To help avoid those nasty night time hits you can take a Melatonin about 1 hour before sleep if that doesn't work for you as it didn't for me (but it does for many others) you can try an over the counter allergy pill such as Zyrtec (generic form is Cetirizine) to help avoid a night time hit.  This has helped me avoid many a beastly night.

**Make sure you check with your doctor about allergy med. interactions with your CH prevents first.




P.S.

Feel a milder CH hit coming on ? 
Try Deep Breathing, I Mean REALLY DEEP BREATHING.  Breath in Deep and exhale all you can and repeat. Make sure you are sitting up straight or standing up straight when you do this. 

This helped to post-pone or avoid a few CH hits.  Helps when you are putting in air conditioners with help from your son and you are in no position to go running for O2 or Trex. 

I stopped using the imitrex years ago due to the rebound headaches that often accompanied the imitrex dose. Also in my experience I found that the imitrex also prolonged the duration of the migraines. On the imitrex I would have episodes of CH for 6-8 weeks at a time. Once I got off the imitrex the duration went down to 2-3 weeks a year. To date the most effective thing I have found to work is bronkaid tablets containing ephedrine. They are relatively cheap and tend to knock the CH down rather quickly.

mostafa wrote on Oct 11^th, 2010 at 5:29pm:

     Not a treatment that I would recommend.  You need to peruse this site a bit more.

               Potter

bonkers wrote on Oct 11^th, 2010 at 9:11pm:

Thx so much for the tips

I tried butterbur 3 nights ago, in the middle of a 6 week 9/10 kip scale episode.

The last 3 nights have been a 4 at worst.  The relief to go from a nightly off the chart CH to a 4...

Still apprehensive to believe an herb can make such a difference after 25 years, and not finding anyone else who has tried it, but I can't help but to admit the undeniable relief.

OMG! thanks for the tip on caffiene you saved me a trip to the ER! the attack was less than 15 minutes! wish i would have found this site last night and i had a attack last over 7 hours on and off! resulting in a trip to the ER! cant wait for that bill as i have no insurance.

Quote:

I've never found this to be the case. From time to time it didn't help - usually my fault for not getting on it soon enough. But it sounds to me like your neurologist knows not of which he speaks.

This is my first time on this website.  I have suffered with these for about 25 years and for me, the relief has come through exercise.  At the first sign of the attack, I go for a run if possible.  As my pulse increases and I start to get out of breath, the pain starts to ease.  Within 5 minutes of the onset it is completely gone.  If I can't run, I will do 25 to 40 "squat-thrusts".  This is usually enough to increase my pulse and breathing adequately to bring about an end to the pain.  I am sure this won't work for everyone, but I honestly don't know how I would have coped with the pain over the years without this relief.

Mike NZ wrote on Jul 31^st, 2011 at 12:54am:


yes I am usinng a none rebreather mask and always use O2 at 15 ltrs per min, as I say sometimes it works while other  times it has no effect at all- but we are all different and what works for some wont for others

I have had these evil things for 16 years and two of them have been pain free. 4 years ago I went to an acupuncturist to see what he could do and he did the normal multiple  needles in the face routine which had little effect. I went back the next day and this time he gave me 1cc shots of Vitamin E to 2 spots along the nerve that runs along the eyebrow and 2 more shots to the nerve in the temple...I didn't have the headaches for the rest of the year. The next 3 years I had the headaches but they weren't too bad and then this year I went back and had the same thing done and so far no headaches. My headaches start between August and September and they last 3 months and I usually get 3 everyday and they each last 3 hours. I do not know if this will work for everyone but it has been a Godsend for me. Not all acupuncturists do this because they need the MD degree so see if your doctor will do it. I still use O2 as a back up and it has been excellent at relieving the pain if caught quick enough. If this works for anyone I would like to know so I can pass it along to others.

I have been looking for the O2 information and the post says "Check out the yellow "oxygen info" button on the menu bar to the left!"
I don't see a menu bar on the left.  Please help.

Hi, just wanted to share my experience with anyone who reads this message, and this was the only way I was able to - Hope I'm on the right page.

I've been a sufferer for more than 12 years now. My latest episodes just started recently 2 days ago, after a 2 year pain free period! (My personal longest - thought i was cured...). Anyway, what I wanted to say that during those 12 years, I've learned to adapt especially the last 6 years. The first 6, it's exactly as everyone described in their posts, the pain is so strong, you wish to die, crack your head against the wall, stay in dark places, never go out of the house, and chew up on the pain killers like candy... I tried everything, but it seems year on year, the episodes were becoming longer and deeper...

Just up until 6 years, I was experiencing a cluster during work, and had a very important meeting which I couldn't get out off.. imagine that, experiencing a cluster while sitting down and listening to people without moving. Anyway, I excused my self to the bathroom to see what I can do, and started banging my head against the wall and shaking, and suddenly the pain was vanishing slowly, or better yet, the piercing feeling above my eye and side of my head was being diverted, and I noticed that it was because I was moving my head in a certain pattern. I kept on doing this for around 5 min, and believe it or not I was pain free... So throughout these 6 years I was using this exercise and developed it to suit me, and believe me it has made my life easier. 8 out of 10 times, I can abort a cluster within 10-20 min and during that exercise I'm not feeling the piercing pain, just a bit psychological pain knowing the cluster and some annoyance, but who would care knowing that the cluster would end after

A sufferer knows when a cluster is about to hit, so when you get that feeling, just wait a bit until it's about to peak, and then what you do is start moving your head from left to right quickly and non-stop (and not just moving it, it has to be in a snappy way and feel it, you have to feel your neck moving with it)... This exercise normally help the cluster to peak faster, better than waiting for it, and then you feel it. So I keep going with the exercise, and moving my body as well to a song or something to divert cause we all know that helps. A dark place helps better. I always try to make a pleasant experience out of this regardless of how painful it is, and set my mind positively like I'm on a mission, fighting and dancing the cluster away. During the exercise, which is the best thing about it, you always manage to get over the piercing pain which is the best part of it. I still feel pain during and I keep going and going, it's like having a fight with the cluster, until I get over it. Many times I get frustrated and depressed and tired and want to stop, but I never gave up on this exercise, and in the end I always manage with it to end my pain. It's all about patience and fighting for relief... (personally I was living on pain killers and meds, and oxygen wasn't always availalbe, this was my personal savior).
It's been 6 years now, and knowing this exercise always made me feel better, like having a weapon ready when the time comes. (I do it wherever possible: Bathroom is where I normally end up when outside the house, the first one I can get my hands on .. )
As I said, I started having the episodes 2 nights ago, non-stop up to 5 times a sleep: Always woke up, went in my dark living room, started the exercise 20 min, back to sleep, till the next episode....

Now this is my personal experience, and so far it has made my life much better... So for anyone who reads this, trust me it's worth a shot, and I really hope it works for you in a way or another. Personally I've taken a lot of shots on whatever I can get my hands on and was advised for easing the pain. We all know that the pain is to freaky not to try anything that is available. In my advised exercise, the most important thing is not to give up, cause at the end you will beat it.

I really hope my experience would help in any way, cause probably we are one of the fewest people on earth who know the true meaning of pain....

Cluster Headaches is not all about education Potter. Everyone has his own way of coping. Been a sufferer long enough to try everything, and this is what worked out for me so far. Just sharing my experience for people who might find it useful, at least until Bob Wold makes it for all of us.