Posted by John R (204.181.57.221) on January 10, 2000 at 17:47:15:
The following post was on the other board last year, but it was attributed to unkown. It seems to be
a quote from a magazine article on clusters. Does anyone know the
source? Has anyone tried hot sauce under their tounge?
"People have described cluster headaches as feeling like a blowtorch applied to the eye or a red-hot
poker being thrust into the skull. To make the agony worse, cluster headaches may recur a few times
a week or even several times in a day. People tell us that hot peppers in a variety of forms can be
helpful in cutting the cycle short. One fellow prefers a spicy Chinese tofu dish called "mapo dofu", but
he says anything with enough hot sauce works for him. Another man relies on Tabasco sauce under
his tongue. He chases this "strong medicine" with a glass of ice water and reports relief "in five
minutes max." The active ingredient in hot pepper is capsaicin. Though it may not work for everyone,
sipping spicy soup seems worth a try. Bon Appetite."
I am still trying applying 0.075% Capsaicin Cream (Walgreen's brand) inside the bottom outside of
my cluster-side nostril 3x/day. I'm doing other things at the same time so when my shadows go (my
headaches went away 12/30/99) I won't know for sure what it was. I'm also on Sansert, feverfew
and melatonin. The capsaicin seems to work to stop headaches, cut short cycles and prevent future
cycles. But the evidence and the best methods for using it are so sketchy and varied.
My best source of information so far is Alex Perez, who now lives in Israel. He seems to have the best luck with it. His pharmacy makes a nose drop 0.075%
capsaicin. He would lay back on the bed, tilt his head back and put one nose-drop in the nostril on
the same side as the headache. He would do this at least once a day for 3 weeks and then go into
remission for several months. This last time he continued with the drops for about 6 wks after the
headaches stopped. He has been in remission for over a year. He had been chronic for a number of
decades