It’s remarkable to see how people are so eager to label a cluster headache as a stress related condition.
“Is it stress related?”
“No, there appears to be no correlation between stress and cluster headache attacks.”
“Do they know what causes it?”
“Not really, but there are strong indications that its a deviation of the hypothalamus, a gland in the brain that operates, among other things, the body clock. This is why the majority of people have them with frightening recurring timing, regularity and frequency, usually around the time of the equinox*…”
“Are you sure it’s not related to stress!?”
Unfortunately it simply isn’t that simple. I wish it was. In fact, I think most clusterheads would love for that to be the case because then the solution would be simple. Most people seem to think headaches in general are stress related, probably because tension headaches are strongly stress related. (I don’t know much about migraines to say whether they are or aren’t.) Also, whenever the symptoms or disease seems impossible to explain, people tend to think that the problems are psycho-somatic.
So much to say. Nowhere to put it.
If you can recall our conversation about the physical manifestation of ourselves coming from the gravitational force of pure will and desire of our “consciousness” then perhaps you could consider how all physical ailments could be seen to emanate from the same source… maybe one day I’ll have a chance to elaborate on this, and moreover, how I seem to (so far) have been able to put this into practice, to have (pen)ultimate control over what goes on in my body, and what I (don’t) suffer as a result.
I am interested in hearing your ideas on it, but keep in mind that you take those ideas two or three steps further than I am willing to go. It’s all still philosophy with little to no grounding in reality as far as my experiences are concerned, which makes it difficult for me to put that type of advice into practice. And while it’s an interesting point of discussion it isn’t what is required in the moment of an attack when absolutely everything gets overridden by what is described by some as the most intense pain people can suffer. (I am not willing to concede that it is the most intense pain imaginable, though.)
The idea that your mind is in charge of your body is a nice one, but ultimately I believe your mind is a tenant but not the master of the house. It can help to keep the house in shipshape order, but it can’t prevent every disaster from happening, no matter how much it wants to.
But, like I said, I believe it can help, which is why I am curious to hear your ideas.
I’m sure there’s not much you can do during an attack, I imagine it’s all you can do to hang in there. But … seems the anticipation causes its own sort of anguish, and agony, not to mention that if you don’t know the cause(s) then you don’t know when you’re triggering it. Self-awareness and experimentation with control over the mind could potentially reveal ways to avoid remission. The cluster may not start because of stress, but you may make it worse by stressing (you don’t know, right?)
And if there is connection to equinox or time of year or body clock stuff… then a meditative state in which you come into contact with your inner functions could reveal the source of the problem… My own experimentation with this has helped me literally dissolve impending ailments.
But yeah, in the end, meditation is also a matter of relaxing, and letting things be as they are, rather than fighting them. As soon as you do that, honestly and truly, while the thing your body is reacting to may or may not go away… the “resistance” by your body, which causes all painful symptoms, can go away, leading to a significant decrease, even dissolution, of pain, illness, etc.
I also googled “meditation and cluster headaches”:
http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1275156216
I will read up on it when I have the time and then we can continue the discussion. I’m intrigued but skeptical. To be continued!
Enter your cave and find your power animal.