This is my third day taking the Verapamil, and I know it can take up to two weeks to kick in, but my question is do you still get CHs even on the Verapamil? Is the pain level lower? How many do you get and how often? How many did you get and how often BEFORE you were on the Verapamil? and how long did it take for your Verapamil to kick in?

Thanks. :)

Our goals with our prevents are to reduce the number and the intensity of your attacks. Few can actually eliminate attacks all together with just the prevent. I can't speak to verapamil, other then seeing the average uptake time from what others post is 10-14 days to really kick in.

For me, on lithium, it takes 10-14 days to really become effective. At that point it blocks about 70% of my attacks. The ones that break thru are in the 6-8 range. It sucks but this is when you have to be patient and look at the long term picture. If it works as a prevent the 10-14 day will be well worth it. Hang in there.

joe

Hi Kim,

Vrap didn't eliminate my hits but they were less intense.  

hi kim

i took verapamil for 3 weeks at240mg a day it didnt help , then doctor upped dosage to 480 mg a day and headaches were gone 4 days later.

last headache was dec15 with mild shadows a couple of times since then.
I am now at 320 mg a day and still no headaches.

Hope it works for you :)

Hi Kim. I am taking Verapamil at 480mg daily and it is working well this cycle. It took about 10 days for mine to kick in. I still have some hits get through but nail them with the o2 and that takes care of them in minutes. The hits that get through are definitely at the lower kip scale.

My neuro had me on lower doses with my other cycles but it was just not enough for me. We are all different and do not self medicate, discuss with your doc what might be best for you.

Have you discussed o2 with your doc yet? It is my main defense to abort hits, works every time so far. Read the yellow o2 button to your left and print it off and show your doc, it works for most here.

Hope this helps you is some way and even if some hits break through your barrier, it is way better than full hits several times a day and night.

I speak for myself on this but I am in full cycle (5 months in on this one so far and I go for about one year if my history repeats itself) and I have my life back. I can go out and enjoy being with my friends again, as I have my portable "E" tank in my car at the ready if needed. Nobody see's me with the o2 and quite frankly I do not care if they did, as long as it stops the pain!!!!

I can be long winded, sorry.

  Barry :)

Just Plain Carl wrote on Jan 31^st, 2009 at 8:27pm:

Hi Kim, Vrap didn't eliminate my hits but they were less intense.

This has been my experience as well. I still get them, but they're not QUITE as brutal. For me, the only med that completely ended a cycle was prednisone, but I am not endorsing it.

I'm down to about one bad day a week now.  That beats 7  8-)

Most days I'm PF.  Yesterday I stopped counting.  They were only in the 5-7 range but the volume was tough to deal with.  Went through a lot of O2 and coffee.

I'm PF again today!!!

-Dennis-

When my verapamil dose was last increased (I'm now on 720mg daily), I didn't have any pain at all for 3 weeks.
The shadows have returned now, but nothing like as bad as it was.

Neil

Hi Kim,  

the last time I was on verap (2 years ago?) it took about 2 weeks to get working, and then it only  lessen the intensity, didn't stop the pain and I didn't have a good abortive.  

o2   o2    o2   o2.

Did I mention o2?   ;)

YES!!!!!!!

If any of you ever wonder why some prevents work for a while then don't... Get some pH test strips and start checking...  You'll need to check your saliva pH 3 times a day (morning, noon, and night then take the daily average for at least a week).  My guess is you'll have a saliva pH measured at the onset of your attacks that's below your daily average pH when the beast comes a knocking more frequently or with a with a bigger knocker...

I use pH test strips from pH ION as they've got the highest resolution at 0.25.  If you find a low pH, talk to your doctor about mineral supplements containing calcium with vitamin D, magnesium, and zinc.  They act as buffers to raise arterial pH back up to normal ranges.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

I tried magnesium , zinc and calcium some time ago without any effect.
Does it work the same as preventative treatment in that it needs to build up in the system? Perhaps take it all the time?

On the point of the thread, I take 520mg of verapamil a day, doesn't stop the hits but over time they reduce. In the past it has worked on less but I always wean off them when my cycle is over.

Ellick.

Kim, while I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, it can take a couple of weeks for the verap to kick in.  Many folks use a transitional medication such as a prednisone taper to allow the preventives to build up and hopefully give the patient a much needed break.  

Personally it took several dose adjustments for me-finally reached 360mg-which is low compared to some-but as high as the doc was willing to go.  As for its effectiveness:  for me, the verap prevents a headache or so a day, and the remaining three are lower levels than previously (down from a 10 to an 8).  I ran our of verap once and can say that my clusters ramped up considerably-
bear in mind I am chronic (going on 4 years now) and was episodic for 25 years-not the "norm".

Hope you find your magic bullet Kim
PFDAN
kathy

Verap did help me, but, due to the side effects, I had to stop taking it.

02 is my bestfriend.  :)

Beth

Verap was my savior last cycle.   No major hits while on it,  kicked in pretty rapidly for me about 3-5 days or so ( unusually fast actually) .  When my doc first put me on Verap, he had put me an 8 day sample pack of Frova too.  Frova is a long acting triptan usually used as an abortive , but he prescribed it more as a prevent. I  Can't really use it as an abortive as it takes up to two hours to kick in-  

I ended up on 660mg of Verapamil for about 7-9 weeks or so.  Would have strong shadows at times , but they could be knocked down with coffee or a redbull.  I only occasionally had to resort to immitrex ( maybe 2-3 x) after I started .


Kelly

I'm on day eight, currently taking 480mg a day and I'm still having the headaches pretty intensely... but before it gets to bad i use O2 or imitrex.

I'm still hoping that it kicks in soon!

Have you noticed any decrease in , frequency or duration since you've been on the Verap?  Were they more intense before you started the verap?

Kelly

Well, I USUALLY (w/o the verapamil) only get 1 headache a day, MAYBE 2, but not often.

So, with the verapamil I've still gotten my headache at the right time everyday, and before it gets too bad I use an abortive... but I usually wait like 5-10 minutes before using the abortive to make sure it's an actual hit because my shadows can  be pretty intense sometimes.

and with all that being said, i guess I can see a SMALL difference, if any difference.... the pain is still pretty bad. k6-k7 after about 10 minutes, and then it rises but i usually have an abortive by then.

I guess I do see a difference in my shadow pain though. Before i knew about the O2 and verap, I would have a CONSTANT shadow pain all month. With this cycle (with verap and O2 and imitrex injections) I have hours of periods that are PF. Maybe thats the Verap?

should I up my dose ?

Its unlikely that they have kicked in yet. Ithink the recommendation for increasing dose is 40 mg perweek but you should check with your Dr. Also if you are up to 480 you should be having regular ECGs.

Verapamil should be a slow uptake from about 200 per day (starting) and a slow weaning off period of 40 mg per week. I have heard that this  varies according to advice but the general rule is slow uptake and slow wean.

Are you aware of the possible side effects and what signs to look for?

Ellick.

the first five days I only took 240mgs, and on day 6 he told me to start taking 480mg.

and the only side effect he said to watch out for is being light headed... i've read some other studies about the EKG's and stuff, but my doctor didn't say anything about that...

I'm planning on getting more info from my neuro Tuesday.

Just follow his advice and go up on day 6.  The only way I'd deviate from this is if you were PF.  Clearly you're not so go up on the dosage.

I'm glad to hear you are aborting the hits regularly now.  That's great news.

-Dennis-