I am completely new to this site, but I needed to find a way to tell people what really works for me, and that is heat, and a lot of it. In fact, I can stop a headache using heat, and even if I cannot completely stop it, I can dull the pain to such a point that it becomes bearable.

In my house, I have a woodstove. When I feel a headache coming on, I expose the side of my face that experiences pain to said heat. (The way I see it, as long as I don't burn my face badly, it's worth it to deal with the pain of heat compared to these headaches, especially since the heat, over time, numbs that side of my head completely.) It actually stops the pain in just a few minutes, even after the headache has peaked.

I'm sure that most of you do not have a woodstove or other source of fiery heat. I can only recommend that you use a rice pack, electrically-powered heating pad, or some other source of similar sustainable heat (even hand warmers you're supposed to use in your gloves during the winter seasons; I myself think that they don't get hot enough, even if exposed to direct skin). I regret to say that this method does not completely stop the pain unless you get it on within the first five minutes of the "shadows." Still, even if the headache has peaked by the time you get such a heat source, it will dull the pain by quite a degree, making it more tolerable to deal with. (Less... screaming and collapsing to the ground in my case.)

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF CAUGHT WITHOUT EITHER MEANS OF HEAT, look for hot water. It's primitive, but soaking a paper towel or washcloth in hot water and putting onto your area of pain (repeatedly) will have the same effect.

A note: heat applied directly to the eye will only stop the IMMEDIATE pain. It will not dull the pain in the long run. The area just to the right of your eye (assuming that the pain is on the right side of your head) is a better place to put the heat source. (It's just about an inch [2 cm.] to the right from the bone you can feel right next to your eye. Refer to the attached picture file.)

All that I have said here is based on personal experience, not research or a doctor's note. Despite this, I really do hope that this helps more people. I have never heard of others trying to use heat to stop these hellish headaches. Please respond if heat helps you.

I swear by hot showers and ice-packs at the same. If I can't beat the bastage I can confuse it bad enough to leave.

Had a real bad one and had my head under the shower switching it from super hot to freezing cold and got things a little wrong. Scalded my scalp, half my hair fell out, and I never even knew until morning.

It's little wonder non-CHeads don't really believe or understand what we go through.

@Hoppy & AussieBrian: I can't say that hot showers have directly stopped a headache for myself. After stopping the initial pain, a hot shower does relieve whatever pain I could have had thereafter.

@MikeNZ: I have not tried using either of your said methods. I didn't even know that oxygen was a treatment until after I had posted this and looked around the site for a while. Thank you, though. I will consider these methods for the future. I also do not use such medications. In the past, I have used Excedrin, but that only helped an insignificant amount.
(Does oxygen help in the long run? Like... keep them at bay for longer than just the hour-and-a-half I get them?)

Joey Allen wrote on Mar 28^th, 2015 at 12:58am:


Oxygen is a great abortive to kill off a CH. Using a non-rebreather mask and a flow rate of 25lpm I can kill off a CH in about 5 minutes or less, which is a huge improvement over what was a 45-75 minute torture session. However the oxygen only acts on the CH that you're having, it won't stop the next one from happening. But you can use oxygen as many times as you need to a day.

Read more about oxygen at - Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Imitrex injects also work in about 5 minutes, but you're limited to how many you can use a day. They are however great for where it isn't easy to take your oxygen with you.

Excedrin is useless for CH, as are even the strongest narcotic pain killers as they just don't touch the pain of a CH.

Preventives, like verapamil, lithium or topamax, are medication that you take every day during a CH cycle and they cut down how many CHs you get by preventing most from even happening.

I really suggest that you work with a headache specialist to get a preventive and abortives sorted out as the combination can be so much more effective than just relying on heat from a woodstove when at home.

Thank you all for that info. I thought I was only going to have heat help me for the rest of my life. Now that I see that there are ways to stop it more efficiently, I'm less afraid to carry on with life.

Good tip! Another new person here. I live on my heating pad due to Trigeminal Neuralgia pain. So far no luck with the CH, but will try a different means of heat next time.