Posted by Art L on March 02, 1999 at 11:53:51:
First, a brief history. I am a 26 yr old male with over 8 years of CH. I usually get them in spring or fall, that last about 2 weeks. Classic symptoms: Right side of head only, right eye leaks, right nostril runs, sweating, etc. Each attack lasts 3-4 hours.
I am currently in 2nd week of cluster. Sunday afternoon after about 2 hours of writhing in bed and crying like a baby, I decided to roll outta the rack and lift weights. My logic (you all know how you run a million scenarios thru your brain) was that if this is a truly vascular syndrome (blood vessels) maybe if I were to divert some of the blood flow to my muscles, it would relieve the pressure in my head. It seemed to work almost instantly, so I took it one step further and broke out the Nordic Track. Within 10 minutes, the pain was completely gone.
Have any of you experienced anything similar? Imitrex, Midrin, Nubane, Excedrin, Tylenol, Advil have all failed me. Now, whenever I get an attack I jump on the ski machine and it goes away, no matter how intense the pain. Can this be due to Oxygenation or increased blood flow? I hope this is the answer. Imitrex nasal spray is costing me about 20 bucks a snort. I am not a rich man so this is a viable (cheap) alternative.
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
-Art