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Oxygen when supplied to the nostril on the effected side?

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#1 Sun, 18/05/2014 - 23:22
MalcolmW
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Oxygen when supplied to the nostril on the effected side?

Ive just read this on cluster headaches.com

"For some of us it is essential where the O2 "hits". My CH has always been on the left and for me it was crucial to get O2 flowing in my left nostril. The faster I got there (got the nostril open etc.) the faster I got relief."

Has anyone heard this before? I haven't.

The reason I ask, my CH is on the right, due to 3 or more broken noses in the past I can't breath in through my right nostril so I mostly breath in through my mouth, hence the O2 does not get into my right nostril the affected side of my head.

If O2 delivered to the nostril on the affected side can help abort the attack earlier for some of us (which I can't verify) it is however something worth trying, I.E. breath in through only your nose whilst on O2 it may help.

Thoughts, sugestions?

Mon, 19/05/2014 - 07:31
Mike
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Once you get past the nostrils all the O2 goes in to the nasel aperture. It just doesnt make any sense.

 
 
 
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Mon, 19/05/2014 - 12:34
Phil
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I have benefited from cold, running water on my face during the onset of an attack. Also, cool air from a fan can make all the difference to an attack during the first few minutes. Nasal O2 may have the same cooling effect?

I have also seen a (French?) boy on Youtube using oxygen by having it blow straight out of the cylinder into his face.

Such a waste. An ice pack wrapped in a tea towel would have a better effect.

Mon, 19/05/2014 - 15:51
Val
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Mike you beat me to it, I actually checked out the anatomy of the nasal passages and the join together like a fork in the road to form one channel to the lungs - I should think its extremely difficult to get 02 up just one nostril!  I wonder if someone is winding up ch.com?

Val. :)

And if they are, its not me - got better things to do with my time.

Tue, 20/05/2014 - 08:25
MalcolmW
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Thanks all for the input.

I was actually searching on Google for info regarding the mouth piece and stumbled across the above info. I would of posted a link to the thread but I wasn't sure posting links to other forums was allowed here, some forums don't allow it.

What got me interested was before I was diagnosed in 2004 someone said my symptoms could be "Sinunits" his wife suffered from it, so I googled it, the sinuses are in both cheeks and in the forehead linked to the nostrils from what I remember, it was over ten years ago :). I maybe should of also mentioned that someone else posted on the same thread with this.

"For me the mouth piece doesn't work as well but everyone is different,  I tend to breath through my nose and that doesn't work with a mouth piece also the cold air hurts my teeth and feels good on my sinuses."

I thought of the cold O2 passing into the sinuses on the affected side may help some. We all know some treatments/methods work for some but not all, believe me I've tried them all. Mike dunno if you remember but the advice regarding the non rebreather mask you gave me VIA PM around 2 years ago, did help me, the same kind of advice is on the same thread and actually by the same poster who mentioned "and feels good on my sinuses" in the above quote.

I can and will provide the link (if it's allowed here) so one of the more knowlageble members can read it, or I'll send the link to you Mike VIA PM if that's OK.

Most things are worth a try and without the info provided by OUCH I wouldn't even be on O2. The GP who diagnosed me on the first vist (I was lucky, he knew of the condition and the symptoms). That knowlageble GP looked puzzled when l asked for O2 and handed him the part filled HOOF provided here, he did however fill it in.

Thanks and keep up the excellent work you all provide.

Edit, I've also read that during and attack it can block the nostril on the affected side of the head, I wouldn't know due to reasons mentioned in my first post.

Val as far as I can remember i know you won't remember but I think it was you who called me back VIA the helpline in 2004 or 2005. The advice and the answers to all my questions you gave me was comforting. The only thing I disliked about the call, not your fault was that this is a life long condition. So thank you.

Tue, 20/05/2014 - 13:07
Mike
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Hi Malcolm,

Please post the link, it is allowed. Be interesting to read it.

 

 

 
 
 
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Wed, 21/05/2014 - 01:43
MalcolmW
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There ya go, skip down to Reply #2 and Reply #7, those are the two posts I partly quoted.

https://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1358018023

Edit, before I was diagnosed, I suffered for 5 years before going to my GP, I'd never heard of CH and thought the worst.

The only thing that helped me during an attack was to sit up in bed, pull the duvet right over me, grab the duvet and push it over my mouth and nose whilst rocking back and forth, sometimes for 3 hours. Whilst this did not abort the attack it did reduce the pain.

I still do the same if I've took 2 injections and have no O2.

Theory I think the pressure on my nose opens my right nostril, just checked and it does open my right nostril. Anyone remember the thing Robbie Fowler used to have on the bridge of his nose, to open his nostrils?

Im not saying this will help anyone but as mentioned it has and does reduce the pain level for me by getting my permanently blocked right nostril open.

Fri, 23/05/2014 - 07:50
Mike
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Mmmmmmm, read it. Well it is America.:exmark:

 
 
 
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Sun, 25/05/2014 - 00:19
horner78
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hi new to here been a ch sufferer 5 years,im a episodic which starts in september{here we go a again} hate september.last year it lasted 3 months with no meds 2 a day ttacks its like clock work every year.so now i have a perscrition for the injections but asked  for o2 only to be told by some one on the phone that i need to use  injections first,and the oxygenwill tae to log to srt out,what i said ive got til september to get it sorted why will they not give me the oxygen very confused.

Sun, 25/05/2014 - 01:25 (Reply to #9)
MalcolmW
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Hmmmmmmmmmm yup it's an American forum. Mike what do you mean by.

"Mmmmmmm, read it. Well it is America." ?

Are you saying that readers should ignore the advice, or believe the advice given on an American forum which probably has members from other countries?

 

Sun, 25/05/2014 - 10:20
Mike
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Horner, the problem is most GPs have no idea how to fill out the HOOF however we have filled out one on our website. Print it out, take it to your GP. The GP will fax it off to your O2 supplier who will deliver within 48 hours. It really is quick and efficient. When you want more O2 , call your O2 supplier, not your GP, and they will delivery within 24 hours.

 
 
 
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Sun, 25/05/2014 - 16:43
Phil
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1. Mis-diagnosis is rife in primary headache disorders. Not only do sufferers of CH go undiagnosed for years, but other headache disorders are labelled as cluster headaches. The larger the country, the larger the wrongly diagnosed group.

2. America's weather and distance from the equator along it's land-mass differs greatly to ours; heat, ambient light and humidity have all been mentioned as affecting CH intensity and bout periods.

3. Many sufferers have their own... tricks, that help them through a bout. Something that works for a few may not help the majoritory in any way; the larger the population, the more chance there is of a group of people with a diverse distraction that seems to really work for them.

4. There's a lot of Americans in America.

Wed, 30/07/2014 - 19:24
SimonD 2
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please dont take this as medical advice its mainly a note directed at mike

I have found that by targeting o2 at the effected eye it can help 

Wed, 30/07/2014 - 20:11
duetto
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I thought most people knew the nostril passages join into one passage, remember that from biology at school.

what i have found that inhaling oxygen via the nose seems more effective than using the mouth which i keep closed while on o2.

Wed, 30/07/2014 - 20:44 (Reply to #14)
Phil
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IMHO It's probably the cooling effect of the O2 blowing in your face, have you tried a fan?

It does seem that dealing with the autonomic reactions triggered by the pain sometimes aborts an attack.

Keeping my face cooled with running water works in the early stages and 1 or more others have also mentioned keeping nasal passages from blocking helps for them too.

May be the way O2 and sumatriptan have an effect? No one actually knows why our medicines work.

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