Welcome to the board, the D-3 has me cycle free for over 3 years after a 30 plus year history of episodic CH. Hoping it does the same for you.

Joe

Thanks Joe-

Your experience with the D-3 regime sounds very promising...30 years episodic...I'm 23 years, but everything seems to be fading away slowly...still seems like there's a good chance that it will stop my cycles. I've read of many others who have been PF for a long time as well...gotta roll with it...won't know for sure 'til I try.

Frank -

That's one wicked stretch you've had...read your post and thought CRAP, 6 years chronic @ Kip 6-7...I thought my 6-8 months/year was bad, but then I get the skull crushing Kip 9-10 regularly, so, maybe it's all about the same in the end. But I still have a hard time imagining how I would cope with a continuous CH...it would be like a higher intensity shadow that I usually have had in the past, 24/7, which are around Kip 2-4 (these almost seemed worse than the real deal), then the real CH would hit with Kip 8-10 for the remainder of the 24hr period, broke into 3 CH totaling 9-12hrs/day. Yeah, how to cope with chronic CH...that's a new one for me...wish I had a magic formula to send you, but then, don't we all wish we had that???

I will say this about pressure-points: if it works for you, use it...anything that brings even just a little relief can help you save your sanity. I had my share of bleak times in my earlier years where I didn't think I could take another minute of CH, and then I found a pressure-point that would just make it all go away...then another cycle would start, the pain would be different, and I'd have to find a new pressure point...but every time this happened, I had a somewhat renewed strength, and the will to conquer the beast, instead of just waiting for my time to end, as it seemed...I wasn't so much thinking suicide, but just wanted the pain to end, no matter how it happened...with no real thought about what this might be...my thought processes were a total shambles...just scrambled fragments of ideas. It surprises me that I could perform so well at work through it all.

It does sound strange that the medical field would indicate that physical intervention won't help...I mean, when you cover a blood-vessel and can feel a throbbing pain, then moving a little bit and maybe cover a nerve near the surface or another vessel which didn't directly link to the area of pain, which I suspect causes a reduction in inflammation, and the pain lessens, well, what are they thinking??? Sure, it may not work for that many of us, or maybe it will for more than we think, but it comes down to what ever works. I try to explore every possibility, and I'll try just about anything once...twice if I liked it.

OK, this gets deep here, so bear with me. I'm again reminded of somehow being able to trick my mind into thinking it wasn't pain I was feeling during some of my really ugly CH (Kip 10) that lasted for 3-4 hours, with morphing pain and changes in location of pain...pressure points and massage began to fail on with rapidly increasing succession...WTF am I gonna do now?!?!?! I was beyond desperate, thinking this was it...can't go on living like this anymore. I just wish I could figure out what was going through my mind when I learned this technique...I used it faithfully for nearly 3 years, through possibly as many as 5 or 6 cycles that ran for my normal 3-4 month duration, and once I mastered this technique (maybe took 2 weeks or more) I would spend just a few minutes getting mentally ready for it, and it required little to no concentration on the thought process that kept it going, at least for me. It was my new pain management tool that probably saved my life. For those of you who may have read a few of my other posts where I mentioned this, now you know why I want to to find out the ins and outs again...so I can pass it on to any and all takers.

