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Lieutenant2

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Everything posted by Lieutenant2

  1. That's awesome news. . .congrats! I'm still trying to make sense of my two-week experiment. I went totally pain-free for about a week. . .then got CRUSHED last Saturday, repeatedly. Since then, I've had one hit per night, always strong and short, but the time kept moving back. 8pm, then 10:30pm, then 1:30am, then 5am. Yesterday, I got hit three times during the day, and I was preparing for a long night. . .and nothing. Pain-free all night. So, I can't really say things are "better" yet, but they are different.
  2. Oh. . .well, in that case, that ain't yoga. . .sounds like straining muscles and tendons in your neck and back. Putting "a tremendous amount of strain" on my neck is never one of my objectives in life. I guess I'm actually in agreement with Brew. . .maybe you should try busting.
  3. Not gonna get into a peeing contest with you, chief. Your post wasn't constructive, in my opinion. The guy finds some relief with yoga. So do I. Yeah, maybe he should try busting. . .but that wasn't the purpose of his thread. If you choose to, you can have my login and password. I can do without six people telling me to "shut up and get an oxygen tank" every time someone shares something new and different.
  4. John. . .I'm anxious to hear more about how this works out for you. While my headaches are probably less severe than yours, my symptoms seem to be identical. I get a knot near my shoulderblade, leads to neck stiffness, then POW, headache. Not always, but frequently. I'm also two weeks into the licorice regimen, not on any other supplements or drugs at all. Mixed results, at this point. I wonder if there's anything to the muscle tension? Is it a precursor, a side effect, or even a direct trigger? Hmmmmm. . .
  5. Just curious. . .is anyone out there still experimenting with licorice tincture? It seems to have slipped completely off the radar, and I was looking forward to some additional long-term experimentation with this. We are a strange lot. . .seems like we can only give a new option a few days before declaring it ineffective (myself included).
  6. Geez, Brew. . .how very "other CH site" of you. : Bsirola, just some feedback. I've been practicing yoga for fitness purposes for a long time. And yes, you very may well be getting relief from yoga. I would suggest doing the cobra pose and other similar poses on a yoga mat or a carpeted floor, though. Doing that on a soft surface like a bed or sofa isn't exactly safe or effective. There are a couple others that may help, too. . .consider the vitrasara ("camel") and sarvangsana poses. Now, I'm not advocating yoga as any kind of CH "cure", but I will say that the combination of stretching, concentration, and relaxation will help put you in a better place, mentally.
  7. Another 24 hours pain-free. (Closer to 36 hours, I guess). That's nine days of licorice tincture @ 3x a day. . .2-3 severe headaches per day have morphed into 2-3 moderate headaches in a week. I have learned not to let my guard down with this thing, but I've never received such a great return on a $12 investment. Now, with the understanding that the licorice somehow disrupts the roller-coaster of serotonin that effs up the hypothalamus, I may also add the high-dose D3 supplement to my regimen to address the inflammation issues that cause the pain. I've totally removed myself from all other supplements in order to give the licorice a fair evaluation, so I'd be starting with a nearly-clean slate.
  8. One more update, one week into this experiment. After three totally pain-free days, I threw my schedule off with a trip to Philly yesterday. The early-morning flight didn't bother me. After sitting through endless meetings, I got a small shadow at about 2pm, the time my usual afternoon crap starts. I pressed on, and it never developed into anything. Last night, back at the hotel, I got hit pretty hard at 8pm. It got to about a 7, I didn't take anything, and it faded fairly quickly. Made it through the night just fine, and all day today, including the flight back to Pittsburgh. I am feeling some shadows today, but so far no pain. So, one week of licorice and absolutely no other supplements or drugs, the results are pretty positive.
  9. Just another daily follow-up. . .made it through a second consecutive night with zero headaches. I woke up at 4am feeling a little "twinge", but it never developed into anything. So, the tally since starting on the licorice five days ago: Now, I understand that my headaches have not been as severe as many of yours, and I am naturally very drug-sensitive, so I may be an exception here. I'm not ready to call the licorice a miracle cure or anything, but it does change something. And any change is positive, in my opinion. Kinda like in the movie Predator. . ."If it bleeds, we can kill it."
