I haven't tried either, I was tempted to rub some novacaine ear drops on my face and see if it helped. Or maybe snort some oragel. (I decided against either.)

Like many of the abortives (other than O2) some things work for some and don't for others, but early on I was prescribed lidocaine gel and then drops and I honestly can't say whether either really worked for me because in 30-45 minutes the hit would be gone.  Is it possible it would have gone anyway without the lidocaine, yes or is it possible without the lidocaine it would have continued for another 30-45 minutes yes.  Certainly not the preferred line of defense as first O2 or in my case if O2 not available, triptans.  Wishing everyone PF days.  Wishbone

I have not used eye drops during a hit.

Early on, I tried and dismissed lidocaine drops as an abortive.  They WERE helpful to me to abort a CH about 30% of the time.

The position I needed to maintain, flat on my back, with my head tipped back and rotated 45 degrees toward the effected eye was miserable and made the pain about 100% worse!

Wishing you well,

Ray

Ernie Moss aka Wishbone wrote on Sep 8^th, 2008 at 11:32am:

Indeed.

I've also heard (as someone mentioned) that drops, not spray, is the best option (I don't know what sprays you have in your countries, but typical lidocaine in spray, which should be used only on skin, not on mucous membrane, can make your nose start bleeding.

Btw. how many drops do you use? And what's lidocaine "concentration" (dunno if that's a proper term )? Mine is 2%. (edit: i've ust read medical information @ main site, i forgot about it )

MPMIII wrote on Sep 8^th, 2008 at 2:25pm:

well i've visited oculist many times (cause i had some problems) and she used many drops (e.g. to make my pupils bigger) and if i remember correctly she used lidocaine before measuring eye pressure, that's kinda strange feeling, but I think it could've been helpful in CH attack localized around your eye. Anyway I WOULDN'T try it on my own...

At my Neuro appt. last Thur. we were talking about how to help me get some sleep. Only been getting 4hrs or less for weeks now, and I don't do well with being sedated in any way. He thought a min.
I had the ONB (occipital Nerve blocks) the week before and this lasted about 12 hours and contained Lidocaine and steroids. Said the Lidocaine must have worked, so his idea to experiment.

The Lidoderm patches (contain lidocaine) applied, after removing hair from the area, to the scalp on top of the injection sites, where the nerves pass under, (both sides) may help me sleep. Well, I tried it and it did take out the shadows but after several hours they were back. Now I'm thinking that it is helpful but leaving them on too long is not. I am still putting them on for shadows and they do stop them for me, but leaving them on for sleep appears to be allowing too much medication to build up. Thought you guys might want to know.

This might be more helpfull for someone else but after I fell asleep with them on I woke up an hour later with a K-3 that O-2 killed. , Don

They tried lidocaine nasal spray once on an ER visit. I thought I was gonna strangle someone, plus my sinuses were on fire worse than my eye felt. This was an aerosol.

Another time, ER visit, had a CH going for several hours, and wouldn't let up. They got me in right away, and put me on a non-rebreather mask and O2, then got out the lidocaine. I adamantly refused it. When they told me it wasn't a spray, I relented. It was a gel form they pushed up my nose. Felt soothing, but it didn't help my CH.

I never tried the drops, and I'd be leery of putting them in my eye. My entire eyeball is on fire, and hurts like hell when I'm getting hit. I'd be worried about getting something in my eye and not feeling it... like my fist.

When I first started getting hit, one of the first docs I went to was an opthamologist. They dilated my eyes and numbed them, while I was getting hit. The lidocaine didn't work on the eye pain. They decided it was a neurological event...