Ive been taking Verapamil for some years now and recently for the past 3 months have been on vicodine for DDD. My cycle was freaking me out dur to its irregularity. Nothing as far as times and number of attacks was consistent with my past experience with the beast other than the pain. I was having some heavy shadows for the past couple of weeks that I couldnt get rid of so i decided id try taking my stupid narcotic at a different time to see if it would help with the shadows. Wll eventually I started getting 8s 9s and 10s up until the day before yesturday when i decided to stop taking the vicodine. Now ive just got a very slight shadow with no full on hits. Im wondering if hydrocodone tends to lower the efficacy of my verapamil.

oh God, let me word this right Please!   ;D

I have never heard of Codeine  lowering the efficacy of Verapamil.  

Codeine can,  and does cause rebounds...since you stopped taking it,  the reduced number of hits or intensity COULD be caused by your dis-continuance of this narcotic.   (How'd I do folks?...lol)

May I ask you what this is?  
Quote:

have been on vicodine for DDD

 Not sure what DDD is.


Linda

DDD= Degenerative disk disease.

More than likely you're experiencing the rebounds Linda mentioned. (Codiene and Vicodin/Hydrocodone are different things.)

Vicodin and Verapamil are both metabolised in the liver, but I haven't heard of the Verap causing meds to metabolize differently. (i.e. Like phenobarbitol, along with a lot of anticnovulsants.)

As for the pain from the DDD, I CAN reccomend acupuncture. I had GREAT success with it for DDD. If you can afford it, it helps a lot with the pain. It won't interfere with any other CH treatment. (Acupuncture doesn't seem to help CH, so I wouldn't suggest it for that.)

Mystina

ETA: Also, lots of things can make your shadows and clusters worse. Not just vicodin, it's different for every person... Right now? I've got strep, and every single freaking cough syrup that exists is making my clusters freak out. The beast really LOVES to be fed cough syrup. So, with anything you take, if you notice an increase, or your clusters suddenly get worse, remember, it could be something that the beast likes.

THanks for the replies. Yes ddd is degenerative disc disease sorry for the acronyms..lol...the older i get the more i have to learn. Im convinced now that the headaches were a direct result of taking hydrocodone and tylenol. Its been over 72 hours now and i have not had anything but a shadow since ive stopped taking it. I will consider accupuncture for the DDD if it gets worse but as it stands right now I would gladly welcome a lifetime of back pain if it meant no more beast...lol


Again thank both of you for your replies.

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but as it stands right now I would gladly welcome a lifetime of back pain if it meant no more beast...lol

;) :P :P
Painkillers never helped my CH.
Glad your doing better.
the bb

I've been fortunate and have never suffered any back injuries. I've had enough friends go down with bad backs that I know it's nothing to sneeze at. Then making you combine CH with it...damn!!!

Glad the verapamil is keeping the beast at bay, good luck at finding a substitute for the vicodain for your back pain. Pain is pain, it sucks!!!

Joe

Narcotics are generally vascular relaxers which means in simple word, they are CH triggers. Some narcotics don't seem to trigger CH. One is in patch for, which I can't remember right now. A member here had total remission from CH whaile on it.

Paul

  Paul: you might be thinking of Fentenyl. Its delivered thru a transdermal patch in 25 Mcg/hr dosages e.g. 25, 50, 75 Mcg/hr etc. It is a very powerful narcotic. Given to folks in extreme pain. Terminal Cancer patients, me. It is very dangerous. One person I know of died from the minimum dose. I had it removed from my pain management regimen as soon as I could. That stuff is scary.
[smiley=smokin.gif]

  PS: I was in total remission while on it @ 200 Mcg/Hr. It wasn't worth the risk I was taking.

Before i had some upper teeth problems, so when i was going to have 1 removed last november, i was tucked nicely into a 3 year remission, He had some trouble pulling that tooth and gave me vicodine for pain. I ended up taking only 1 pill that night and it worked great ( sleeping like a baby ) but the very next night, sadly remission was over. I believe to this day with all my heart that 1 vic promted my cycle. Coach Bill

as a self proclaimed expert on , sounds narcotics both in education and experience it is very easy to fall into the rebound effect with it also tylenol which most pain killers have both.
narcs never really  help ch except from phsycholigical factors