Level 1 2 3

Level 1 Attack

I have been avoiding this setting since day one (see old post). Why would anyone in their right mind want to send electro-magnetic waves into brain when they have a migraine? When my migraines hit the last thing I want to do is anything that could possible aggravate them further. This setting just had a bright red flag all over it from day one. If you go back and read some of my previous blogs on Cefaly you will see that I didn’t have very pleasant experiences with Level 2 when migraines were above a level 5 pain scale. I seemed to have come out worse off with the pulses increasing my pain and even making me more nausea. As you can imagine with a name like “attack” on Level 1, to me it sounds brutal and in addition, being Level 1, says it is going to be stronger than the other 2 settings. Maybe. So last week, I grew a pair and gave Level 1 go. I had a level 6 migraine that had been lingering since climbing out of bed and grew to this intensity as the day progressed. I don’t know why I decided to do what I did, maybe, I had a brain fart or the migraine had killed off the last “High Risk” brain cell, leaving me in a state of “I don’t give a shit anymore”. So I strapped on Cefaly and pushed the button once and laid back in bed and let the work begin. It was actually….quite pleasant. It started zapping around the eyebrows and mainly focused on the forehead area. The pressure on that area was exactly what my head needed, taking away the pulsating pain on my right side. It was a relief. Even if it was only short-lived but still a relief for that short 20 minute period. Now that I’ve taken the step and tried level 1 and survived, I will continue to use Cefaly during attacks.

Level 2 Prevention

Level 2 is the main level that I use daily in the evenings. I have used this setting now for almost 2 months on a daily basis and have come quite accustom to its work. I described Level 2 sensation in an old blog post on “Day two with Cefaly” and so won’t go into detail again. I have been using this setting as directed by Cefaly and within the last week have craved more attention after my 20 minute session, so, I go for a second round either on level 2 or decrease it down to level 3. This has been great putting me in my relaxed state so I can drift off whilst Cefaly plays with my brain nerves but yet, startles me, every single day without fail when the buzzer ends a session. I don’t sleep well at night and on average get around 5 hrs sleep a night, and my body refuses to sleep during the day so to get some kind of rest whilst using the Cefaly has been a brilliant addition to my daily routine. Something I have noticed since using Cefaly twice in a row, is that the nerves continue to twitch for a period post session. Not continuously and not every day, some days the nerves are more active than others, with a twitch here and there for up to an hour post-session.

Level 3 Anti-Stress

Love this level! As mentioned, I have come accustomed to using this level directly after my daily Level 2 session. It starts off slowly with a few tingles along the eyebrows, allowing time to become used to that sensation then slowly tingles nerves leading up over the hairline. The tingles are different to level 2 in a way that they are not zapping the whole nerve but only spots along that nerve, making it a more relaxing experience. Pressure is not as intense as Level 2, also starting off mild increasing to a comfortable level across the forehead. Quite often I find myself drifting off when on this mode, which I find very relaxing and comfortable and will be one of the reasons why, I will keep Cefaly after the trial period.

Week 3 with Cefaly

I planned on posting last Friday at the 2 week mark but unfortunately, my head prevented me staying on track. So here we are at the 3rd week mark..

Unfortunately I had a bad fortnight since my last post. I had 10 days out of the 14 with pain. The first week was intense – 6 days straight. Sunday started with the usual dull stubborn tension type of ache at the rear of the head with a stiff, sore neck and vision disturbances (mostly spotty and blurry vision in right eye). I did my best to protect my eyes whilst out and about that day by shielding them in sunnies even whilst inside shopping centres. I’m sure I must look like an idiot wearing sunnies inside but until I get my indoor tinted glasses, I don’t give a damn what others think. Pain didn’t budge with afternoon rest and remained about a level 3 throughout the whole day right up to bedtime, with no changes after using Cefaly that evening. By lunch time on Monday, I had hit level 6 of pain intensity, my migraine had developed with sharp throbbing pain in my right eye, poor vision, sensitive to light, sound and smell and a mad rush of nausea. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I couldn’t focus on anything, each movement sent a wave of pain straight to my head, the heat coming off my head was intense but yet my feet were freezing. I tried Cefaly but no changes occurred. This bugger was here to stay! Tried to rest most of the afternoon in my darkened room and kept movement to a limit, forced down some dinner and attempted Cefaly twice in a row. By 8:30pm I was in immense pain, by now I was at level 8, Cefaly did nothing to this monster! Had a very restless night being woken with sharp pains and difficultly returning to sleep. The next day I didn’t move from the bed, still sitting at around a level 8 but attacking my whole right side of the head. By 6pm that night I couldn’t take it any longer, I had reached a peak where I didn’t give a damn about my self-worth, dying would have been kinder. I broke all rules…I took several ibuprofen. The mildest of all medication, an anti-inflammatory. Forced down some dinner and steered clear of Cefaly after yesterday’s experience. Back to bed. Slept a bit better that night and fortunately by the next day it had dropped to a level 5 intensity, still on my right side but a little more bearable. Took it easy in my hang-over, zombie-like state being very fatigued in a vacant hazy kind of day. Back to using Cefaly and by bedtime I was feeling the best I had for the past few days. All pain had cleared and I could smile for once.

