Hello everyone my name is John and I've been an episodic sufferer for the past 6 years. I am a nurse, so some of the abortive remedies are close at hand. My CH's began 6 years ago, i went through all the CT's and MRI's and even an Ophthalmologist to be told at the end by a general practioner that i was experiencing CH's and to prepare myself for a long road. He offered some free samples of Zomig and recommended a prophylactic treatment with verapamil. Being knowledgeable of this med , I quickly rejected it. After further research, i stumbled upon this website and learned about the 02 therapy and quickly began used it at work. It worked!! well it worked while I was on shift, because in the middle of the night around 2-3 am at home, only my Zomig was at hand and that only took the edge off. Well to make a long story short, several years passed and throughout those years my headaches would come during the spring or summer seasons, lasting from 2 to 3 months and averaging a daily headache. Fortunately and inexplicably I've been in remission for the last two years..until 3 weeks ago. I dusted off my old 02 tank and got a hold of some triptans. I came back and visited this website to see if I could learn of any new abortive techniques or meds. I read on another site the possibility of aborting an attack through exercise. So far this year i've had 3 attacks, one major one that lasted 3 hours! I think I exacerbated that one by popping a vicodin out of desperation(bad idea), I think it rebounded my headache. Anyway, 3 nights ago I started to feel the sharp stabbings coming 3 minutes apart( I call them my brain contractions), they got 2 minutes apart and I decided to run in place at a fast rate for 3 mins. The pain seem to dissipate and the stabbings got further apart. I ran in place again for another three mins, noting that my pulse rate was in the 140's. To my amazement the headache left but just to make sure, I did another vigorous 3 mins and I was able to abort the attack completely! the next night at 3am the same scenario came about and I did my running in place and was able to abort the attack without the use of my 02 or my triptans. Last night it hit me again at 2 am, this time I was in a full sleep and the stabbings were about a minute apart, after two sessions of running in place, the pain was still there just as strong as it began, this time I put on my non-rebreather and set the dial to 15L on my tank, after 5 mins of exercise I was able to abort the attack. To all those who are reading this post, you just don't imagine how elated I am to know that vigorous exercise is working for me at this time. For all of you out there who have not tried this, please give it a shot. Try running  3 mins at a time and attempt to bring your heart rate to the 140's or 150's, rest for 2 mins and then repeat it until you abort that monster! If after two sessions the attack still seems imminent, put on that face mask if you have tho 02 available. Good luck to all and I wish you the best. I thank God for this site, because through it I have found a lot of support.

Thanks for the welcome Joe, I will definitely try out the Verapamil if it becomes necessary. I just worry about hypotension and getting lightheaded at work or even worse...hitting the floor or passing out while driving. Those of us in the medical profession worry too much about these side effects. Another thing Lithium really scares me!!

Hey John, glad to see the exercise is working as an abort for ya!

This has been discussed on many occasions here, and yep for some of us, vigorous exercise can abort an attack.

I find that during the first "ramp up" week of an episode it can work for me, as can deep breathing of freezing air through the nose. So theoretically going outside and and exercising in the feezing air (if available) can be an effective combo.

Alas, after that first week it fails me but I'll take every week I can get!

Here's hoping it continues to work consistently for you.