A week or so ago, I was getting to the point of entertaining the idea of trying the Clusterbusters method to get some friggin relief. The problem I ran into was the concept of "detoxing" from the Imitrex and the fact that I wouldn't be able to use the Imitrex while "busting" or it could negate the progress. So, I ended up reading a bit on the Clusterbusters forum to find out how in the heck people survive without their Imitrex "crutch" for 5 full days.

What I did come across was a post by an individual that offered a way of dealing with, or for some, possibly aborting an attack without Imitrex (assuming you're not one of the ones that can just grab the oxygen). This person's suggestion was to use a blow dryer to help ease or abort an attack. I'd give credit to this individual if I could remember who started the thread.

What they said to do was, take the blow dryer, and use a high heat setting to heat the part of the face/head where the majority of the pain of the attack was located. They basically said, aim the dryer at your eye/head region on the attack side just close enough to get pretty warm or about as hot as is comfortable. Of course, be careful not to burn yourself.

Well, I happened to be at work the next day, and the beast paid a visit. I work in a sign/decal shop, so one of our common tools is a heat gun which is pretty much an overzealous hair/blow dryer. So, I gave it a shot.

I put the thing on its lowest setting and set it on the table angled up just a bit. I then sat in a chair in front of this thing to allow the heat to warm the attack side of my head and my "exploding eyeball" while I closed my eyes and tried to sit still and relax. To my surprise, after a few minutes, I could began to relax and sit still while feeling relatively pain free. I did notice that, for me, to get up and leave the heat would mean the beast would begin to ramp up the "drilling" again as the heat from my face/head faded. However, to sit in front of the heat consistently, I could more than tolerate the pain, and I could actually relax quite a bit.

I've since used a regular hair/blow dryer with similar results at home. However, I had to hold the dryer in my hand since it doesn't have the built-in stand that the heat gun does. And, since the dryer doesn't have the higher heat output of the heat gun, I had to adjust the aim of the dryer as needed to get the same or similar results of the heat gun. With that being said, the hair/blow dryer can work well for me (and possibly you), but it likely needs to be one that gets pretty good and hot as I know some newer ones rely on more "wind" than heat to do their intended hair-drying jobs. Less wind and more heat is what seems to be more ideal here.

This concept has probably been mentioned at least once on this forum, but I thought I'd add my experience with it in case some newer sufferers might be looking for another possible avenue of relief to get through an attack. It might also help for anyone that is trying to cope while waiting on an injection or nasal spray to take effect. Hope others will find it useful.

One of the disadvantages of being young! <bg>

20-yrs and more ago, we had seveal cycles of posts around here about using both hair dryers and ice packs for relief. And both worked, not always for the same person, but giving sufficient relief to encourage folks to give both a try.

Ice packs could be a standard ice pack (used for medica stuff) while others simply put a bag of frozen peas or corn on the hot spot (temple, back of neck, etc.).  There were "supporters" both techniques.

Along these history lines: long before Oxygen was "discovered", some folks found running or exercising vigerovigorously would give relief, the assumption being that increased O2 was helpful.

But then a headache doc informed us that, for some folks, increased body temperature would trigger an atttack, an effect quickly agreed to by a nulmber of us.

So, we discover, forget, rediscover. We have short memories and long term disorders!

That's definitely something I'll add to my list of "Shit you tell people to try when they get caught unprepared for an attack!" It's always puzzled me why some people get relief only from heat, and some only from cold! Hope the CB route works for you, they have an impressive list of success stories on their website. Wishing you some pain free time soon.

Joe

Bob, what's a disadvantage of being young? Not having tried everything under the sun just yet?  That kind of leans more towards an advantage in that there is at least hope of something left to try that might work, even if it is often false hope. lol :)

Yeah, Joe, the ice doesn't seem to do much for me, though I've had some success in sort of taking my attention off of the pain by holding ice in my bare hands. Very little, however. And, I'm still holding off on the clusterbusting concept for now as the D3 seems to be showing some promise for me finally.

I remember another method that worked for Joe. If you were
out and about in your car and felt the beast coming, was to
put your head in front of the aircon vent, and when at home
stick your head in the freezer compartment of your fridge.

Hoppy.

Yeah Hoppy I'm one that heat aggravates the attack, cold air and ice packs help!

Joe