Hello all,
This is Jay again. (clusters every 5 years)
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my insurance came through with some medicine. I have imitrex injectibles and a 40 lb liquid o2 tank high flo setup. The cycle I was "supposed" to have over the holidays did not come. The pain anticipation and the fear has subsided. The bad news is that I will surely be blindsided when the beast reappears and sent into a new cycle of pain and repeat.
  The good/bad news is that I  have saved up 1600mg of imitrex  and have an o2 setup that I have never used. I am still unsure of it's effectiveness and compatibility with my physiology/affliction. The imitrex has a shelf life of about a year. I feel guilty about having it and not using it.
  Though I am pain free the beast lurks within me and were it dead I would still fear it's dead body. Is there no relief from this anxiety? Thank you listening and my tears and prayers go out to all of you.
Jay

I've used imitrex 3 years past the shelf life. Worked just fine

Hi Jay,


Why are you lost?  Sounds to me that you have your arsenal at the ready (and a good one at that) and are ready if and when he should reappear.

The anxiety you speak of is relative.  Go out and live your life.  Tomorrow isn't here yet.  Do NOT let this beast win.  If you live in fear, then that is all your life will consist of.  Live for the moment.  Live for the day.  Then live for the week, month, year, etc.

What hobbies or interests do you have?  If you are not doing them then you are letting "HIM" win.

   Linda

Thanks for the reply Linda. You are right of course. I just needed to hear it.

What Linda said!  Now you've heard it twice!  Never give up and never give in!

Carol

And I had good results with Trex last year that expired in 2004....

DD

I've used expired trex too, worked great. Understand that you now have some serious weapons in this fight. The days of hunkering down in your fox hole waiting to get your ass kicked are over!!! Live your life between the hits, and beat his butt if he shows his ugly face!

Joe

Hi Jay!  My philosophy is to get your arsenal ready, live your life and when your cluster friend attacks, counterattack!  you are ready, go have some fun.  The first one might sneak in, but not the second.

Now, on to the shadow period before the attacks.  I definitely get them and I have read that many (most) others do too?? maybe you do too and already know what I am going to say.  It took me a long time to get in touch with this: a few weeks before the attacks I get the light pressure/super small kips in the same location as my full blown attacks.  Not much pain, just an annoyance and.......A HUGE WARNING THAT YOUR CLUSTER CYCLE IS SOON ON ITS WAY!!!

If this is true for you then you will have a week or 2 to try out your O2 and make sure you are carrying your trex or whatever.  For the 'busting' crowd, this is a great time to dose and it doesn't have to be big at all. 

Point being: the series of shadows gives the warning (stray shadows don't mean anything).  Might all be different for you, but mine runs that pattern and it took a long time for me to figure it out.  Good luck!  Cluster are not a death sentence!   :D(googly eye guy says live your life and enjoy it.)

--Shaggy

Yup, what the others guys said.  I used trex that was 5 years old and it worked like a charm.  I'm so glad I never threw it away.  I also had the warning headaches for a week before I finally admitted I was back in cycle .... too late, cause I hadn't called the doc and re-filled any of my old scripts.  By week 2 I was in agony.  Next time, the beast is not gonna get the better of me.  I'm stocking up my arsenal, and I'll be ready.  If he don't come knocking for another 5 years, I'm just gonna be doing the happy dance for quite a while !  :-)  I'm saving my verapamil this time as well, cause that did wonders for getting them under control.  :-) 

Me too...I've used trex many many years past it's "expiration", it was always still good.

And why not use the 'ol imitrex tip which allows you to use lower doses just as effectively, and not have to worry as much about taking too much?

Or maybe you're already doing that.......if not, here's the link of goodness:
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Congrats, you have one seriously powerful beast bashing arsenal with which you may even be able to abort each and every attack!