Just have to share some thoughts...  I am back on cycle after (2) years of relief.  Could not believe it when I felt a shadow about 3 weeks ago...  Started off slow.  An attack every other day around 6:00 AM.  Now I am pretty much at the worst part of the cycle. (shadows almost all day, K2 waking me up at 2:00 AM and K3-K4 forcing me up at 4:00 AM.)

Intense physical activity is the only thing that has aborted an attack for me.  If you have tried this and it hasn't worked for you or made it worse, I mean no offense.  I just have to share this in case it can help someone, because it still amazes me.

The trick is, I have to get on it EARLY.  The second that shadow starts increasing in intensity I get up and either run out the door to go for a run or I also have been doing pushups to failure.  Running usually takes longer for me to abort the attack... but after about 10 minutes I start to get relief and after about 20 minutes it is pretty much gone.  Please note that if it gets to like a K6 before I start the activity it is pretty much too late.

This morning at 4 AM, I didn't want to run outside in the dark, so I started drinking a cup of coffee and did 25 pushups.  My heart was beating incredibly fast and I was breathing very heavily.  Immediate relief.  But then it came right back.  So i rested for 2 minutes.  Then did 20 more pushups.  Heart beating out of my chest.  Immediate relief, followed by pain again.  Then i did 20 more pushups to failure... and the headache was pretty much gone.  As i type this... I have a small shadow going on.  But no pain.  And I could tell this one was going to be a doozy as it started to wake me up at 2 am.  I always breath out of my mouth... never through my nose.  This seems to help me.  (especially since the left side of my nose is always draining during an attack)

I hope this can help someone.  Please know that the last thing on earth I want to do is run or do pushups at 4 in the morning.  I am not that  type of person.  I am just sick of suffering.  And i have suffered alot this cycle. (Saturday I tried to wait it out in a dark room.  The episode hit K10 and lasted 3 hours, including vomiting at the end.)  The suffering has driven me to this point because I am willing to do anything to avoid the pain. In fact, when I started the physical activity... I half assed it because I didn't want to run or do pushups.  The first time I ran this cycle i went 1 mile and it didnt work.  I was really mad.  So the next time I went 2 1/2 miles at higher intensity and it worked.  The beast has driven me to get really tough.

This awesome website is where I learned about exercise as an abortive.  So thankful for it and the support.  I was so depressed years ago before I knew about this.  I felt so alone.  Best to all.

In the early 80's a 20 minute all out sprint was one of the few abortives available to me! Then came oxygen. Not nearly in as good a shape now but loving the 4-6 minute abort times!

Joe

I am  not familiar with the D3 regimen.  Is there information on this website?  i will try to find it. 

Agreed... sometimes pushups don't cut it for me either.  Especially cuz my upper body is completely worn out from yesterday!  Had to run this am.... This was going to be a strong one... its still lingering. But the run definitely has killed it.

Its interesting... my episode started about 2 months later this year as well.  Started in June.  I was shocked....  couldn't believe it.  Thought I was clear for this year.   Normally starts in march/april. 

What part of the country are you in?  I am in Delaware.  Could it be allergy related?  I still never have figured out what comes first:  Does the clear fluid come first and creates pressure?  Or  is the intense pressure creating the clear fluid?  (my left side is where the attacks occur and always drains fluid.  sometimes its pretty thick too)

When I first signed the Guestbook on this site (many years ago), the gentleman before me posted how running up the hill behind his house aborted his headaches.  Then one year, when I had been riding a bike to work, I had an attack at work.  I jumped on my bike to ride home.  The attack was gone in the first 4 blocks!
I then started doing squats when I felt an attack starting.  Did them till my legs were burning and I was really blowing hard.  Then would sit down and breath deeply.  The attack would abort in about 5 minutes.  Went 60 for 60 in aborting attacks.
Then, like Joe, I found oxygen.  I got better results and didn't have to work so hard at it.

Hi jmac,  Grew up in the mid west, moved to Seattle in 74 and been here ever since. Had allergies as a teenager pretty bad, not so bad now but still have em every June. Don't think there's a link. Yep, March and April for me and Sept and Oct too, sometimes back to back, sometimes skipping and going a full year between cycles. I've had three summer episodes also over the years and they went 3+ months each, scared the b'jeebers out of me too, worrying I was gonna go chronic. Episodic is fun enough, don't think I could handle that much fun on a full time basis. Never got headaches in my life (well, hangovers don't count) till Sept of 96 when I was 43.
   I'm a left sider too but the nasal thing kind of gets drowned out by the other fun things that are happening to my head so I guess I've never paid much attention to it.
   Hope you looked up the d3 info posted by Joe and can get started on it soon.

     Good luck,   Sean

I've found that doing stomach exercises vigorously can help with the less intense headaches K2~K4. I also remember getting some when I was doing manual labor jobs and being able to work through an attack (don't stop working or moving no matter what). I remember if I could make it through about 15 minutes usually the pain would subside. Obviously not the most scientific thing in the world, but it does appear there could be some validity to it for some of us.

Hey Jmac, like several others here, I used  to use the exertion methods you describe and it saved me on many occasions - problem for me was after about 4 attacks in a day, I couldn't do anymore push-ups, squats, jobs, etc. - too tired. I use O2 when in cycle and it has been a lifesaver and much faster abortive than the exercise.  But in a pinch (when traveling for example) I still go to it.  BTW, I discovered the exercise method on my own one day after being SO PISSED at the beast and decided instead of laying down, rocking, holding ice to my eyeball, temple, etc. that I was going to go exercise (which I had planned to do right before the beast hit) - I got on an elliptical machine in intense pain and mad as hell and after about 15 minutes when my heart was going really good, the headache just drained away.  It was magic.  This was before I found this site, O2, or a doctor who knew anything about Clusters.  Good luck to you.

That's exactly why I chose squats, biggest muscles, farthest from head.  Over time though, I came to believe it was the deep breathing more than the blood flow.

Vigorous exercise has helped me too. I usually have used it in combination. It took me about a week before I could pick up oxygen tanks when my cycle started this time. I would take an imitrex at onset but taking the pill, it usually takes 30 min, so I would do jumping jacks like crazy and the pain subsides. It's amazing.

I once had a Neuro that I respected. He was good. He asked me if I had ever had a CH during sex. I said No. He asked me to try it. When I feel a CH coming on have my wife nearby and experiment with it. I did, and it was amazing how quickly the CH would dissipate. I'm not trying to be funny here. My wife would stroke me and I could feel the CH subside, and be gone within a minute or so.
Now onto the funny side of it... My wife got to where she enjoyed my CH's because she knew what was coming.
Try it, I swear it works!

Patrick_A 

Makes some sense to me however once the pain starts any physical activity makes it worse. Oxygen while flat on my back works the best however I have noticed over the years that if I stay active it will prevent the onset of attacks. when I get home from work and kick back in recliner I get attacks every night 4 to 6 times a night with O2 being the equalizer every time. I feel that my neck and spine is responsible for these cluster attacks do to some spinal stenosis and spurs. 2 days ago I tried my second cortisone steroid shot in the C6/C7 location and the clusters have disappeared again. This may be a unique option for some but I think it is the answer for my 20 years of month long attacks. It is still a mystery as to why they happen once a year at random intervals but the cortisone injections have lenghthen the interval it seems.

"it is funny and of course the reality is that when you have sex , it is like an intense exercise !!"
"My wife got to where she enjoyed my CH's because she knew what was coming."

  Ahh! To be young and horny again 

At my age the closest to doin' it I ever get is watching reruns of the Golden Girls while pacing back and forth.