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        New Message Board Archives >> 2007 General Board Posts >> meds losing potency
        
(Message started by: jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 12:06pm)

Title: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 12:06pm

hello all, going thru a rough stretch right now, my dhe seems like its starting not to work and right now for about the first 1 hour and a half after i get up everyday is agony.....is this normal for meds to stop working after awhile, i have been taking injections everyday for about 7months now. is it common to build up resistence to ch meds?

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by Karla on Feb 25^th, 2007, 12:36pm

I did 3 x to three different meds (oxygen, indomethacin, lithium).

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 12:39pm

am on o2 as well, scared of the lithium, heard it has a lot of side effects, my neuro wants to put me on some kind of steroid but i am scared that it won't have immediate effect and will have to deal with the ch beast everyday until it kicks in

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by Jonny on Feb 25^th, 2007, 1:00pm

Lithium aint so bad, I took it everyday for 14 years.....im still here ;;D

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by Karla on Feb 25^th, 2007, 1:09pm

If you read the side effects list for all meds they don't look very good and can be downright scarry. I took lithium for a couple of years and felt very good on it physically and mentally. It is an older medicine and the docs know alot about it and know what kind of problems to keep an eye out for. I never had any problems on it at all.

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 1:11pm

wow, that's a long time, i take it you are chronic, i've been having ch's since around '92, but they were seasonal, now i'm 37 and get these blasted things everyday, and i work at for disney, i am a travel agent so i have to sound happy and cheerful, imagine that while having an attack.....how do you deal with it?

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 1:13pm

thanks for the info karla...i love this site, it gives me info from people that actually deal with it, not just info from docs that half the time think you are crazy

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by Jonny on Feb 25^th, 2007, 2:00pm

on 02/25/07 at 13:11:55, jaynik wrote:

how do you deal with it?

I was chronic for 31 years, the best way I dealt with it was to work for myself. I started a drywall company that lasted about eight years, when I folded that I started a welding company....which was 15 years ago and still going.

Try the Lithium, it stopped 85% of the headaches from ever breaking through......for me anyways!

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 2:26pm

i'm kinda sad that the dhe is losing effect, it was great cuz as soon as i started getting an attack i would take it and the headache would go away in about 5 min....not gonna miss the injection part though, that 22 gauge needle hurts

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by Gator on Feb 25^th, 2007, 3:04pm

Ain't ch wonderful? NOT! Steroids, such as Prednisone, are a wonderful, short term (or Transitional) med. It usually stops the attacks dead in their tracks while another preventative has time to kick in and then the pred is tapered off. When used properly, it's not so bad.

What other meds have you tried? Verapamil is the first line preventative for most episodics. Lithium is probably the best prevent for chronics. There are other meds that work to prevent the attacks as well.

Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor. It describes preventative, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH.

http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by jaynik on Feb 25^th, 2007, 3:11pm

thanks for the info gator, the only other thing i've tried other than dhe and o2 is imitrex....the imetrex stopped ch dead in tracks but it came back several hours later.... i did a little research on line and liked deep brain stimulation idea, but that involves putting a pacemaker in the head and not sure i like the idea of having my head cut open, sounds like a last resort but as all of you know sometimes the thought of never having another attack seems worth it

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by froggy on Feb 25^th, 2007, 7:43pm

Jonny - I like the fact that you say you used to be chronic. If it's not too personal, what is your preventative now if any?

Title: Re: meds losing potency
Post by fubar on Feb 26^th, 2007, 1:11pm

It's a little known fact... Jonny never had CH. It was his hair that gave him headaches, and when he cut it all off, the headaches went away. :P :P ;;D