm in control of myself enough to administer the needles, which isn't very often. My attacks are usually quite intense. But, when it can work, it is very effective.

I don't use it very often, and there is a risk factor of possible nerve damage, etc. etc. One does have to be careful with these things and know what they are doing. Don't just go sticking needles in yourself!

Renée

I just poked out my mind's eye.

I can't help but think that 50 needles stuck in me still wouldn't be as painful as CH.  Of course, I could be wrong.  I don't think I'll try to find out. 

I think I'll stick with the oxygen.

MoxieGirl wrote on Nov 4^th, 2011 at 4:03pm:

In the S&M scene (that is Sado-Masochism for those that don't know) we have a game (if I can use that word) we play called needle play. You pinch a bit of the skin to create a fold, and then push a hypodermic needle through it. The needle goes all the way through the skin and back out the other side. There is no syringe attached, so nothing to inject. We do it for the pain fix. During needle play, someone might take 10-30, to 50 needles. Depending on the objective and what their pain level is. Google 'BDSM Needle Play' it if you are brave enough to see pictures. I've found, that when I have a cluster headache, I can do needle play and it is very effective at instantly aborting a cluster attack. Since the body can only process one pain source at a time, when a new, and very intense pain source is introduced, the mind diverts its full attention to it. And it only takes 2-3 needles to abort an attack. Also, needle play releases massive amounts of natural endorphins, which are very calming. My clusters normally last 15-30 minutes, and usually closer to the 15 minute mark. So things like O2 and other abortives don't have time to work for me. The beauty of this, is that it is instant. The down side is that I have to be at home, and the attack has to be such that I'm in control of myself enough to administer the needles, which isn't very often. My attacks are usually quite intense. But, when it can work, it is very effective. I don't use it very often, and there is a risk factor of possible nerve damage, etc. etc. One does have to be careful with these things and know what they are doing. Don't just go sticking needles in yourself! Renée

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

gosh,i don't feel too bright...as i thought S-M stood for "Steve Martin :D :D :D

on the serious side...ReneeM...do you have any plans on new years eve ???

on the real serious side,i am glad that you found something that works for you and hope that i did not offend you (as thats not my intention...i just could not keep myself from having a little fun).....Lenny

Lenny wrote on Nov 4^th, 2011 at 6:40pm:

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o gosh,i don't feel too bright...as i thought S-M stood for "Steve Martin :D :D :D on the serious side...ReneeM...do you have any plans on new years eve ??? on the real serious side,i am glad that you found something that works for you and hope that i did not offend you (as thats not my intention...i just could not keep myself from having a little fun).....Lenny

Hi Lenny,

Not offended at all. I know it is an.., um..., unusual approach. One that I imagine not many people would take a liking to. And I can't say I'd blame them. But I have a very unique relationship with pain. I have a very intense love of it as a masochist, and a very deep loathing of it with my headaches, migraines and clusters. It generates some interesting discussions with my doctor, I must say. I'm grateful she has an open mind.

But, I don't mean to take over this thread and get off topic. If you want to know more, PM me, or I'll write start a separate thread on the topic if you wish.

Renée

I allowed my husband to pour a pitcher of ice water over my head. My system just added another layer of pain on the trigeminal nerve and I about killed him for a painful 'cure' ! >:(

The stupidist thing was to fall asleep ascending the mountain after a trip south to the flatlands. Shot up wide awake at about 2500 ft and tried to rip my own head off.
I had to settle for banging the dashboard for the next 12 miles.

Up until this beast, I though that having a C-Section with no post surgery pain meds was rough. Now, I would gladly do that again and smile! It was a piece of cake compared to this monster.

[/quote]

Hi Lenny,

Not offended at all. I know it is an.., um..., unusual approach. One that I imagine not many people would take a liking to. And I can't say I'd blame them. But I have a very unique relationship with pain. I have a very intense love of it as a masochist, and a very deep loathing of it with my headaches, migraines and clusters. It generates some interesting discussions with my doctor, I must say. I'm grateful she has an open mind.

But, I don't mean to take over this thread and get off topic. If you want to know more, PM me, or I'll write start a separate thread on the topic if you wish.

