About six years ago I started experiencing chronic CH after never having a real headache my entire life prior to that.  I would have 2-5 headaches almost every day.  The only breaks I got were through the occasional prednisone dose packs.  I have been on Verapamil from the beginning with no recognizable results.  Over those years multiple doctors tried so many different medicines (mostly antidepressant variants) that I literally lost track. Nothing worked.

Like most of you know, when this is affecting you you and maybe your significant other are researching the internet for solutions constantly.  You start knowing more about it than your neurologist it seems.  That's how I found out about oxygen, through this board and others.  That helped get rid of the headaches a little quicker but I would blow through tanks like crazy.

Then I started reading more about Lithium, both here and on many other sites.  I asked my neurologist to try it on me.  We started at 600Mg/day and the results were almost immediate.  The headaches disappeared.  Lithium is also effective in preventing alcohol induced headaches.  I had stopped drinking but now found I could have a few glasses of wine or some beers at the lake now and again with no troubles.

I had some very slight creep-through discomfort, not even really a headache, and we increased the dosage to 900Mg/day.  That still put me in the low end of the therapeutic window and I've been headache free for 11 months and counting.

I know medications appear to work very differently with different people, but if you haven't explored the lithium route you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

Now we are experimenting with weaning off of the other medications.  I am tapering off of Verapamil with good results so far.  Hopefully that might get rid of some of the side effects I've been experiencing with that (fatigue, ED,occasional constipation).  We'll see.

This gives me some hope, having also tried many other meds. I'm still on a super-low dose (150 mg/day) because my GP's afraid of it, but I'm sure I can get my new neuro on board when I meet him. Glad it's working!

I take 1200 mg a day of lithium when on cycle and it blocks 60-70% of my attacks. Glad it proved your silver bullet too.

Joe

Congratulations! May it last forever. I, too, found my GP and my neuro to be reluctant to advance much with lithium. Funny, that. Anyway, glad it's workn' for ya. blessings. lance

Lance, near as I can tell, your average GP/PCP will be vaguely familiar with lithium. As in, they know it's used most often for bipolar people, that it's "dangerous" (as in has a narrow therapeutic window and therefore requires regular blood tests). As in, they avoid it like the plague until it's a last resort.

Just a word to the wise: Careful with the word "cure." Implies you take it once and you're done.

This would be more like a "successful treatment."

I hear ya apple, my new GP flat said he would not deal with my lithium monitoring, that I'd HAVE to get a referral to a neuro even though I already knew the dosing. They definitely fear what they don't regularly work with.

Joe

What Brew said!

I'm glad Lithium worked for you.  For me it worked for a while, but the side effects became worse than the CH.  I'm back to CH.

Lithium does not cure.  If you stop taking it the CH will return almost instantly, and possibly worse.  Keep taking it as long as you are able.

all the best,
Jerry