That moment of clarity wasn’t the end. The following 2 days the pain had resurfaced reaching a peak of level 4 mid-morning on Friday. By Friday evening after using Cefaly, I went to bed with a level 3 ache. Woke Saturday morning at 4:30am for dawn service on ANZAC Day, I felt fine, my head had allowed me to face the world. The fog had lifted, my head was clear, no dull aches and my vision was clearer. Lasted for 2 days.

This week it was my left side. Very much out of character but nevertheless not rare. Considering 90% of migraines attack my right side, every now and then it likes to switch it up and destroy brain cells on my left. This week was not so bad only reached  a level 6 with only one day not being able to manage Cefaly.

So that was my past fortnight. How do I feel about Cefaly?

During the very intense attacks, I have become a bit scared to use Cefaly, I have found that it either does nothing or intensifies the throbs. However, anything below a level 5 in pain I seem to find it is helping by reducing the intensity and dropping the level down a notch or two. It has even removed all remnants of minor pain on those days in between when I get a dull ache of a level 1 or 2 which I don’t record in my headache diary. It seems to just zap it away.

I have gotten used to the strange zapping feeling and pressure against my forehead whilst using the device, it is actually becoming quite a relaxing sensation. I have attempted a few times to use it whilst watching TV instead of laying down with my eyes closed. I can tell you, it is very hard to keep the eyes open amongst the zapping and I find on these occasions my eye lids are heavy, droopy and fighting to close. In these circumstances whilst being active and distracted during the session, I feel it is not as effective. Don’t get me wrong, it is still worthwhile sending electro-magnetic waves through my heads nervous system but I feel I seem to relax and often drift off when I’m laying down with my eyes closed.

During this past fortnight, I also updated my electrode to a new one. Most likely overdue (they only last 15 times), it still felt sticky and stuck to my head fine but the zaps were missing a beat here and there which I thought was either the batteries or the electrode. Once I changed the electrode it worked fine again.

Frequency of pain: 10/14

Intensity on average: level 5 for the fortnight

First week with Cefaly

One week down with Cefaly.

So, how do I feel? Today great!! No pain in sight. I visited my GP today and updated her on my latest included the use of Cefaly. She had never heard of it so Googled it on the spot whilst I spoke. Unfortunately, we got side tracked and never spoke of Cefaly again but I do hope she looks into it.

So other than being pain free today, I’ll let you in on other relief. The brain fog or fuzzy haze in my head that I live with daily is still here today but not as pronounced as other days. I actually feel a little sharper than usual. Maybe this is because I don’t have the accompanying head pain. Directly after each 20 minute session, I have at least 2 hours of complete normality with no brain fog which slowly starts to creep back in by the 2 hour post-session mark. I feel at my sharpest after a Cefaly session, with my intelligence returning and vision at its utmost best in over 2 years since these migraines increased in intensity and frequency.

I’ve started to think that the spots and blurry vision in my right eye have settled in for the long haul and are actually a deformity growing in my eye (even though the Optometrist didn’t notice them). Absolutely nothing I do can remove them from my vision until Cefaly came along. Even if it is only short-term. Once again I have the clearest vision directly after a 20 minute session and this too can last up to 2 hours in duration. This gives me hope that I can get my vision back to some sort of normality too.

Other than day four’s session where my headache got worse, all other sessions seem to improve the pain. Mainly the pain is reduced for at least 2 hours post-session if not, for the rest of the evening. Yesterday was the best result to date. I had the usual pain lingering since waking and at its peak it was measured 5 on the scale. By late afternoon, taking an easy day with rest and less computer action it stepped off to a distracting pain about level 3. By the time I finished with Cefaly, I was asleep. That annoying beep to tell me the session was over woke me from my slumber once again, leaving me feeling the best I had been all day. The pain was gone completely, vision was restored and my head was clear.

