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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> OTC drugs...worked for me.
        
(Message started by: Genesius on Oct 29^th, 2006, 9:55am)

Title: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Genesius on Oct 29^th, 2006, 9:55am

This I really can't believe happened but it did. I recommend trying it for the helluva it. Can't hurt (more!), right?

I had one at 5am yesterday..stayed for 2 hours..and left. Came back at 10am and stayed until 1pm. I'm sitting at an IHOP thoroughly NOT enjoying my Breakfast Sampler with my wonderful wife and kids. I notice a CVS across the street. I remember buying an OTC headache med once and it broke what felt like a different type of headache (migraine?) once. By this point, I'm feeling the surge of imitrex and don't want to take anymore. Plus, its not working.

I bought a bottle of Excedrin Migraine, took 2 and the CH was gone inside of 20 minutes. Had another this a.m. Took NO imitex. Instread, Excedrin Migraine. CH is toast. The beast has been released. For now.

WTH? In the 12 years I've been afflicted, no OTC has ever done anything. Until now.

I can honestly say that so far, it has been the best $5 I've ever spent in my entire life. ;)

Cheers,
David

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by chewy on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:12am

Perhaps you had a migraine.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Sean_C on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:25am

If you have clusters and the pain stopped after taking the asprin, it wasn't from the excedrin.

I've noticed lots of folks here are getting these 3 & 4 hour clusters. Maybe I'm misdiagnosed.

Cheers

Sean...................................

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by nani on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:40am

Or... confusing shadows with attacks?
Excedrine Migraine will kill those long lasting, heavy shadows for me, but it won't touch an attack.
What do you normally use as an abortive, David? Are you taking any prevents?
pain free wishes, nani

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by chewy on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:49am

Quote:

Or... confusing shadows with attacks?

More than likely the circumstance if an aspirin helped.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Sean_C on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:54am

on 10/29/06 at 10:40:43, nani wrote:

Or... confusing shadows with attacks?

I do that too, they can be easily mistaken for the same thing.

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the info Dave.

Sean....................................................

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by pattik on Oct 29^th, 2006, 10:58am

Hi David, I'm glad to hear that Excedrine Migraine can help you with minor hits. If it helped you with a major attack, I tend to think that you were reaching the end of the attack anyway. EM ingredients: # Active ingredients: acetaminophen 200 mg, aspirin 250 mg, caffeine 65 mg

Caffeine is always part of my arsenal, but it only works if I take at least 200-300 mg right at the onset, and only if it's not a high level attack. Let us know more about you and your experiences with cluster headache. All the best.

pattik

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by chewy on Oct 29^th, 2006, 11:42am

Hey Sean. Try this.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v388/bgull2/th_oo.jpg

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Genesius on Oct 29^th, 2006, 11:47am

It was most def. NOT a migraine. Trust me. Shadowing is always possible but unlikely as I took it during an attack..though what I was hoping was the end. And it ended soon after.

However, I took 2 right at the beginning and it went away. A tough decision to experiment knowing what was about to happen but it worked.

FWIW, I'm on prednisone (tapered) and usually respond to the Imitrex nasal..though I do "hit the needle" after I've had a couple of 7+ Kippers and a pattern starts. Several cycles a few years back would only *slightly* respond to injections. Man, my arms, ass, legs...sore! Ugh.

Around '94, during my first attack, I tried several meds including Lidocaine, Imitrex pills and spray, O2 and a few I tried and forgot because they failed.

Believe me when I tell you....this just isn't right. Asprin? Acetamenophin? Caffeine? Yeah right. But it was right twice in two days at different stages. :-/

Cheers,
David

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Charlotte on Oct 29^th, 2006, 2:35pm

David, sometimes anything will work. I'm glad it worked for you. I hope it continues.

What we have is unpredictable.

Charlotte

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Racer1_NC on Oct 29^th, 2006, 4:41pm

I guess I just imagined Excedrin Migraine with all that caffine helped me as well.

Bill

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Genesius on Oct 29^th, 2006, 5:13pm

on 10/29/06 at 14:35:42, Charlotte wrote:

David, sometimes anything will work. I'm glad it worked for you. I hope it continues.

What we have is unpredictable.

Charlotte

No kidding. Second only to the pain, is the unpredictability of abortives. If I knew nothing would work and I could count on a 45-60 minute trip into pain hell once or twice a day for 5-6 weeks every 2 years (my current cycle) then it would almost be more bearable. Eh...maybe not. :-/

Sounds odd but the fear of the unknown just hammers on me so much so often.

Thanks a lot for your concern. This place is such a comfort to me.

Cheers,
David

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by BigCoffinHunter on Oct 30^th, 2006, 11:17am

on 10/29/06 at 16:41:25, Racer1_NC wrote:

I guess I just imagined Excedrin Migraine with all that caffine helped me as well.

Bill

I would think it's the caffeine. Remember Excedrin Migraine is just regular Excedrin with a fancy label that says Migraine. Don't pay a premium for it.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by rickyshot on Oct 30^th, 2006, 3:25pm

on 10/30/06 at 11:17:15, BigCoffinHunter wrote:

I would think it's the caffeine. Remember Excedrin Migraine is just regular Excedrin with a fancy label that says Migraine. Don't pay a premium for it.

Exactly. It is like a double dose of excedrin. For low level kips and shadows I take a red bull with 2-3 motrin for the same effect and cheaper too than fancy excedrin migraine. There is no real migraine drug OTC

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Richr8 on Oct 30^th, 2006, 4:13pm

Excedrin Migraine works well for me on shadows. I only use it when I have persistent shadows that are chased away with O2, but continue to return as Oxygen usually does the trick on it's own.

