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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> CH and Local Anesthetics
        
(Message started by: Wayne on Aug 2^nd, 2007, 2:00pm)

Title: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Wayne on Aug 2^nd, 2007, 2:00pm

Hello Clusterheads

Well, I have been on Verapamil for about 2 months now and its worked like a dream, I havent had a bad hit in 6 weeks, certainly nothing above a kip 3 and all were very easily dealt with by my trusty can of Redbull and maybe a Migril if it felt as if it may get nasty. I have even been able to cheerfully drink as much beer as I wish for the last 3 weeks. So in general life was bliss and I was developing that warm cosy feeling that I was actually in control and had slowly started dropping the dosage of Verap from 720 and have been at 320 for the last week without even a twinge.

Yesterday I woke up with a nasty toothache so off to the dentist I go, one rather large filling later I am finished and life is wonderful, no toothache and no CH. Today, to my horror, I have been hit 3 times, once at 07:00, again this afternoon at about 15:00 and yet again at 17:00. The last one was a horror cos I didn't have any RB with me and had to dash to the shop so it got to about a kip 7 before I could take any evasive action.

I can only assume that it is somehow the anasthetic that pissed the beast off in a big way as that is the only out of the ordinary thing that has happened.

My warm cosy feeling has evaporated like nail polish remover in the Kalahari. Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else and if so how long did it take to get back to 'normal'? Damn I hate these things!!

Cheers,

Wayne

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Rosybabe on Aug 2^nd, 2007, 6:15pm

so sorry Wayne the beast made a come back ... :(

I haven't had an experience like that but I know that CH is in some way connected to the Trigeminal nerve and maybe somehow the anesthesia had something to do down in the nerve and woke up the beast...

Hang in there Wayne, get your O2!!

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by starlight on Aug 2^nd, 2007, 11:03pm

Wayne,

It's not a good idea to begin tapering off of verap until you have had NO head pain for 2 full weeks. I am not sure if you waited that long? Because if you didn't that may be why they "came back"--cause they were never really gone you know what I mean? Maybe you should go back on it and wait until 2 full weeks with no head pain of any kind. I think that may be what happened as you described getting some lower level headaches in past few weeks. But I am only guessing here. PF wishes, Star

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by starlight on Aug 2^nd, 2007, 11:05pm

Oh wait, forgot to add one thing--how long are your cycles--cause you should take the verap through the length of what your normal cycle is and go 2 full weeks more even if you are getting no head pain. Sorry my first post didn't really sum up what I was trying to say--the point is did you take it through the length of what would normally be your cycle length and then add 2 full weeks. That is what I have been told anyway is what one should do.

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Wayne on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 1:59am

Hi Star

I guess that's the problem, my first cycle was 3 months except I didn't know it was a cycle, the second lasted 4 and a half, also undiagnosed but I was keeping Records. Last year it I wasdiagnosed and it lasted 6months, so I have no idea how long this one is going to last. I did the beer test to the limit before I started tapering but I guess I wasn't ready.

Anyway I bumped it back to 480 and got through the night fine. See what happens today.

Cheers,

Wayne

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by sandie99 on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 3:47am

Wayne,

I'm not a fan of dentists, because when one of them did a mistake with my teeth (long story short: he thought that one of my teeth was "odd shape" and begun to work on it, but left it uneven with the others), I was in pain and had to go back.

And the result? I got back in cycle after remission and the beast has been actively bothering me ever since. >:(

I've noticed before that sometimes tooth pain and ch pain can go together: when my 3 wisdom teeth were taken out, ch pain came on the same time than the tooth pain. I thought it was odd, but that happended on both times - for a week every time my mouth hurted, I got hit as well.

What comes to verapamil... it's been so long time since I was on it (spring 2005) that I cannot recall properly the tapering process. I do recall that I started it after I had been PF complitely for a month. I was chronic at the time, so I didn't want to take any chances.

Sanna

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Wayne on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 7:57am

Sanna

I am absolutely convinced it has something to do with the anasthetic, it may have been compounded by the fact that I was slowing down on the Verap, but something really pissed the beast off. I've have seldom had three full blown hits in one day and never since I've been on any sort of preventative.

I agree with Rosy that the anasthetic must in some way affect the gentle balance I had going here. I'm visualising it the same way as turpentine and paint where the anasthetic washed away the nice thick layer of Verap that I had built up around my nerves.

Anyway, Todays been fine so I hope it was a short lived breakthrough.

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Wayne on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 7:59am

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by birdman on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 11:30am

Wayne - sorry about th ebreakthrough. Hope it was a one time thing. I too though am tapering verapamil and am now getting hit. Feels like since I started treating with verapamil it is harder and harder to get off of it.
Tim

Title: Re: CH and Local Anesthetics
Post by Wayne on Aug 3^rd, 2007, 3:45pm

Hey Tim

Ja, so do I. You're going through a tough time yourself, I really hope that the seeds work for you. Have a good time in Disney!

Wayne