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Topic: Cigarettes and coffee ? (Read 1144 times) |
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BobG
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #25 on: May 3rd, 2002, 11:47pm » |
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I started smoking years before I started clustering.
I have smoked during clustering.
I have smoked after clustering.
I haven't had a clustering cycle for over 3 years.
I still smoke. I'm trying to break the gum chewing habit.
And, I don't think it makes a difference one way or the other.
And I do think that if you stop smoking during a clustering cycle you will still be clustering and be real b*itchy at the same time.
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Stay stressed. Never relax. Never sleep. Ever.
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kody
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:DRe: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #26 on: May 4th, 2002, 3:16pm » |
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Message as reply to original thread and especially to Ueli. I too noticed the contradiction to the idea of avoidance of caffeine and to the fact that most cluster meds and inhaled oxygen , according to research, operate as vasoconstrictors in the subcerebral arteries, as indicated both by Ueli and by Dr. Greg. Even my Fioricet that i use for pain sometimes has caffeine in it. When asking my headache doc, he in fact said that chocolate ( boy, do I have a craving for it and really had to avoid it with recent CH bouts) was actually good for me. For me however, there's a joker in the deck. I am also blood pressure hypertensive so have to take med for it and protocols mandate low caffeine for that situation. Seems like i'm caught in a Catch 22. Recently started Verap and one of the side effects is purportedly fatigue. Wonder if caffeine laced energy drinks could both help the CH situation and reverse at least some of this Verap side effect ? Any thoughts out there ?
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oringkid
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #27 on: May 4th, 2002, 3:22pm » |
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Kody, all I know is that cokes don't help like coffee does. I don't know if it is the caffeine or the heat that helps me.
re: chocolate, doesn't seem to do anything one way or the other, but I tend to crave it while CH'ing.
Sherry
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Marc
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Kody
« Reply #28 on: May 4th, 2002, 3:58pm » |
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Hi Kody,
Just curious:
1) Did you replace another blood pressure med with Verap? (or are you taking two?)
2) What dosage of Verap are you on?
3) Are you taking normal or extended release?
Sorry to be so nosy, but I'm a HUGE fan of Verapamil.
Marc
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lefteye
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #29 on: May 5th, 2002, 1:19am » |
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Hi everyone,
I'm smoking and drinking coffee right now. I havn't found anything else that helps in the early hours. I know I'm going to be up so I use this comb to back the pain off. I don't drink coffee much, maybe a cup and half a day but I smoke a pack of cigs a day. Not abusing neither. It's better than nothing. 15 days until neoru(doc). 
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kody
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #30 on: May 5th, 2002, 1:49am » |
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To Marc: I'll answer your 3 questions in reverse, since I have a sort of twist on # 1 and I'd like to pass it on to the community for their general feedback and responses.
1) Prescribed ER(Normal Release) type.
2) Starting with 240 mg, 3X/day, with ramp up to 480mg in one week if pulse rate is greater than or equal to 55 bpm.
3) No, the two meds are separate. Hytrin is an A2 hypertensive med, i'm sure to work against vasoconstriction in some method. It is also antagonistic to enlarged prostrate disease, which is borderline for me. (called BPH=benign prostatic hypertrophy).
NOW FOR MY query for the community: I quote from Dr. Greg on this site, referring to Verapamil:
In the arteries of the brain, the muscles that cause the arteries to constrict use calcium to help regulate how hard they squeeze. By blocking the flow of calcium, the muscles don't react as quickly.
Cluster headaches seem to involve dilatation of the arteries in the brain. Whether that causes the pain, or is just a step in the process, we don't know. However, many of the medications that relieve cluster headache pain cause constriction of the vessels...so they definitely play a part. By blocking the calcium channels, the medication, in theory, decreases the irritability, or responsiveness, of these vessels.
The contradiction, as I see it, is that if CH is due to dilation of arteries in brain, then what you REALLY WANT is to facilitate the smooth muscle to contract. According to the above, this means YOU NEED calcium to trigger smooth muscle contraction. By calcium blocking these channels aren't you preventing contraction and therby prolonging the CH ? In other words, don't we want to increase arterial muscle irritability or responsiveness and thereby actually NEED calcium. It seems that Verapamil works some other way or i'm misreading Dr. Greg above.
To the CH Community: Please respond if you have another take on this
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| « Last Edit: May 5th, 2002, 1:52am by kody » |
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Drk^Angel
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #31 on: May 5th, 2002, 2:10am » |
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Before anyone else can say it... No one knows for sure what causes CH, or where the pain really originates... I've heard a possiblity or two that it's not the calcium channel blocker in verapamil that causes the relief, but a side effect of the drug... Dunno for sure... No one does... Oh well... Some say it's a lack of serotonin that causes the CH, but if that was true, serotonin reuptake inhibitors (like Zomig) or Prozac should be a miracle cure, but it ain't. CH needs some serious research before anyone can even come close to understanding the true reason behind it. Well... That's my 1/5th of a dime on the matter...
PFDAN................... Drk^Angel
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jrt
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Re: Cigarettes and coffee ?
« Reply #32 on: May 5th, 2002, 7:10am » |
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Started with the ch when I was 16, THEN started smoking and drinking coffee...lots and lots of coffee. Slow suicide or self-defense mechanism? I do know that pain level increases immediately and significantly if I smoke during a ch and can't bear it, but I run for coffee!
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