Posted by Charlie (205.148.196.105) on October 24, 2000 at 16:23:52:
Dear Karen: When I was diagnosed with this horror, my neurologist taught me biofeedback that is very helpful. As nuts as it sounds, I was told to think of it as a vascular problem and to "think" of forcing blood-flow from behind my eye, down neck and into my arms and hands. When properly done, your hands will feel warmer and you may have a decrease in pressure behind the eye. This takes some time and concentration and it can be exhausting, but when these things hit what else is there to do? It takes no special training and Dr. Wright said to think of it as "filling your hands" with redirected blood kept away from the head. Anything you do to retard circulation to the head is the idea behind this technique. I was almost always able to greatly shorten the attacks and sometimes, when awake, I could entirely abort them. As soon as you feel an attack beginning, start warming your hands and keeping blood away from your head. You'll have to work through some pain sometimes but the payoff is well-worth the effort. I got mine down from 40 minutes to about 15 or 20 most of the time, and with less pain. It isn't necessary to sit absolutely still but it IS necessary not to let up. I also found it a good idea to keep at it four or five minutes longer than you may feel necessary to insure success. I learned no more about this method than what I'm writing here and although it isn't perfect, it's at least something with which to fight back! Give it a try and keep at it. I wish you all the best. - - -Charlie