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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> Meds Advice 
        
(Message started by: mezza on Mar 24^th, 2008, 5:17am)

Title: Meds Advice
Post by mezza on Mar 24^th, 2008, 5:17am

Last wed started Cardizem 240 mg and new Pred 6 day taper ( second time - had been on another pred taper for 2 weeks prior) Use imitrex for abortive and just got oxygen.

This was my first time to a neurologist and he seemed to do a good job.

Prior to starting this new med regimen- i was a 1 hit a day person - sometimes 2 but had strong shadows during day ( could kill with red bull etc) Hit always at night . Tried melatonin at 3, 6 and 9 mg with little success - mostly brought on a cluster at higher dosages and only 1 time slept thru it. Did also try 3 mg melantonin and benedryl also - mixed success slept thru one night and the other time last night got hit before sleeping ( a pretty bad one too)

Got hit again this am which is rare.

Here is what i am thinking but need some feedback. Imitrex seems to not be working as work so maybe a new abortive along with oxygen - How about that Frova stuff?

Also maybe call me neuro today and either up the cardizem or change the med? I realized that they put me on extended release and I have been reading here that SR is better?

I am now in week 4 of this cycle. I have never gone for more than 1 week in a cycle since preds killed it instantly , so i am very worried. I am exhausted too.

Any advice that i arm myself with when I call the Doc today would be great?

Thanks so much. If it wasn't for this site I probably would be in much worse shape! :)

Title: Re: Meds Advice
Post by E-Double on Mar 24^th, 2008, 6:09am

I wish I had a true answer for you.

I am now med free for 2 yrs.
I am also approaching the 4 yr anniversary of being in this cycle.
The only thing I can really tell you is that FOR ME coming off everything was the best decision that I could have made. The attacks though still present are fewer and less intense than they were while on meds.
There are no side effects to deal with.
I am a lot sharper.

If the route you choose is utilizing medication then you do need to stick with something long enough to reach therapeutic doses. Even that is individualized.

With regards to triptans, imitrex remains the fastest to abort. Zomig appears to be the next and then some of the others like Frova. Some suggest that Frova or Amerge for that matter hold some preventative qualities as they are longer lasting medications/ have longer half lives.

There is also olanzapine which is not a triptan yet has been an amazing abortive for quite a few of us in addition to being substantially less expensive.

Wishing you luck and PF times

E

Title: Re: Meds Advice
Post by mezza on Mar 24^th, 2008, 6:15am

thanks for the reply and the info

So you have been dealing with the cycle for 4 years straight? Wow you are a better person than me!

Are your hits harder since being off the meds or how many do you get a day and how do you abort? O2?

What did you notice when you took yourself off the meds in terms of the hits - frequency, intensity, duration ?

Title: Re: Meds Advice
Post by lennycohen on Mar 24^th, 2008, 7:13am

You can talk to your neuro about adding lithium into the mix, some on the board have mixed lithium with a calcium channel blocker, I am using lithium with Norvasc, along with Depakote, and Topamax (please don't think this is normal approach, my neuro is shall we say, agressive?). So, personally, I'm on just about everything that may expected to work - a CCB, lithium, Depakote, Tmax ---- and I've had 4 IV pushes of Depakote a week apart to try and break this cycle - I've been pain free for 12 days - longest stretch since 12/15 -

Speak to your doc about some of the other preventives to add, you can search here for their side effects, which can be substantial. Upping the Cardizem might also be an option.

Title: Re: Meds Advice
Post by E-Double on Mar 24^th, 2008, 8:17am

on 03/24/08 at 06:15:28, mezza wrote:

Not at all a better person. there are a few who have been going way longer. Regardless, 1 attack is too many!!!

My hits are not nearly as hard and when it is over it is over. There are no longer any lingering effects.
With each taper (step down) there was an increase. This happened until I was completely clean.

The only real rough time I had was last summer....I had been working the load of 2 people for a few months and when my colleague came back from maternity leave there was such a dip that I got slammed. Up until then it was a bad time for me with regards to sleep or lack there of. I averaged about 2 hrs slepe that was broken... I went in patient for DHE and that broke "no-sleep" cycle. The attacks decreased as well but it never fully broke the cycle.

I pretty much just use Oxygen to abort.
If desperate and in public where I made need to get it over with and back to business then I may take a jab or use zyprexa(olanzapine) if oxygen is not an option.

Good luck