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Hi Leftsider, Welcome to the forum, sorry you have to be here. Re. above comment; clearly you're dead, and this is The Bad Place. I mean, it's obvious. Or you're a vampire. Was it night time? Does the sun burn your skin? On, on a more series note, and to piggy back on Jon's comments. The hypothalamus does a whole list of things, and controls: body temp, thirst, appetite, weight control, emotions, sleep cycles, sex drive, ... and the list goes on. One of the big things it controls is the body clock, which is why they think clusters are so closely associated with it, or triggered by it, as they happen, well, like clockwork. Before I started busting, after every cluster attack I would have massive swings in body temp that would last 20-30 minutes. One moment I'd be freezing, and wrapping up in my bath robe and blankets, and a moment later, I'd be boiling. Back and forth it would go, over and over. So if you'd gone outside right after having an attack, your body might have cracked up your body temp as a result of the cluster, and thus didn't feel the cold, as such. And regarding why hot or cold sensations can sometime elevate attacks, the reason I think this is, is because the body can really only process one source of pain, or strong sensations, at a time. I used to inflict a different sort of pain on myself, a pain I could control, during an attack in order to distract my mind and decrease the pain of the cluster. Stepping into cold snow would certainly trick the brain! These are just my thoughts and experiences mind you, I'm not an expert. Here's an interesting experiment you can do regarding tricking the brain. This works best outside or in a large room, but that isn't critical. Sit quietly for a minute and pick a spot directly in front of you to look at, and no matter what, keep your eyes on that spot. Do not move them, or your head. Now, make yourself aware of an object as far to your right as you can perceive. It's great if something over there is moving to catch your attention, but just try and see as far right as you can WITHOUT moving your eyes - keep them looking forward on that spot. Now, do the same to the left. What can you see without moving your eyes? Next, do the same upward, then after a moment do it downward - all without moving your eyes. Now, the real trick, take in everything as far to your right, as far to your left, as far above you and below you as you can, all while your eyes are looking straight forward at that spot. Several things will happen. 1. You should be pretty amazed at how much you can actually perceive without having to look at it. This is a great technique to use when walking in a crowd, or even driving. This is how Black Belts in martial arts are able to fight several people at once. 2. You should find yourself relax as you focus on the things around you. 3. You may notice your emotions just switch off. And this is the point I am getting too. Your brain only has the bandwidth to process a certain amount of information at any given time. You can process sights, sounds, emotions, smells and touch (among other things). But if any one of those becomes overwhelmed, then something has to give, and be shut off. When you are looking at things with your eyes, you're not actually seeing everything that is there. There is billions of pixels of information in front of you, but we humans use selective vision, and we only see what is important to us. By doing this little trick, you bypass that selective vision and force your brain to process more visual information than normal. In order to make room for all this information, it has to shut something off, and it shuts off emotions. I gave my best friend's eulogy last month using this trick, and didn't cry through it at all. The same applies for pain. Your brain can only process one source of pain at a time. Introduce a new source, a new sensation, and they brain jumps to that. That said, clusters are so very intense, it's not easy as the pain tends to overwhelm everything. MG

Welcome to the forum Katrina I have to agree with Freud here.....you might research one of the other TAC headaches called SUNCT........15 individual cluster attacks in 24 hours is the most frequent I've ever heard of! DD

50-100+ attacks does not sound like clusters to me.

Hi Jon There is so much information and suggestions on the net and on various forums , I really don''t know which to believe or not, also lots of conflicting information. I decided to try and go the Herbal way and see if I can find something that might work for me. I got myself some cayenne pepper capsules that contains capsaicin which is known for helping with headaches ,that in itself did not work but it did make it much less painful, I took two grandpa headache powders one day and it immediately gave me relieve , So whatever the combination of the two is doing, it helps me with this awfull headaches . I now started to drink Ginger tea also, Ginger is known to have the same effect as sumatriptan. So I decided to keep my system basically saturated with Cayenne Pepper ( 3 to 4 capsules of 500 mg per day ) and at least 4 big mugs of ginger tea during the day. I still get one attack a day but it is very mild and then I take one of those Grandpa powders and it disappear as fast as it started. I am almost trough my 3rd week without having a serious attack or headache . Like I said before, this might not work for everyone or for nobody at all, but I merely telling what is working for me and like Siegfried said, If it can only help one person out there, then it is a victory. As for caffeine, There is also plenty of different views about that also, you mentioned that it might be good for headaches , My neurologist told me to avoid caffeine because that is one of the triggers. I only have one cup of coffee in the morning and for the rest of the day I am drinking ginger tea. I still think that there is no certain way or remedy for cluster headaches and I also believe what triggers it for one , might not necessarily triggers it for another person. I really think everybody is trying anything to beat this beast on his own way, I decided as a last resort to try the herbal way because of all the long term and negative effects with prescribed medicine . Touch wood it looks like I am on the right track for now, at least for myself. Attached is the information given to me by my neurologist and it clearly says that '' lots '' of caffeine is a trigger, that is why I avoid all energy drinks and only have one cup of coffee in the morning, Like I said before, I don't really know what and who to believe and I just trying to beat this on my own like everybody else . I don't want anybody to do what I do but this is merely my experience that I have with clusters . For now I am staying away from any caffeine except for my one cup in the morning, I drink my Cayenne pepper capsules and ginger tea during the day and one grandpa powder if needed. works for me right now and I am and feel a different person than a month ago.

Yo Daniel, ....no intent to rag on you for what works for you....but I believe in informed decisions and cost:benefit calculations....only you can do that for you... ...one of the soul crushing aspects of CH is that what works today may not work tomorrow...for no discernible reason.....so: …"to ensure peace one must prepare for war"....now...not after Pearl Harbor.... Best Jon PS: to be clear...caffeine is good...and a lot of it at the right time is better...for clusterheads anyway...