I'm doing something wrong and would love the support and advice of the members of this group and Batch.  2 years ago I believe the D3 regimen ended a 9 month episodic cycle.
Clusters have been back for 5 mo. but once every two weeks or less.  However, for the last 2 weeks I'm having multiple CL almost every day.

For the last 11 days:

D3 50,000 iu
fish oil 1000mg
magnesium 500 mg
calcium citrate 800 mg

also taking
verapamil 240 mg
depakote 500 mg

(I abort all CLs w/ Oxygen, but had to take one sumatriptan last week traveling (ill never do that again, if I can help it due to rebound))

I believe in D3, what am I doing wrong?

Thank you for any help and support

Forgot to add D3 blood level was 52 about 3 wks ago

Until Batch gives you a proper answer:

1. You didn't mention Vitamin A, Zinc, Vitamin K and boron, which are all cofactors of D3 and may be crucial for the regimen to work.

2. 50,000 IU for 11 days is a lot. You are probably deep into the "green zone", unless you didn't absorb the D3 that good because you lacked some of the cofactors. So it's a good time to get checked.

3. You can get Vitamin A naturally from carrot juice, sweet potatoes or chicken liver.

good luck.

Maybe you're not doing much wrong at all, but you'll get a response from someone here if you are and get you straightened out. I was just about to ask the same question cause I'm getting killed out here in Seattle, maybe there's something in the air. I think I'm following the regime correctly and also added 2 to 3 Benadryls a day cause I do have allergies. I dropped a 1000 lbs of pressure on a 92 cubic foot tank Friday night trying to get the beast under control. I'm into daytime mode now too so I know this cycle is going to be really vicious and I'm only a week and a half into this episode! Oxygen has always worked in the past, don't know why it was only semi successful the other night. I did try something a little different last night -- Instead of huffing at a high rate, I'd fill my lungs full and then hold my breath for 10 or 15 seconds and repeat till the stabbing went away, seems to work and uses less oxy. We'll see. Hang in there,(I know, what choice do you have?)

   Here's to hoping D3 will start working for the both of us.        Sean

B Allen,

Thanks for the update... and good questions...   For starters, 11 days of vitamin D3 at 50,000 IU/day is a healthy total loading dose of 550,000 IU of vitamin D3. 

If your starting 25(OH)D was 53 ng/mL, then your present 25(OH)D serum concentration should be around 110 ng/mL based on an average response to dose of vitamin D3. 

Accordingly, it's a good idea to drop the daily vitamin D3 intake to a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU/day.  I'd also stop the calcium supplements for a week or so until the vitamin D3 is actively preventing your CH.  Stopping calcium supplements has helped a few CH'er improve their response to vitamin D3.

A serum concentration of 25(OH)D of 110 ng/mL is not a concern.  I've had several CH'ers take their serum 25(OH)D up to 190 ng/mL while under a physician's supervision with frequent labs for serum 25(OH)D, calcium and PTH (Parathyroid Hormone) with no problems noted.

There are a couple possible reasons why you haven't responded by now...  The first is the present anti-inflammatory regimen suggests a 3-month course of vitamin B 50 to address any possible deficiencies among the seven B vitamins.

The second and likely more probable reason why you haven't responded is you're likely experiencing an allergic reaction to tree pollen (allergic rhinitis).  Some allergy symptoms are obvious... stuffy sinus, eyes feel like they have dust in them, puffy face...  Other allergies may be sub-clinical, i.e., no outward or obvious symptoms... 

In either case, allergic reactions trigger the release of histamine and that results in a generalized inflammation that can affect the trigeminal ganglia and rest of the brain for that matter...  If you face is a little puffy and sinuses a little stuffy, imagine what the brain looks like...

I encountered this problem in early March when the Alder and Bigleaf Maple pollen was blowing around like a dust storm around the yard.  My black pickup looked like it had been dusted with a bag of Portland Cement.

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I'd been away on travel for nearly two weeks and return on the 9th of March to find my pickup in the above condition...  I knew this was going to be a problem so upped my vitamin D3 intake to 50,000 IU/day... 

Within 12 hours of returning home, the allergy symptoms were obvious... 24 hours later, I fell out of CH remission... I'm chronic and normally keep my 25(OH)D between 80 and 100 ng/mL... so thought the vitamin D3 loading dose would help.

Nearly a week later with no change in my CH pattern of 3 hits a night, the clue bird made a low pass and my "Good Idea" light came on bright and flashing...  "Treat The Allergy !!!"

The treatment solution was Benadryl (Diphenhydraming).  Benadryl is a first-generation antihistamine that passes through the blood brain barrier to block histamine receptors.  It takes roughly 3 hours to reach a maximum serum concentration and its half-life in adults is 10 to 12 hours...

That makes two (2) 25 mg tablets a day, one in the A.M. and one 12 hours later a good dose.  Benadryl is also a mild CNS depressant at this dose and it will make you drowsy so try not to drive if at all possible.  If you do need to drive to work and back, take a single 25 mg Benadryl tablet when you're home for the night...  Drowsiness shouldn't be a problem the next morning.

