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Title: new to this! Post by aprilmcgrew on Mar 26th, 2003, 2:34pm hello all, I am a 24 year old female just diagnosed with cluster headaches. They are occuring on the right side of my head and eye, three to four times, only during the middle of the night. I can't sleep or function during the day. My doctor prescribed prednisone and vicodin, which he said may not help, but it is a place to start. Also, I am currently taking Glucophage XR for a condition called PCOS and was wondering if anyone out there has both these same conditions. I would appreciate any advice on these medications and advice in general on this condition. Good luck to everyone out there!!! April |
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Title: Re: new to this! Post by amber on Mar 26th, 2003, 3:48pm Welcome April ! I'm also 24 and was just diagnosed. I also probably have cervicogenic tension headaches to boot, which makes it hard to treat as they need different things. I have another condition (not the one you mentioned) but it means that a lot of the drugs they wanted to give me either didn't tolerate well in my system or my head just didn't respond to them. I tried prednisone, DHE for 3 days (which worked for a bit but then it came back), depakote, topamax, amerge, zomig, imitrex tabs but not injections yet (right now i'm using migranal nasal spray and it seems to give me longer lasting relief), narcotics, verapamils, sansert (that was ok but the other condition wouldn't tolerate it)...the list goes on. What I can tell you is that if your ha's are coming at night, you may want to try getting straight oxygen as many here say it is very helpful especially for the night attacks. They keep it by their bed and when they wake up with the ha they take some oxygen (and sometimes an abortive like imitrex as well) and that often takes the ha down to about 15 minutes rather than the typical 1-3 hours. My neuro hasn't been big on "pain control" yet..i'm still breaking him in ;) But that's what I'd suggest at this time for you...if you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me privately. amber |
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Title: Re: new to this! Post by firebrix on Mar 26th, 2003, 3:58pm Greetings aprilmcgrew Sorry you are getting slammed. Have you seen a neuro yet? Glad you have found this site cos this is where all the good info is - check out OUCH (and join ) as well - there's a lot of info there too. Prednisone is usually used to stop headaches while a preventative builds up to sufficient levels to prevent more ha. occurring. Prednisone at 80 mg for 10 days then tapering to 0 over a few weeks usually stops the ha. but it can be used briefly only as it has some nasty side effects when used long term. Personally I'd be surprised if vicodin would work - it sure didn't for Mopar. There are better preventatives that work for many people like Verapamil, Lithium and the triptan group. Imitrex ( a triptan) injections abort ha within minutes but are expensive. Oxygen is harmless if used according to directions and gives good relief when used with a non-rebreather mask. There is lots of info on this on both this and the OUCH site but if you need help with it just E mail or IM me. I reckon (IMHO) that O2 will give you better relief with no side effects. If your ha occur at night you could try taking dramamine which stops one from getting into REM sleep - apparently it is at this stage that the ha occur. This is probably worth a try. You will receive replies from others on this site who are a lot more experienced with dealing with CH than I, so watch this space! Good luck and stay strong. Sleep when you can and try to enjoy PF moments. Kind thoughts going your way right now. firebrix |
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Title: Re: new to this! Post by amber on Mar 26th, 2003, 4:40pm aww firebrix..you're so helpful! don't knock yourself..you know your shit lady ;) ;D ::) Amber |
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