During a cluster, it's all about constricting the blood vessels for me

[CHsince99]

I've suffered from CHs for 25 years.  They used to occur every year or so and last 8 weeks.  Like many CH sufferers, I'd rather "check out" than face a full-blown cluster without oxygen.  Thankfully, high-rate oxygen always works for me in 10 minutes.

I've been able to skip a few years by doing the following:  at the first indication of a shadow, completely cease both alcohol & exercise, and start taking 100 mg of caffeine every few hours.

My neurologist told me that there is not only one pathology for CHs.  I guess there are different types.  For whatever type I suffer, during a cluster period, vasodilation sparks a CH and vasoconstriction can prevent/abort a CH.

Edited yesterday at 02:59 PM by CHsince99
Adjusted caffeine intervals

[CHfather]

Thank you for this!

[Bejeeber]

Interesting! The pathology for some of us has been that vigorous exercise (like sprinting) can actually abort an impending attack. 

I'm a physiology ignoramus, but one thought that pops into my ignoramus mind is since such exercise draws more blood to the heart, lungs, etc. could it be drawing it away from the behind-the-eye sort of spots (inducing vasoconstriction there)?

Also, it is very common to get hit hardest during sleep, which I tend to think of as being kind of the opposite of exercise.  

I will note that others have reported exertion will trigger an attack for them though.