Hi Guys,

Two days ago, I found a simple treatment which is efficient in killing the pains within 5-10 mins and greatly reduces the number of crisis per day. This means it is probably healing the nerves.

I will go straight to the tip before any literature. Get the hottest and most efficient menthol balm you know, and I really mean "hot", then apply it in your nostrils each time you feel an attack coming.
Equally apply it to the back of your neck where the vertebral column meets the skull. Places of server pains should be identified and balm applied.
You should experience a sharp pain in your nostrils, but bearable compared to the cluster pains. Find a calm room without bright lights and take a rest, sitting upright, straight, without leaning your head on anything.
Within 5-10 minutes you will be relieved and gain back your normal activity.
These balms are normally natural and have no known side effects. They are cheap and applied in small quantities.
The literature below will throw some light on why it works.

I am African form Cameroon and I'm currently experiencing my second cluster after a 2 years remission. I got interested in knowing the nerves involved in my agonizing pains and learnt a whole lot.

Cluster headaches can result from 2 disorders known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) or Occipital Neuralgia (ON), which  causes pains on the Trigeminal Nerves or Occipital Nerves respectively.
Identifying in which branch you fall is important because it helps identify the nerves on which to apply the balm.

If you make a little google search on the above neuralgia, you would know your case. Mine for instance is TN because I feel the pains on the right side, my nose, back of eye, eye lids, scalp, gums, teeth, cheek, which corresponds to the Trigeminal nerves.

Since the nose is very sensitive because it is highly inervated by the TN, applying the "hot" balm in the nose affects directly the nerve terminations of the TN. Applying the "hot" balm in the back neck is obligatory because both the TN and ON originates at that point.

In this way I spent my first days without attack during this cluster period. The pains in the nose due to the "hot" balm is a bit painful but very bearable for CH patients like you n I, especially when in 5mins you find your cluster recessing.

Please try it and comment, and lets know if this treatment is an isolated case or a general solution.
The Balm I use is called LOKO - green in colour (made in Nigeria, probably by a Chinese factory) and its the "hottest" balm I've ever used in my life. It's cheap; less than 2 USD and can be used +1month (because too hot, so used in minute quantities lol)
You could try with the best you have, but if not satisfactory we can see how I will send you the balm.

I am just too glad I found this relief and treatment.

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Please, balms should be combined with appropriate anti-inflammatory drugs! The anti-inflammatory should be taken then balm applied, even if the drugs seems not efficient.
NB. During the "irritating nostrils" you rather enjoy it because you feel little or no agonizing brain-stabbing pain.

NFOR GODWIL wrote on Aug 18^th, 2018 at 5:43pm:

Cluster headaches can result from 2 disorders known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) or Occipital Neuralgia (ON), which  causes pains on the Trigeminal Nerves or Occipital Nerves respectively.

G'day,  NFOR.  Would you mind explaining this part a bit more for me. 

Thanks, mate,

Brian.

AussieBrian wrote on Aug 18^th, 2018 at 11:14pm:

NFOR GODWIL wrote on Aug 18th, 2018 at 5:43pm: Cluster headaches can result from 2 disorders known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) or Occipital Neuralgia (ON), which  causes pains on the Trigeminal Nerves or Occipital Nerves respectively. G'day,  NFOR.  Would you mind explaining this part a bit more for me.  Thanks, mate, Brian.

Good day Brian,

The concept is simpler than its name. In fact, the Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is a condition which causes pains on the Trigeminal nerves, and the same holds for Occipital Neuralgia.

What causes the nerve pains? Well, a number of conditions might trigger it; blood vessels pressing on the root of the nerves, tumors, etc.. This physical damage caused the nerve to inflame and malfunction. The roots of both nerves are at the back of neck and spreads through various parts of the head. That is why during an attack, moving the neck can be very painful !!!

The first time I had my CH I was effectively tested as having a momentary high blood pressure. This could be pressing on the nerve. (See pic below).
That's why stress, anxiety, High BP, coffee, smoking, alcohol, etc. should be avoided.

As you can see in the 2nd pic, the Occipital nerve is easily accessible at the back of neck (where the hot balm can be applied), which is where nerve blocks are usually injected to treat the ON. On the other hand, the trigeminal nerve is more hidden but I found the nostrils to be a good communication port.

Hope this was helpful. Hope we all find a solution.

Regards,

NFOR.

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Thanks, NFOR.  I shall have a good think about this.

Hi NFOR and welcome

Your experiments with the balm are very much aligned with the work that has been done using capsaicin pepper to abort CHs. This has been published in multiple medical research journals and articles.

You can read up about some of this research at - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

The PubMed webist (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE) is an excellent resource for searching for published research around CH and anything else medical related. It is one of my "go to" resources. Whilst for many articles you are limited to viewing the abstract and not the full article, the abstract should be a good summary of the article. However if you have access to someone who is at a university then they are likely to be able to view the full articles.

Your thoughts around the linkage between CH, TN and ON are around the symptoms they produce. You might find it interesting to look at the info on the IHS's (International Headache Society) website (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE). The IHS is the international organization which classifies headaches and produces the standard diagnostic criteria for each.

You'll find that there are multiple headaches (START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE) which are linked to the trigeminal nerve.

What you have noted is that the pain symptoms can be very similar between the different headache types. This is what can make diagnosing complex headaches like this to be very difficult as whilst it is fairly straightforward to match the symptoms, the final diagnosis is dependent upon ruling out all other possible causes. This is why we always direct people to a headache specialist since family doctors and even most neurologists simply do not have the skills or experience to do this final step.

Do note that the IHS classify CH as being a primary headache, i.e. it is not caused by anything else, so it is considered to not be caused by TN or ON.

The difference is in what is kicking off the process which results in the symptoms seen. For CH it has been observed that this starts off in the hypothalamus area of the brain.

Please do keep reading and asking questions. It is great to see someone who has been learning as much as they can about CH and other similar headache types.

Good day Mike.

Thanks very much, your message is quite edifying. I learnt much through you.

As you well pointed out, I read about HYPOTHALAMIC CH and NON-HYPOTHALAMIC CH, but I was a bit confused when in one article I read that failure of nerve block injections meant the CH was hypothalamic. I may be wrong but I think the nerve blocks are injected on the occipital nerves behind the neck, and not the trigeminal nerve (closer to hypothalamus).

Very few symptoms of CH involve pains related to occipital innervated zones of the head whereas a great majority involve trigeminal innervated zones.

Occipital nerves innervate the back of the head up to the scalp, and back of ears. So once you feel pains beyond those zones i.e. feeling pains behind eye, nose, gum, teeth, cheek, etc. then something should be messing up your trigeminal nerves, which are normally the nerves in control of these zones, be it hypothalamic or non-hypthalamic CH.

Like in my case, I feel pains in trigeminal controled zones, so I can conclude my trigeminal nerves are implicated.
Applying my "super hot" balm (similar to the capsaicin as you said, thanks) in my nostrils, I attack directly the trigeminal nerves and I am practically instantly relieved. This without me knowing my CH is hypothalamic or not.

On the other hand when I apply only at the back of the neck on the occipital nerves, pains can still escalate. Fortunately for me, I am spending another day without pains.

Pardon my ignorance on some issues and help me throw more light on them.

Thanks.

A really interesting and thought proving post. It has got me thinking about the underlying nature of CH.

I don't really know the real answers to the questions you're asking, but equally I've never read any research which has them either.

I'm still thinking about it,  NFOR.  It's a really interesting idea you've put forward.