Posted by August (208.161.103.136) on August 11, 2000 at 18:17:01:
In Reply to: Lets start from the beginning-everyone try to answer posted by karen on August 11, 2000 at 07:53:52:
Only thing I have to offer that hasn't been said before is one trick.
I brew up coffee in the morning, and take one pot of it and put it into the fridge. When I feel an attack building, I get out my blender and put the coffee in with two glasses full of ice. I blend it and then drink it while I push the iced coffee up to the top of my mouth. By pushing it to the top roof of your mouth it hits the nerve that gives you an icecream headache. When your getting hit with a cluster it numbs the pain in that nerve, and it also distracts you from the pain. Of course the relief is minimal, but it does help some.
Another thing I do is take a burning hot shower and push on accupressure spots. The shower has to be hot enough to distract me from the pain. A word of caution on this however. You have to memorize on the faucets what point you can't go past. When I have an attack past a 7 I can't tell always if it's too hot, and i have burned myself before.
The other thing i do is put on one of my tapes. I have it memorized that whatever song I'm at is a certain amount of time past.
Another thing I try to do is put meaning behind my pain. It's really a mind trick and may sound crazy, but I try to imagine that each breath I take is actually taking this pain from someone out there who is having an attack. I try to imagine it going into me. This helps because when there is meaning behind suffering so much, it makes you fight harder. It allows you to handle the pain better somehow.
I don't have any tips on how to handle kip scale 10's. That's where I am at right now. Each month I get from 7-10 days of 10's 5-6 in a 24hr period. All coping techniques go out the window. All I can do is remember that someone out there wants me to hang on.