Within 12 hours after starting the Benadryl I experienced a significant decrease in allergy symptoms.. 24 hours later, the frequency of my CH hits had dropped to one minor hit.  By 48 hours after starting the Benadryl, I was again completely CH pain free so I dropped my vitamin D3 intake to 20,000 IU/day.

If you stop and think about it... it's difficult for a molecule of Benadryl to block a histamine receptor if that receptor is already occupied by histamine...  That makes it important to maintain a constant serum concentration of Benadryl by taking a 25 mg tablet every 12 hours...

I've since tapered my vitamin D3 intake back down to a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU/day.  However, as there's still some spring pollen floating around in the yard, I still need at least one 25 mg tablet of Benadryl to stay CH pain free.

I keep the following link updated with the latest changes to the anti-inflammatory regimen: 

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As usual, I'm obliged to make the disclaimer that I'm not a physician and that the above information was provided for discussion purposes only... Be sure to discuss the above with your PCP or neurologist...  If anything, we might just educate them on what really works to prevent CH without all the onerous side effects...

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hi Allen,
Did you keep taking the vitamin D3 regiment after your
last cycle! Because you need to keep taking it for the rest
of your life. With the Calcium supplement best to stop
taking it as it can interact with the Verapamil. I also
noticed your not taking a multi vitamin, this is important
because it contains all the other ingredients you need.

Hoppy.

Batch's addition of the B-50 has made quite a difference. It was showing that refractory chronics were losing the regimen relief but the addition of the B-50 has made a big difference...Good luck!

Hey Sean,

You've almost got the right breathing technique for oxygen therapy... but not quite... Try the following...

Stand, drop your jaw like saying the word "Haw"...  Standing gives your diaphragm full range of motion and that helps ventilate the lungs more effectively when breathing through the mouth.

Exhale forcibly and when it feels like your lungs are empty... they're not... do an abdominal crunch and hold the squeeze until your exhaled breath makes a wheezing sound for at least a second.

Then throw your shoulders back and inhale a lungful of air as fast and as fully as possible then repeat the the exhalation sequence.  Keep repeating this complete sequence for at least 30 seconds....  Then inhale a lungful of 100% oxygen and hold it for 30 seconds...

You should start feeling the symptoms of paresthesia - a very slight tingling or prickling of the face, lips, chest, hands and feet.  You may even feel a little dizzy.

After 30 seconds, repeat the exhalation technique and restart hyperventilation with air for another 30 seconds.  Three to four of these cycles should bring the pain down to zero...

Hyperventilating at forced vital capacity tidal volumes with the above breathing techniques pumps out CO2 faster than your body generates it through normal metabolism.  This increases your arterial pH making your arterial blood more alkaline.

As blood hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen increases as the pH goes up, the hemoglobin carries more oxygen to the brain.  This helps abort a CH.

The increased pH also triggers the body's homeostatic mechanisms that control pH.  They sense the low CO2 and higher pH so signal the lungs to breathe more slowly, the heart to beat more slowly and the big one... these mechanisms signal arteries and capillaries in the brain to constrict... This also helps abort a CH

pH homeostasis does all this to slow the flow of blood to the lungs in order to let the CO2 levels build back to normal.  However, as you are intentionally hyperventilating, you're inducing cerebral vasoconstriction with increased arterial oxygen and these two effects result in a CH abort much faster than if you were breathing 100% oxygen at a normal respiration rate.

I know that may sound confusing... but it works.  The following chart illustrates the benefits of hyperventilating with oxygen therapy or breathing oxygen at flow rates that support hyperventilation...  Both methods result in very rapid aborts.

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Participants in this pilot study either hyperventilated with an oxygen demand valve or used a 0 to 60 liter/minute oxygen regulator set at 40 liters/minute and a ClusterO2 kit NRB mask... 

As you can see, abort times were 3 to 4 times faster with hyperventilation than when breathing 100% oxygen at a flow rate of 15 liters/minute.  The average abort time at oxygen flow rates that support hyperventilation was 7 minutes to a pain free state across pain levels 3 through 9 on the 10-Point headache pain scale.

Soooo... holding your breath without first hyperventilating for at least 30 seconds with air or oxygen... tends to build blood CO2 concentrations and that slows the abort time.

Hope this helps...

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Stopped calcium.  Tried Benadryl for two nights and had two nights pain free.  Was out surrounded by incredibly thick tree pollen today and had afternoon CH today (not saying causation, could just be suggestive?).  Oxygen was not aborting, so incredibly grateful to get breathing technique (and burn less oxygen-huge hassle).  I'm going to buy EXACTLY what Batch uses instead of cobbling.  Want to start B50 too.  I cannot express how much it means to have all of you on my side.  I'm really at my wits end, and you all give me the strength to push on and try to beat this thing back.  Also my neuro has asked me to increase depakote to 1000 (from 500) and increase verap to 360 from 240 which i plan to do as well.