I did experience a mild case of nausea after using Cefaly on day five. Nothing like the experience I had on day four but nevertheless, it only remained for about 5 minutes and no vomiting occurred.

Frequency of pain: 6/7 days.

Intensity on average: level 5 for the week.

 

Day four with Cefaly

So yesterday was not a great day, I woke with the usual dull ache behind my right eye indicating it was not going to be kind. As the day progressed the pain intensified and spread to the rear of my head to a level 7. Refusing to take any medication and hoping I could just ride it out, I gave Cefaly a go at 16:40 on level 2.

Result: took the edge off the pain, vision in my right eye was clear, thumping in my head had gone leaving behind a dull fuzzy ache. It had dropped to a level 5 migraine. Winner!

Within an hour and a half the pain had intensified to a level 7 again, the symptoms Cefaly had removed had returned again so I thought I’d give Cefaly another go at 18:40 on level 2.

Result: temperature increased, started to get the shakes, strong feeling of nausea, several waves of the uncontrollable feeling accompanied with my head throbbing. This puts my migraine at level 8 bordering on a 9.

I couldn’t hold back anymore, I knew I had lost the battle. Took some mild over-the-counter medication, forced down some dinner (didn’t expect it to stay down) and rested. Within an hour, nausea had gone, temperature decreased, pounding reduced back to the dull fuzzy ache. I was down to a level 5 migraine.

Summary: it is too soon to comment on if I aggravated the pain with Cefaly causing those symptoms or if they were unavoidable. I won’t judge till I experience more similar days.

Day two with Cefaly

Never fear, I’m not planning on recording every single day with Cefaly, just the first few and then spread it out to a weekly event, unless of course if something significant occurs.

With such a pleasant experience yesterday I have been counting down the hours till late afternoon for my next session. The manual recommends to use the device every day on level 2 at night for a prevention treatment however, I have noticed online some people using theirs more than once a day, even the manual says it is OK for certain treatments. At present I will stick with the daily evening recommendations.

Firstly, last night was a good sleep. I got a solid 6 hours sleep with 2 hours rest (pretty good for my standard!). I woke feeling fresh, no headache just the blurry, spotty aura in my right eye. Very accurate indication that pain is on its way! As the morning progressed sure enough a migraine developed starting in my right eye (90% source). Once again I am refusing any sort of oral medication for my headaches, I believe the pain is there for a reason and does not need to become addicted to medication to alleviate the pain. So I go without drugs, taking my day slow, indoors, quiet and no social life. Slow movements, keeping my head stiff on my shoulders and limited light sources (TV, computer, phone, outside). Welcome to my world!

Six PM finally arrived, pain was still active and around 5 on the pain scale. It was time for round two with Cefaly. With this migraine I was determined to last 20 minutes on level 2, no matter what happens. Apart from the intensity, today’s session was a bit different from yesterday’s. I wanted to take better notes on the symptoms and duration so I aimed myself with a stop watch and laid down on the couch and got started. These are my notes I jotted down instantly when finished:

• < 1 min tingling in left supraorbital nerve from forehead to crown and right eyebrow
• < 2 min tingling above plus left eyebrow
• < 3 min tingling as above, pressure builds where electrode is adhered on forehead
• > 4 min tingling intensifies and pressure increases, forehead and crown start to go numb
• 10 min pressure and tingling intensifies – forehead and crown completely numb
• 19:30 min tingling stops, pressure decreases, numbness clearing
• 20 min: numbness instantly gone

Results: slightly light-headed getting up from lounge, slight nausea feeling for approximately 5 minute post-session, eyes once again clearer than ever, and strangely brain feels sharper, less foggy. The haze had lifted for the first time in over two years.

Summary: apart from the nausea feeling, I felt strangely good. My migraine was still there which is not surprising as the Cefaly isn’t a cure, and with no accompanying drugs pumped down my throat, I was not expecting it to cure me instantly. The pain was still level 5 once I got up and started walking around again which could easily be linked to the nausea but once I ate some dinner the nausea had gone. Within an hour the haze had returned putting me back into my zombie-like existence for another day…

Day one with Cefaly

Today my new Star Trek device arrived. That was super fast, one day delivery!

