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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2005 >> verapamil quiery
        
(Message started by: moi on Mar 18^th, 2005, 10:25pm)

Title: verapamil quiery
Post by moi on Mar 18^th, 2005, 10:25pm

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone can tell me, if verapamil works for you, then do you stay on it all the time? I met a guy in my area through your site (thank you to whom ever started it) and after telling him my doc perscribed voltarin that doesn't work, he told me 'dont ask your doc, tell him you want verapamil and imigran'. I did and since taking the 'v' I have had 5 ch in 3 weeks. The imigan helped each time just at the point of wanting to rip the side off my face off which is a bonus. In the first 2 weeks I had several a day start and each time they did I sprinted as fast as I could for a few minutes and most of them buggered off. In the last week, nothing. Lifes good again. I still knew the ch were around, shadows ,until a couple of days ago when I feel they may have gone. I'm a little worried about going off the v. My head may be playing tricks on me. So back to my quiery. Do you take them forever? I would like to have a babe one day soon, but not with this stuff in me. My docs a bit of a no go as all the others have been to me. He said to me that he hasn't ever had any patients with ch, they must stay at home. ???????????????????

Title: Re: verapamil quiery
Post by zrmulcahy on Mar 19^th, 2005, 4:34am

I believe episodics can go off verapamil between cluster cycles. However, if you get pregnant and the clusters come back, your first line of defense against the beast is gone. I would hate to be pregnant and have CHs at the same time.
Are your cycles regular enough that you'd know about how long you'll have before the next bout comes? If not, or if there's well under a year between them, find something that works and you can take while with child. I haven't really considered this factor in my drug research (not sure why), so I don't know what you can and can't take.
That's my two cents anyway. Actually, closer to fourty cents when you factor in inflation back to the late 1800's when the phrase was coined.

Title: Re: verapamil quiery
Post by pubgirl on Mar 19^th, 2005, 6:17am

If you are episodic the strong advice here is that you should come off Verapamil slowly when you believe your cycle has ended, at the first sign of any pain, step the dosage back up, and try again in another week after you have been pain free again.
The experts here recommend episodics don't stay on Verap all the time, and even chronics should take a break from it every few years.

r.e. drugs in pregnancy and during breast feeding, I don't know any prevent which is guaranteed safe, but 02 is fine for the attacks themselves

Wendy

Title: Re: verapamil quiery
Post by karma on Mar 19^th, 2005, 8:01am

The verap won't do anything for you accept block the plumbing and render it ineffective when out of cycle.
There has been some discussion about verap actually lengething cycles so taper down and get med free as soon as you can.

Title: Re: verapamil quiery
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Mar 19^th, 2005, 7:38pm

Ditto to Wendy,

I'm episodic with several years between cycles. Verapamil at 480mg/day during cycle has worked wonders for me. Once I'm fairly sure my cycle is over - all shadows gone, etc. - I slowly wean down 120mg at a time. I usually spend several weeks at each level, but if I start to get twinges or shadows, I go back up for a bit. Took me 5 months to wean off this last time, but I'm currently cluster and drug free. My bottle still has quite alot left in it though, so I'll carefully store it until next time around. Hope this info helps.

Kris

Title: Re: verapamil quiery
Post by sandie99 on Mar 20^th, 2005, 4:02am

Hi there,
I'm a chronic. For time being, I'm taking verapamil 600mg/day. I'm hoping that this dose will break my cycle...heh...we'll see.