Cluster buster
If left untreated, my Cluster episodes produce severe and continuous pain behind my right eye for the duration, typically 1/2 to 3 hours. During which, there are "spikes" of excruciating pain and writhing restlessness lasting several minutes with several minutes of subsidence.
I've used; Calcium channel blockers (Verapamil), Beta blockers (Propranolol), Barbiturates (Butalbital), Ergotamines (Caffergot), Cannabinoids (Sativa), Opioids (Morphine), Corticosteroids (Prednisone) Imitrex, Oxygen, Caffeine, and many OTC medications with widely varying results.
With the varying successes of all the remedies I've tried, my most successful was; Sativa, combined with familiar music, and isolation. This combination enabled me to engage in an unorthodox form of meditation. Allowing me to concentrate on rhythmically exercising all of my joints and muscles. The isolation element of this combination was to assure there were no witnesses to the Woodstock-ish Tai Chi infused display this produced. If detected during random drug testing, the use of Cannabinoids will get me fired from my job. The risk of being fired outweighs the benefits, so this method is not a viable remedy for me.
I've found that producing body movements during the episode, suppresses the severity of the accompanying painful spikes. Lately I've been using a method of remediation with some success. When the headache starts coming on, I get on a water rowing machine. This machine produces whole-body movement with the beneficially soothing sounds of the water resistance, allowing me to enter a pseudo-meditative state. I haven’t found anything that eliminates the headache, but this non medicinal remedy suppresses the severity of the spikes.
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