In recent years, my CH cycles slowed and began fading away...of course I lost that skill when I wasn't using it for the first 18 or 20 months of remission, and now for life of me I have little idea how I did it. The really weird thing is, I could make the pain feel like a "tickle" or just an itch that I wanted to scratch...I couldn't stop the pain, but instead, I changed how I percieved the pain. It was GREAT!!! Sometimes I felt like a whole new person had emerged from the ashes of battle!!! I just hope I can find that part of me again some day soon...I don't really need it anymore, myself (although my CH could turn for the worse again), but if I could teach even just one other cluster head, that would make my day so much better...being able to pass it on to someone over the net could be a challenge, at best. My worst fear is that it was just some gift I had for pain management that I dug up from the depths with my will to survive, or something...maybe some part of a high tolerance for pain that just surfaced at that time and I learned how to control it...I truly wish I knew what it was. It does sadden me that I can't find that part of my experience to give to others, because I could morph ANY CH pain I had within the first few minutes of getting into my groove...just turn it into something else...some far less sinister form of sensation...sometimes, dare I say, make it feel like an enjoyable sensation. What could be better??? No meds, no fumbling for pressure points that didn't always work for me at that time, and PF at will. Sure, I would still wake up at night with a head-banger, but I could actually employ this technique and return to sleep within just 10-15 minutes. Oh, I miss those days of feeling nearly total control over CH (other than deciding when I had CH, of course)...OK, maybe I don't miss them that much, because my CH pain is far more bearable than 10 years ago, but when I could alter the pain like that...oh, life was sooooooo much better. Crap, now I'm getting teary eyed wishing I could just tell everyone how to do it and make all your pain go away...gotta move forward from here.

OK...I'll try to let my CH go out of control...try...I know this will be the hardest part...no massage or pressure-points (I do this out of habit and wake up at night with my head in my elbow), no breathing cool air...just start suffering through it and do NOTHING about it...if I can find the courage...just let it rip me apart and try to find that place where I was back in those days. Grab a pen and note pad and see if it comes together for me...worth a shot, anyway. Maybe I'm nuts for thinking this will work, but then, it just might. I'd do it if I think it will help others...I mean, really, after 23 years??? I can handle a couple more Kip 10's just for revisiting this and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together.

Hmm, I've been feeling ripe for a CH most of the day now with mild shadows (Kip 2-3) creeping up on me out of nowhere for the past 10+ hours and I haven't had a CH since yesterday at around 5:30 pm...over 25.5+ hours now...hope my cycle isn't breaking already or this project may be over for another year or two...that would SUCK...OK, hoping my cycle isn't over yet??? Crazy??? I'm on a mission here...so give me break, OK?

I did some outdoor breathing technique a few times already today and knocked it out...no shadow, no head-banger, but another shadow has been lurking for over two hours now while I pondered this opportunity. That said, I could be in for a real doozy if I just let it happen...if I cracked a beer and swigged it down would do it, but I cut all alcohol 4-1/2 years ago for unrelated reasons. I will let you all know if I have any success with this and give you a progress report if I can make any sense of it. Call me nutz, call me a wacko, but I'd prefer you just call me a friend.

BTW, frank, you inspired me to do this...it's been bugging me for days now, that I don't know how it worked for me, since I first mentioned it on a board post. If I can pull it all together, you're one of the first to be in the loop...and I think you could really use it...chronic CH??? Crap, I still don't know how you make it through a month, let alone 6 years, when I think back on what 1/2 my day was like with Kip 8-10...no, I still can't imagine it.

Hang tough!!! I'll do my best to make this happen...knowing very few may benefit from it (could be extremely difficult to help others learn it), but if even just one can learn it, I'll try to help them make it happen...yeah, that would make my day, maybe my whole month, complete. But the more the merrier. Almost time for dinner, so that should prime me up, once I get a full belly...almost always sets me off within a few hours...I'll just sit back and wait for my time in hell. I'm off work for one more day, but had a Bbq planned with my daughters and their other halves...hope this doesn't ruin my plans.

OMG, I just proof-read this post, and I still can't believe I'm considering this...it's already bringing back horrifying visions and the feeling of doom. I feel everyone's pain, and now I'm going to feel it a little bit more than I'd like to...if my cycle doesn't break (wish me luck). I'll take the sacrificial pain, if you will, for the greater good. I'm stopping D-3 regime right now, so, gimme your best shot, you demon from hell!!! I dare ya!!! Pray for me...that I can cope, can find that sweet spot, and that my cycle does not break now. I'm about to crap in my pants...I'm really freekin' scared now.