Posted by Charlie S (206.159.166.67) on May 04, 2001 at 01:08:37:
When I was diagnosed, way back in the sixties there weren't all the drugs that we have today (as ineffective as they can be) and my neurologist said to treat these as a vascular problem. As nutty as it sounds, I was told to concentrate on forcing blood-flow from behind my throbbing eye, down my neck and into my arms and hands. When properly done you'll feel your hands warm with this redirected blood.
What this does is relieve just slightly, the pressure on the affected vessel which indirectly causes our pain. We all have this ability but it can be exhausting. Still the effort is better than suffering with the incessant pain. I was usually able to about halve the duration of my attacks from about 40 minutes to no more that 15 or 20. Sometimes, when awake, I could entirely abort the attack if I kept at it. I would suffer only minor twicthes instead of the killer pain. This doesn't always work but it does often enough to give it a try.
I learned this from the Dr. in about five minutes in his office. He simply told me to concentrate on keeping blood away from the head and to redirect it anywhere else. The easiest is the arms and hands but anyplace that works for you is fine. He said to think of it as "filling your hands" with redirected blood. Anything one does to retard this circulation will help. It is important to KEEP AT IT through the pain. This will be hard but it is the only way this technique will work. I like to keep at it four or five minutes longer than seems necessary in order to insure success.
This will not always work but I think it will always have at least some effect on the severity of the pain and the duration of the attacks. It's great between meds or while waiting for some other drug to take effect. All it takes is a little practice. Think of your blood running down your neck and to your arms and then your hands and you should begin to get the idea. It was fairly easy to learn and what I'm writing here is more than what I got from the Dr. I've added some of my personal experience to the technique.
I used it even when awakened in horrible pain. It is very hard to get this to work in that instance but I think it does shorten them.
I wish you all the best of luck!
Charlie S