I saw a neurologists today and he prrescribed amitriptyline 10 mg tablets.(one per day). wondering if anyone had tried it for CH and any other info on the med. I asked about O2 and he agreed it was a proven abortive but did not know how to write a script for it and said he would talk to another doc about getting it prescribed ?????? In his defense he is new at the practice and might not know procedures. You alls thoughts on this are appreciated. Finally i told him i have dealt w/ CH for 14 yrs and have been diagnosed by 2 other docs before but it seemed like he didn't believe me and wants an MRI and that shit is pricey as hell. My last episode was 4 years ago so I am considered a new patient  and gotta go through the rigamarol of explaining to a new doc that i have cluster migraines I don't know about this dude. Any thoughts or experiences anyone has would be greatfully apreciated. Stay PF

mattyc wrote on Oct 27^th, 2008 at 7:41pm:

I saw a neurologists today and he prrescribed amitriptyline 10 mg tablets.(one per day). wondering if anyone had tried it for CH and any other info on the med. He's reading an OLD text. Tried that 15-20 yrs ago...didn't touch the ch, didn't even help the depression accompanying the ch...made getting out of bed in the morning the major accomplishment of the day. I asked about O2 and he agreed it was a proven abortive but did not know how to write a script for it and said he would talk to another doc about getting it prescribed ?????? In his defense he is new at the practice and might not know procedures. You alls thoughts on this are appreciated. Points for honesty but that's all. If he knows it is a proven abortive he should be falling all over himself to prescribe it (including calling a colleague while you are there). Go to the sticky post titled "Help in getting O2 prescribed". Print out the appropriate info and get it to him FAST. One of the tenets of clusterville is that it is YOUR job to educate your doc. (see Guisseppi)...or suffer the consequences. Finally i told him i have dealt w/ CH for 14 yrs and have been diagnosed by 2 other docs before but it seemed like he didn't believe me and wants an MRI and that shit is pricey as hell. My last episode was 4 years ago so I am considered a new patient  and gotta go through the rigamarol of explaining to a new doc that i have cluster migraines I don't know about this dude. Any thoughts or experiences anyone has would be greatfully apreciated. Stay PF Get your records. I've never had a doc force me to take tests I didn't want or couldn't afford. If they ever did, I'm movin' on... Best, Jon

I tried Amitriptyline about ten years ago and it seemed to help me sleep but it only helped for about a month, everyone reacts different to the meds so give it a try.  Your best bet with the o2 is to print out the info in the links to the left so you will get a regulator that works most doctor will perscribe 6-7lpm and that doesn't work.  Look at some of Batch's posts he is the o2 guru and knows what the doctors need.
 Best of luck,  Phil 8-)

I did amitriptyline in the 1980's.  I don't think it did much of anything.

In the 1990's I did ercaf and suspected id lengthened my cycles.

Now I'm doing fresh air, water, coffee and RedBull....yuck.  I'll see if this does anything.  At least it's cheap.

Best wishes for PF days and a short cycle.

            Johnnystar

During the year I have been relatively actively here in the forums, I have never heard of anyone who has had any kind of big help from amitriptyline.

I guess it could still work. We're all different.

- Best regards and PFDAN,
Rosa

I tried 25mg of it and it didn't help my ch.  You should do a search on the ch board for Elavil.  That is the brand name.  It is known to help some people in clinical studies but havent heard of it haveing any success here on the msg board.  Good luck.  

I take elavil at night-low dose-to help with sleep.  Does squat for CH.

Hope it helps you,
PFDAN y'all
kathy

hi there

I posted about this not to long ago and no one really had any posative results to tell me about so i never even tryde it.

I did do a search on google about its use for CH and again nothing to possative.

PF wishes to ya
Brian

hey mattyc...........i have been on elavil for about 6 mths now, ...............i started @ 10 mg @ night, and increased to 25 mg.............i sleep great........and so far it basically is keeping the beast @ bay..........(all my hits were between 9pm-9am usually).......i go thru periods of shadows and minor hits,which an energy drink will help me with, but that's it..........every month or so i try to go off, and by the 3rd or 4th day, i can feel the beast coming through stronger, so i just go back on...............so i can absolutely say it is working for me.........i sometimes wonder why it is working for me, when it is such an old drug and i know no one else that it works for....but , then i think , "this drug was made for me"!!!!! hope u have success!
deb :)

Hi there,
Amitriptyline saved me completely. I started at 10mg but moved up to 50. At 50 I had zero pain and felt better than I had for months. I was in very bad shape when I started taking it - I was having about 9 headaches a day and had stopped working for a while. With Amitriptyline I was able to get completely back on track. after 5 days of medications all pain was gone and I had no more headaches. I took it for 4 months and have been in remission for 2 years - the longest I have been in remission in many years. You should try this drug and consider increasing the dosage if it's not working at 10mg.

Also, a neurologist wouldn't have much experience prescribing oxygen at it's typically a GP or a pulmonologist. I think your doctor sounds very good, especially since he took your oxygen request in consideration.

Good luck - hang in there.

Best,

Julie

I'm on 75mg of it, but my body doesn't metabolize ANYTHING properly... I think it has helped a bit with the intensity.

My doctor said we may not notice a huge difference in me until we hit 300mg...

geez..............just proves that everyone's body is so totally different.................i am doing great on 25mg & only @ bedtime...........it still "knocks me out" also, and i sleep 10 hrs a night! thus, the later i take it, the later i sleep! since i am unemployed still, i can take it later! and ever since i have been taking it , i can have my wine without it being a trigger............................i just cant seem to get off of it, but still attempt every few weeks...............my wish is for everyone on this board to find something which works for them............................
deb

amilripyline is a trigger for me , so is red wine. I guess I'm different as well. ;)
careful with the triggers out there.
thebb

5mg of it and I can't wake up for days.... One thing I just can't take, but there's a lot of stuff I can't take...

As to the O2 -- Get the info off the board and get back to the neuro!!! Get the O2 NOW!!!! And be sure you do it right! (Information on board).

Someone's already said - Educate your doc - he's YOUNG -he can learn.

Hugs BD

I have been on amitriptyline 50mg for almost 3 years & was CH free until 3 weeks ago.  My doc has now prescribed topamax & imitrex. Hope it works!


Deb

Tried it in the mid to late 80's.  Was on 30 mg three times a day.  Appeared to work for a couple of months then nothing.