Hello friends!  So Kurama (my beast's name) reared it's ugly head about a week ago, seeming to break through the AIR regimen barrier.  Fortunately, the D3 seems to at least be helping as I am only having one a day instead of the usual 6-8 I get at the start of a cycle.  I feel like such a baby complaining about one a day, but it still feels like it is one too many to be having daily  ;).  I don't know how you chronic CHers do it... 

I got another 25(OH)D test on Thursday and will be calling later today to see what my levels are (or rather what they were before I downed about 15 ng/l points worth of boosters over the weekend).  Meanwhile, my neuro's nurse practitioner put me on Verapamil for the duration of this cycle since the Topamax they had me on before never really worked.  I'm a first time Verapamil user, so I'm not really sure that it is helping either.  I've only been on it for about 4 days at 80 mg 3x daily.  From what I've read, this seems too low for most CH relief, but I've never been on it before so I don't know.  The one thing I have noticed is that it seems to be helping the oxygen to work.  Previously, oxygen wouldn't abort the headaches, it would just temporarily drop the pain level and delay the onset.  Today, it completely aborted it and it didn't come back.

Is there anyone that has experience with Verapamil?  How long does it usually take to bring relief?  Should I request at this point that we raise my dosage or should I wait a few more days?

As always, thanks for any help!

Go back to your previous message where I gave you a document dealing with doses, etc.

Print it out and use to discuss options with the doc.

I found it, Bob.  Thanks!  I didn't see it before.

Verapamil works pretty well for most people with CH as a preventive. It typically takes a dose of 360-480mg a day to be effective but some people need around 1000mg a day. It does take about 7-10 days to start working either from starting or for a dose change, so 4 days at a low dose is too soon to see many effects yet.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!  I will keep that in mind.