Renée [/quote]

That's very kind of you...there's no need to educate me any further,but i do thank you for that,plus there are children that do come to this site...besides i'm an old fashion kind a guy (those needles scare the hell out of me) i prefer roofing nails or drywall screws :D :D :D...Lenny

Quote:

there are children that do come to this site...

  VERY good point Lenny.

Here ya go.

---

Thanks for the laugh Potter, well needed after a long o2 abort


And just to add a few other crazy things to this list...slamming doors, throwing household objects, smashing precious keepsakes, screaming at innocent family members, consider several ways of suicide but never attempted, etc

Linda_Howell wrote on Nov 5^th, 2011 at 11:40am:

Quote: there are children that do come to this site...   VERY good point Lenny.

Good point, well presented. Will keep that in mind. Thanks.

Renée

Hmm...  I actualy enjoy most forms of pain.  Ruck marching on a broken foot, a marathon with a broken rib, there have been a lot of things I never would have done if I didn't enjoy the constant stabbing pain.  When I was going through special forces training, I met a lot of people like that.  About the only pain I don't like is stomach pain and cluster headaches.  The rush I get from it comes from the knowledge that I can enjoy it if I want to, and that it won't stop me.  I experienced a lot of pain before I left the special forces course.  Someday I may go back, probably not though, it isn't exactly easy on families.

I put a TENS device on my face. The electric pulses made it feel like all my fillings were going to jump out of my teeth. bad idea.

stellabella wrote on Nov 20^th, 2011 at 9:36pm:

I put a TENS device on my face. The electric pulses made it feel like all my fillings were going to jump out of my teeth. bad idea.

OUCH!!!    :o

Joe

Back in 1996 (before I knew what these headaches were), I had found that pressing on the artery in front of my ear on the pain side gave a bit of relief.  I figured that it must be a localized blood-pressure thing that was causing the pain, because I didn't know any better.

DO NOT DO THIS!

Stood in front of the bathroom mirror, took a single-edge razor blade, and nicked the artery to relieve the pressure.  Pain left, but blood went squirting everywhere.  When I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding, the pain came back.  I figured pain was better than bleeding to death, so I kept the pressure up until the bleeding stopped.

A couple of other times, I blew my nose hard enough to create a nosebleed.  Got some temporary relief there, too.

Maybe granny was right about bleeding me with leeches...

Glad I'm here.

Glad y'all are here too!

Pain free days,

Goober Dave

could feel one coming on once and thought it would be a good idea to work out. so I got out the old bowflex and went to town on it for about 30 minutes. worked up quite the sweat and was worn out. after I was done my headache was gone... so I thought. went to bed and woke up that night with the worst one ever, had a 2 sided monster that lasted almost 2 hours. never tried to abort one again.

Picked up my gun once and was pushing it on my temple and hitting my head with it. never thought to use the trigger though. (good thing) but the cold steel was nice. after that any time I would have an attack I would bring my gun in the other room.

My dumbest were a, uh, kind of mushroom.  ;) They felt like puke going down....and the same coming up. I don't recommend!

Next would be hitting myself. Past ones I've been able to restrain myself. But this go round I've resorted to punching my arms and squeezing them. Almost tempted myself to slam the car door on my leg.

32 yrs of of crazy CH stories, here are some....

21 yrs ago I was stuck in an elevator up 20 stories in a highrise downtown Chicago and got a nightmarish attack.  When the firemen and police pried the elevator door open, I attacked them and got cuffed and thrown in jail for the night, not a pretty situation to be stuck in an elevator while being TORTURED by the DRAGON   >:(

13 yrs ago while being TORTURED by the DRAGON I clenched a fist full of hair and ripped it out of scalp to deviate the pain resulting in a large bald spot requiring me to shave my head bald that night so I looked somewhat presentable to the public the next day.    :-[

Every cycle, I contemplate how I would permanently end the TORTURE by the DRAGON, yet never attempt  ;)

This morning while being TORTURED by the DRAGON, I smashed my favorite ch.com coffee mug against the wall  >:(

LasVegas wrote on Dec 8^th, 2011 at 12:06pm:

This morning while being TORTURED by the DRAGON, I smashed my favorite ch.com coffee mug against the wall  >:(

i can relate to that one.
of all the things i have broken, its always my coffee cup i end up kicking myself for later...

guess I should change my photo/avatar under my name :-/