I have been getting the monster recently. I picked up 20% benzocaine from the pharmacy. It is OTC, about $8 USD. This is located in the toothache aisle, usually marked for tooth relief as an oral anesthetic.  I took a q-tip, dipped it in the bottle and carefully fed it into my nostril, deep within my nose.  It did not hurt, although I expected it to.

For me, this works almost instantly.  I am not recommending this, but it worked for me. Your sinus cavity might be formed differently, it may not work for you.

And I do not know if long term this is a good idea.

Another method that worked for me, but this one goes deeper into the nasal cavity.  There are $15 USD water nose cleaners that drip water in the nose. I got one of these from the pharmacy from the nose area. I tried this also, and it worked. Basically, I filled the cup with some warm water and a solution of the benzocaine. Probably 10 parts water, 1 part benzo. you can try upping the benzo ratio if it does not work.

I laid on my back with my head turned towards the side of the pain and slowly dripped it into my nose. I did this so it would settle deep within my nose and sit where the pain resided. I let it sit for a minute and used paper towels to get the excess.  It was a little uncomfortable, but it far outweighed the pain. This also worked for me.

Hope this helps someone!

Hi and welcome Mike

An interesting post around how you can abort your CHs.


Mike Diamond wrote on Jul 7^th, 2018 at 10:37am:

And I do not know if long term this is a good idea.

I'd certainly discuss this with your doctor as I'm not totally sure that poking a q-tip up your nose, dipped in an oral anesthetic, especially mid-CH is the right thing to do.

Have you tried using other ways to abort CHs like Imitrex injections and oxygen?

Tell us more about your CH and we may be able to give some suggestions plus fire away with any questions you have.

Hey Mike Diamond,

You're essentially giving yourself a sphenopalatine ganglion block.  It's normally done with 2 to 4% lidocaine.

While this can be an effective CH abortive, what you need now is a good CH preventative.  See the following VitaminDWiki link for details:

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Very similar in concept to treatment with lidocaine that was popular back in the 80's, though that was normally done by nasal spray. Glad it works for you. Never tried it that way. The lidocaine spray never worked for me, nor very well for many others.

Check out what Batch said. You need a preventative. If you do it right, you may not need the benzocaine very often.

jlc