I'll have to look into it being the same as regular Excedrin, as throwing away money is certainly not my plan.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Sandy_C on Oct 30^th, 2006, 8:25pm

For shadows, even for low level hits, Excedrin "Extra Strength" will work for me, if I take it immediately. I read the labels of Excedrin Extra Strength and Excedrin Migraine - exactly the same ingredients at the same quantity, yet "Migraine" was more expensive [smiley=huh.gif]

I guess it's all in the advertising.

Sandy

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by georgej on Oct 31^st, 2006, 12:45am

on 10/29/06 at 11:42:09, chewy wrote:

Hey Sean. Try this.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v388/bgull2/th_oo.jpg

...'the hell is that thing?

[smiley=huh.gif]

George

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by ti_beach on Oct 31^st, 2006, 1:18am

:( Wouldn't it be wonderful if everything that worked for a few ppl....worked for everyone of the CH's??? We all know that certain things work for different people!! There are no known cures, no known "set offs"....One thing may work for one person, Thank God!....and it will have no affect on the next person! :-[... Just be grateful that something was affective for you!!
Pain free days for you!, Robin :) [smiley=twocents.gif]

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by FramCire on Oct 31^st, 2006, 9:31am

on 10/30/06 at 15:25:38, rickyshot wrote:

HOw can Red Bull plus 2 regular excedrin be cheaper than taking 2 Excedrin? Online you can get 50 Ex Migraine for $6.20, that would be 25 doses, right? How much is 25 Red Bulls?

Now, Red Bull is probably more effective, but I am surprised it is cheaper.

The first thing I thought when I read this thread is how he probably could buy a 2 liter of Mountain Dew (do they still make jolt?), some generic advil, and some generic acetomeniphin and be cheaper and just as effective.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Bethany1 on Nov 1^st, 2006, 8:03pm

on 10/31/06 at 09:31:52, FramCire wrote:

The first thing I thought when I read this thread is how he probably could buy a 2 liter of Mountain Dew (do they still make jolt?), some generic advil, and some generic acetomeniphin and be cheaper and just as effective.

Eric, you just made me laugh with this post... just buy the damn excedrine if it works...

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by Sean_C on Nov 1^st, 2006, 11:20pm

on 10/31/06 at 00:45:59, georgej wrote:

...'the hell is that thing?

[smiley=huh.gif]

George

Its an ice mask ;;D He was politely telling me to STFU ;;D

Sean............................... ;;D

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by aubmari on Nov 6^th, 2006, 12:30pm

I am glad that this worked for you Genesius! It makes sense on why this would work really. The reason for the caffiene is to open the blood vessels right? This may not work for everyone but definately wroth a try!!! Probably works similar to redbull. I am going to try it when needed. Cant hurt and probably not as bad as half the things that arent OTC. :)

PF wishes to you!
Aubmari

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by thomas on Nov 6^th, 2006, 2:40pm

on 10/29/06 at 16:41:25, Racer1_NC wrote:

I guess I just imagined Excedrin Migraine with all that caffine helped me as well.

Bill

We go through that stuff like candy in my house. It is great for shadows and it helps the nagging hanging on low kip ones as well. I am not too proud to admit that I use OTC's as part of my attack plan. Although I am huge consumer of O2 and zomig as well. Hell I even use coffee to help, and hot showers and ice packs and all kinds of realitively "inert" stuff. But hey what do I know? ;)

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by thomas on Nov 6^th, 2006, 2:41pm

on 10/31/06 at 09:31:52, FramCire wrote:

.
She said redbull and two MOTRIN, not excedrin.

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by LeLimey on Nov 6^th, 2006, 3:04pm

on 11/06/06 at 12:30:55, aubmari wrote:

I am glad that this worked for you Genesius! It makes sense on why this would work really. The reason for the caffiene is to open the blood vessels right? Aubmari

Hi Aubmari, caffeine actually constricts the blood vessels which expand when we're getting hit, THAT is why its so effective for us, it's a vaso constrictor same as triptans and O2!

Hope that helps
Helen

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by aubmari on Nov 6^th, 2006, 3:35pm

I knew I didn't have that right! :) Thank you for the clarification. I am still learning about all of this and the terms and such. Thanks again.
Aubmari

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by seasonalboomer on Nov 6^th, 2006, 4:59pm

on 10/29/06 at 11:42:09, chewy wrote:

Hey Sean. Try this.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v388/bgull2/th_oo.jpg

that there looks like a head coozy......

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by r_headache on Nov 11^th, 2006, 10:53am

I have also had sucess with OTC meds...just be careful and watch out for rebound headaches. PF wishes to all!!

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by keithr1024 on Nov 12^th, 2006, 9:28am

at first when the docs said i had migraines i tried taking exsed migraine i had a speacial cocktail of otc and prescription drugs that i took 3 times a day the 4 exced migraine, 4 sinus pills , 2 elavis, 2 somas, and 2 advants. all in all it stoped shadows but being that druged when i got hit made every thing worse if it works for you then it's wonderfull but i think it's safe to say that most of us in the begging of our headaches ate otc meds like cearl with no good affects hope the beast stays away

Title: Re: OTC drugs...worked for me.
Post by vietvet2tours on Nov 12^th, 2006, 11:55am

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/vietvet2tours/epoos9_th.gif This works sometimes