Posted by Bennie Sue (63.16.4.87) on January 31, 2001 at 09:35:57:
In Reply to: What the hell is this with the back of the head stuff? posted by Ted on January 31, 2001 at 02:10:27:
head - sometimes as a prelude to a cycle and then during and for a while after a cycle. Perhaps my CH is atypical to some degree.
It starts just above the back hairline on the right side. Any pressure on this area will bring on a full attack. At the same time I have a small swelling on the upper gumline on that side which I can feel with my tongue. I have no dental nerves there anymore after many root canals. I know that applying heat to the gum sometimes prevents a full attack. This is after 18 years experience - not anything new to me.
Next involved is the temple area - my CH attacks are truly periorbital. It is almost like a vise with one gripper on the back hairline, the other on the area just above the temple. Sometimes it feels like the vise is trying to squeeze my brains out my ear. Gross, I know. Fortunately I do not have the ice pick in the eye which most suffer. I might have tearing and the resulting stuffiness, but I believe these may be caused by the intense pain.
Since CH is to me very similar to an ice cream headache that lasts 30-45 minutes instead of just a few, I learned to treat the nerve in the upper back of the throat. If I eat ice cream fast, this will hit that nerve and a most violent pain results. So I figured that maybe heat would be a useful treatment for that area. It is difficult to hold a hot liquid against this area - it involves a certain amount of practice to avoid strangling, but there is no doubt in my mind at all that heat applied here is soothing if not always abortive.
Well, nobody ever said we were all alike, did they? Smile