  10. Thanks, mom. . .I mean, Jeff! Just kidding, man. Alcohol has never really been a trigger for me, with the exception of red wine. I think it has more to do with histamines than the alcohol. And yesterday was just a perfect day for a couple locally-brewed IPAs! 4pm, and no hits yet today. . .which means I've missed my usual 4am as well as my mid-afternoon fun.
  11. Funny stuff, but if you think about it, those crackpot "remedies" aren't much different than what most doctors have done when we first went to see them. "Oh, you have headaches? Here, take some Topamax." No difference between that and the hemorrhoid pillow around your neck when it comes to CH.
  12. Thanks for the info, Les. . .makes total sense. I will say that I've been pretty clean, as far as other meds in my system. I am decidedly anti-pharmaceutical, so the only thing I've had is a nine-day prednisone taper about four months ago. Since then, I've experimented with kudzu, that's about it. I stopped taking that a couple weeks ago too. And I'm a bit of a square, too. . .no smoking, a rare drink. So, back to the licorice. Since my last post, I've continued taking it 3x a day, and some things have changed. One of my 4am hits happened as usual, but it was lower in intensity (maybe a 5) and lasted much longer (close to 2 hours instead of the usual 40 minutes). Not exactly a picnic, but it was a change. Yesterday, I started to feel my usual 3pm hit coming on (with the nose tingling, eye watering) while I was at a party, so I snuck out to my car and slammed an energy shot and waited. Instead of spiking into a full-blown headache then tapering off from the taurine, this one just never happened. There was a little bit of orbital pain, but nothing that even slowed me down. It was gone in under 10 minutes. Last night, I made it through the entire night totally pain-free, which hasn't happened in a long time. And this was after having a few beers, too. No pain so far today, either. So, something is different. I'll continue to report progress on this thread, for those interested.
  13. I'm going to throw a question out here, I guess specifically for Les (I already feel like I should write you a check for my co-pay or at least give you my insurance info.) So, beginning yesterday, I took one dose of the tincture at about 5pm, and another at around 9:30pm (I know those are pretty close together, but I wanted to get a second dose in before I went to sleep.) As many have reported, I could definitely "feel" something different, but it's very difficult to describe. Anyway, in recent weeks, my irregular hits have started to fall into a pattern, and I've been getting hit regularly at around 4am every day. Last night, after getting some decent sleep, I got smacked at about 4:30am as usual. I really wanted to let this one go to see how strong it would get and how long it would last, to see if anything was different. But when it started getting intense, I chickened out and chugged an energy shot. So, my question is. . .based on this experience, should I conclude that the tincture is ineffective in my case? I hate to jump to conclusions, but most of the anecdotal evidence is that licorice, if properly administered, produces instant results. I'm going to continue on the 3x per day regimen for now. I'm expecting a CH sometime mid-afternoon and another around 8pm, so I'll have more info to work with later today.
  14. Les, firstly, thank you for so much detailed and well-written information. Very informative. After poring over your research, I decided to hold off on my planned "alternative" experiment and give licorice tincture a shot. I have taken one dose, so nothing to report yet, just hopeful. For an additional source, I received my bottle of tincture today from iHerb.com, Eclectic Institute brand, 1:4 strength in organic alcohol. It was $12 for 2oz. . .they gave me a flyer in my package, new customers can get $5 off their first order with "referral code POS356". No, I'm not selling anything, so the regular cynics can save their breath. It's just a way for someone to get 2oz of licorice tincture for $7 if anyone is still searching for a source.
  15. I'm new here (and unfortunately to CH as well), but my personal experience says GO, and enjoy Steamboat. I live in PA at about 1000', and in July (which, come to find out, was mid-cycle for me) I spent four days climbing Mt. Rainier. Oddly enough, I didn't have a single CH during the climb. Now, this is before I knew what a "cluster headache" was, but it was still a nice break. As with all activities at altitude, stay well hydrated. The first mistake we flatlanders make in the mountains is dehydration.
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