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All interesting !! I've just started my 7th episodic CH cycle. I get every 2 years like clockwork. 6 weeks to 20 weeks. I have tried many things. I completely quit drinking, and managed to skip a cycle. Well .. here I am with another failed hope. At least I'm 4 years sober, and off all the narcotics I was doing on my downward CH depression spiral. Here is what works for me: O2 is always my best cure!!! Once I feel it coming on. (Eyeball pain, then temple, then jaw, then left side of neck) Starts mild, but I normally have about 20 minutes before I'm in full blown can't bare it pain attack. I rub Vicks vapor rub on the temple, jaw, and neck. Then 15 ppm oxygen. Boom!! Within 5 or 10 minutes. It stops. Most times before I am in the unbearable part. I don't know why, but the Vicks works great!! Even by itself sometimes. Very hot, warm wet towel over the affected side works also over the Vicks. Sometimes O2 isn't available, so I have learned these neat other busts. Especially from these forums. Sumatriptan shot works great, but really shouldn't use more than 3 times a week, and have extended my cycles if I do use it alot. Varapamil 3 times a day for a few weeks has still won for my shortest cycle period. I hope this helps someone. I really didn't understand why the Vapor rub works, but after reading this discussion bout the histamine stuff, maybe there is something to it. Who knows. I have never been down so many rabbit holes about anything in my life like I have with the CH. The how, what, and why's. I appreciate you all, and sympathize with you all. It's a brutal disease. We all gotta live with it, and there are ways to cope. Ya just gotta find what works for you I think. It can be managed, ya just gotta believe it!! Life is good!!!

...old saying...Dr B i believe: if you are not sure a med is working...it's not! but, when you say "cans" it sounds like that faddish and worthless "Boost". you need at least 15 lpm, a proper non rebreather mask, and a breathing technique that works for you. at best an O2 abort takes 5-8 mins...a boost can gives less than 1. you ALREADY got the breathing technique which is a highly effective one for many and the type advocated by the expert on O2. get thee some tanks (not a concentrator) for pure oxygen. and to paraphrase @CHfather, if the O2 doesnt work its one more diagnostic clue to rule out CH. it sounds to me that either you have a very odd type of CH or one of the others he mentions.. best jon

You were having 10-15 headaches/attacks each day? How long did they last? This is a very confusing to me, because it is extremely rare for someone with CH to get so many attacks. It is much more typical of a different condition that has symptoms similar to CH, such as episodic paroxysmal hemicrania (Chronic paroxysmal hemicrania - Wikipedia) or SUNCT (SUNCT syndrome - Wikipedia). I'm not sure what you mean by "individual cans." Do you literally mean the small cans that contain oxygen -- such as Boost Oxygen? Or do you mean a large tank or a cylinder that has oxygen in it? (If you have SUNCT or paroxysmal hemicrania, oxygen usually doesn't help.)

If I catch it as soon as it starts and rub it on all the areas that I feel being affected sometimes I turn my neck to the side to give the C2 and C3 joints the relief, and lately I use like I said the antihistamines oh yes, all of that together can definitely abort the headache, but before I used the antihistamines I was just using tiger balm and it would significantly bring my pain downand give me a lot of relief.

Hi so as far as the Pepcid it was more of test at first but I noticed the first 24 hours my symptoms reduced more than half so then I went to Benadryl. I sought out over the counter medicine that had the highest antihistamine so that’s why I went with the Pepcid first. I find the Benadryl has worked for me also and yes, it is a preventative measure. I noticed when I started taking it my brought my headaches down to 10 day a day. As as the tiger bomb goes, when I start feeling the onset that being pressure throbbing pulsating on my left temple, I apply it ALL areas I feel anything lol… when I do that it does what it’s supposed to do, which is to confuse the nerves. If I’m awake and apply the tiger bomb that usually allows me to stop it and to control intensity and usually if I can do this, I can stop the headache altogether now usually So holding my head to the right stops the pressure I feel in my neck and gives me a lot of relief, so when I feel it I turn my tech until I feel relief and when I do this I can feel the relief immediately so with the cluster headaches being associated with your C-2 and 3 joints it made sense, it feels like it stops the pressure altogether so sometimes I have to hold my head completely down in between my legs and other times I just take my head and hold it to the right side that combined with pulling my left shoulder down it gives me a lot of relief so the combination of tiger bomb as soon as I feel the onset, with holding my neck to side and using antihistamines as far as pain is brought my headaches down from 10 to 1-3 a day. As far as me being able to control the number of attacks that I have during the day is brought it down to 15 + to 5 a day. Now ans far ans the oxygen, I don’t think that the oxygen really helps me. I have the individual cans. But when I try different breathing exercises like deep controlled breathing and also dragon breathing it helps me out a lot. The D-3 I just started taking 12 days ago weeks ago because I’m in the middle of an attack now. I started taking the antihistamines first and that’s when I noticed the significant change. Yes I have tried everything. Last year is when I first noticed holding my neck to the side gave me relief and my boyfriend broke his back so he swears by Tiger Balm and one day the pain was so bad I finally gave in and used it and it INSTANTLY gave me ALOT OF RELIEF. I even gave it to my friend that has tension headaches some and rubbed it on her head when she felt her headache coming and it stopped it completely! So yes I swear by this stuff now, I’ve went through 3 jars already this attack cycle. I really hope this helps