Like most who suffer from chronic pain I was keen to get started, it was late in the afternoon so I decided to hit the ground running. I read through the instructions, set up the device and arranged it upon my head. There are 3 sessions to choose from:

1. attack treatment
2. prevention
3. anti-stress

With a tension headache in tow I opted for number 1, ATTACK!! Laid down on the couch with my eyes closed to rest for the 20 minute session. First up I didn’t know what was happening, tingling started in my left supraorbital nerve. This is the nerve above the eyebrow which extends to the top of the head. This was weird, real weird. Is this what the device was meant to do or had I done something wrong? I had no idea. The manual says it targets the trigeminal nerve which branches out to the ophthalmic nerve (CN V1) which in it self, branches to the supraorbital nerve. I’m no Doctor, like any inquisitive individual, I Googled head nerves and joined the dots from there. So I guess it’s doing what it’s meant to do. The tingling in this linear nerve was mild at first but quickly spread to my right eyebrow nerve and within a minute later to my left eyebrow nerve. About 2 minutes into the session, pressure was applied to the forehead area where the electrode was adhered. This pressure intensified as too did the tingling, chickening out I decided to step back to number 2 for the remainder of the session. This made the remaining of the session more bearable. A lack of sleep from the previous two nights and being quite comfortable on the lounge with a pressure gauge massaging my forehead, I jumped when the device beeped to tell me my 20 minutes was up. It scared the crap out of me! I have no idea where that 20 minutes went…maybe, this was the side effect (see previous post) creeping in??

Results: I actually felt OK apart from the headache in the background, the pounding had settled down to a slight dull ache, the auras in my eyes disappeared and was actually the clearest vision I had all day.

Summary: A very strange feeling with the constant tingling and pressure on my head. However, with a Tension Type Headache (TTH) (not migraine!) I do enjoy having finger pressure applied to various random points on my head, which is a shame that this device does not cover the whole top facial and scalp regions. A relaxation device I’d love to design one day! Otherwise, I was certainly relaxed and would give the Cefaly a thumbs up for my first experience.

Cefaly

Always up for a new experiment on my headaches/migraines, whilst doing some research over the past couple of days I came across the Cefaly (http://www.cefaly.com.au/) on the Headache Australia website (http://headacheaustralia.org.au/). It is a nerve stimulating device worn as a headband and provides an alternative drug-free relief for migraine. Cefaly say it “is designed to prevent and treat chronic or recurrent headaches”. Perfect!

I can’t believe I was so late to come across a tool to assist in pain relief but nevertheless, I found it and continued for a couple of days with further research online to find out about other experiences with the tool. According to others, Cefaly has provided benefits in reducing the frequency of their migraines and provided relief in the severity of migraine-like symptoms. Like most things in life some things work for some and don’t for others and it seems Cefaly may not work for people who are triggered by electro-hypersensitivity. So far to date I have not identified electromagnetic fields as a trigger for my headaches so, that’s a bonus. Those that didn’t gain any benefits from Cefaly at least they can say they gave it a go which I decided is exactly what I need to do.

Firstly, before I fry my brain I want to know the side effects. There are 6 side effects:

1. Sedative effect
2. Skin reaction
3. Pain during the session
4. Headache after the session
5. Persistence of sensation
6. Neck pain

So taking these side effects into play, the first one sounds great as insomnia is a common occurrence with my migraines so a bit of sleep/rest sounds pretty reasonable to me. Skin reaction, I guess you won’t know till you try and I assume this reaction is from the adhesive where the electrodes attach to your forehead. Pain during the session, well, I have a high pain tolerance and what could be worse than a level 10 migraine. Right? Headache after the session, well that’s nothing new, I have lived with daily headaches for the past 2 years. Persistence of sensation I’m pretty sure won’t linger too long and neck pain, nothing new for my body either. That leaves me thinking that all is good with this tool which now leads me onto the next factor…..cost.

The Cefaly is advertised on their Australian website for $379.95. A lot of money for someone who is currently not working! However, they do offer a more beneficial rental system. This gives me a chance to try before I buy. I get 3 months to trial the device and see if it makes any difference before committing to the full price. The rental option obviously is a more expensive option as you end up paying $400 in total. Upfront you pay $150 and after the 3 months they will deduct the remaining $250 if you do not return the item before the 3 months expires. I’m pretty sure there are many other websites around the world where you could buy the Cefaly and some of these may be cheaper but I like the rental option as who knows, I may be sensitive to the electromagnetic fields or I may become sensitive to one or more of the side effects. With the amount of money I have spent over the past 28 years on headache/migraine relief, I believe a trial is the best option at this point of my life.

At 08:35 on the 9 April 2015, I ordered my first Cefaly!