I'm new to this site.  My husband is this term I'm learning from you guys - a Clusterhead.  He has been having them for 10-12 years but was only officially diagnosed about 5 years ago.  I've been reading the posts and also the info at the side (cluster traits, kip scale, etc.) and it seems like everyone experiences a strong need to move around during a CH.  My husband doesn't move at all.  Before oxygen, he would get into the fetal position with an ice pack on his head and stay there until it passed.  Now he simply lays down or sets up with the oxygen mask on.  I'm fairly certain he isn't mis-diagnosed (his symptoms, otherwise, are spot on and he has responded well to the typical CH treatment - verapamil, O2, Imitrex, etc).  Are there any other non-movers out there?

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, that is him exactly.  He wants to be in the dark in silence and move as little as possible.

I haven't pushed the upper end of the Kip scale for quite some time, so I don't know what I would do. I used to pace, thrash, etc., but now I get to it before it gets bad, and I just sit in a chair with my eyes closed and visualize the O2 going in, the CO2 going out, and the pain melting away.

Works pretty good for me.

it depends on the severity of the attack for me. if the attack isn't to bad i'll try to meditate. then  sometimes i just gotta dance around.

I've never been what you would call a "pacer", except for the very first cycle I had and was not diagnosed.  I paced, cried, screamed through what I thought was the most horrible pain I had ever experienced. Tried to lay down in a dark room because that is what I would do with a Migraine.  That helped, but only for low level hits.  I, too, assumed the fetal position and thrashed on the bed or floor with the bigger hits.

When the second cycle started, I realized I just didn't have the energy to thrash and pace, so I tried just sitting - although I did rock back and forth, and bounce my knees up and down.

Then I found O2, and life has been good since.

Sandy

Intensity of pain can lead to an unsettled frustration, whatever attempted mental coping seem insufficient.  Being still, rocking, pacing, if the pain is not diminishing in any way, restlessness can be a part of enduring.

In the distant past when all I had was nasal spray trex and awoke late into a hit, I knew how bad it would get over the next half hour or even longer before the immense momentum could be overtaken, but knew it do it.  Whatever it took to tick away those minutes, a difficult, long time in cluster pain.  Simply grasping to endure somehow beyond being able until the increasing pain could be felt peaking in matching battle with the trex before slowly backing it down.

Unsettled, mostly rocking in many positions while holding an ice pack to the worst area of pain was common.  Experience with walking around seemed accident prone.  Afoot, leaning this way and that, whatever which way before moving very short distances up or down, dancing I guess, certainly just happens, but staying safe is a good idea, along with something to drip on.  Never know what position or if balance will be sustainable in the next moment when being overcome.


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An ice pack has helped but I tend to change postions.  Depends.


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Yep, oxygen shortened the abort time and along with an ice pack, gives me something to do, curtailing else.  More effective to sit and breath, a more direct path knowing the time is shorter.