The multi contains calcium (decrease verapamil effectiveness), should i take the multi?

Also, should note I'm typically episodic with 2 yrs between cycles, but cycles have been getting longer lasting 6 months or more

Hi Allen,
When taking a Calcium supplement you need a six hour gap
before taking your next dose of verapamil. So, maybe take
the multi vitamin before going too bed.

Hoppy.

* Hyperventilate not improving oxygen results.  Still gettting one cluster a day in the afternoon.  Huge weeklong business trip ahead.  I think oxygen (which isn't really working well anymore) is so difficult to use that I'm considering doing a round of steroids to get through the week even though I know the headaches will come back even stronger in a weeks time.  This week long trip is really important for my career advancement.  What should I do?  What would you do?  Was Batch advocating taking Benadryl every day?  I can find no corroborating evidence that Clusters are caused by pollen allergy.  It's not that I'm skeptical, it's just that before I walk around like a zombie all day, I'd like to know that it's going to work.  At this point I'll try just about anything.  So what do i have to lose?  I guess i could cut the 25 tab in half.  I'm going through an E tank a day.

B Allen,

Take 3 to 4 Benadryl a day and up the vitamin D3 to 20,000 IU or 30,000 IU/day.  That should swing the balance of power in your favor...  A Benadryl tablet every 4 hours is no big deal unless you're driving and haven't had much sleep.

There's not enough calcium in the Mature Multi to interfere with verapamil...It appears it wasn't working all that well anyway.

If you need to be sharp at a business meeting after taking Benadryl... grab an espresso or two a few minutes prior... That should wire you up just fine...

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Batch,     Thanks for that info, I wish I'd have checked back sooner. the last 3 days haven't been much fun and I haven't been good for much of anything. Monday morning at work I went through a whole full tank trying to kill 2 back to back ch's, failed and just had to ride it out. Fortunately it didn't turn into truly bad one but I've had such good luck in the past with oxygen that I think I'm getting chicken.

      I added K2 to the program 2 days ago and today has been a good day, couple of shadows that tried to blow up but were easily killed. I'll give your advice a a healthy try tonight.

                       Thanks,   Sean

Keep at it Sean, for a lot of us, new things take some time, others, it works straight away
Hoping you find that balance point where everything works, It took me 18 months !
Good luck with it all

regards
colin

Thanks Blacklab,  If my memory serves me correctly (and it might not) you joined about the same time I did in May or June of 2013 and we were both starting the D3 program at the time. It sounds like you've had some success with it and stayed on it. If so that's awesome. My cycle back then ended after a total of 4 weeks which never happens but I relapsed a month later so the devil got his 8 weeks out of me anyway. I can't remember if I backed off the D3 or not. If so I'll not make that mistake again! Anyway,   Hello again.

                          Sean

Hi Sean, Yes, I think we did start at the same time !
         I have had some success with the regime Yes, but its not been without its drama. I've stayed on the regime right through since the start, adding the Vit B 3 month course, and also the K2. To start with, it didn't end my cycle, I had to endure that to the end, It was frustrating seeing others respond so quickly !  But, the worst I get now, is heavy shadows, and if I do get hit, the worst its been has been a Kip 4-5  I can live with that any day of the week.
I am still taking a small dose of verapamil, 180 mg, Ive dropped the calcium and try to get a lot of my magnesium intake from food products, as those pills with fish oil added in, sure have a loosening effect on me  LOL
Ive recently started taking a good probiotic daily, as im convinced that its a stomach absorption reason that the hole regime differs from person to person and so far so good, touch wood !
But I still remember the first couple of cycles, pre regime days, kip 8-10, 6 hits a day, high doses of verapamil and maximum daily intake of Imigran, never want to go back there !
I consider myself pain free, I just have the occasional speed bump in the road !
Sad to hear that the beast has returned to give you a belting !  I know exactly how frustrating it is Sean, when it happened to me, I just persisted with titrating up with the D3, playing with my magnesium levels, etc etc trying to find that sweet spot where I could banish the beast back to where it came from.
By the way, all my blood tests through out the 2 odd years have come back in the clear from any form of intoxication, I realise every ones different, but it gave me the confidence to really titrate up with D3, and find where my levels are best at to effectively act as a preventative,  My sweet spot seems to be around 220-250 nmol when I'm in cycle (which is about 100 ng in your scale) But I have been a lot higher but once the cycle goes, I drop down to somewhere around 200 nmol. I guess I'm one of the ones that the regime doesn't make me completely pain free, but one of the ones that it dramatically reduces the symptoms, I can live with that.
Any way, great to hear from you Sean, I do hope you get on top of your current cycle and get back to being pain free,  stay in touch and let us know how your going !
great to hear from you,  good luck

colin
p.s    anything you change, either with the regime, to try and see if it makes a difference, note it down, its great to look back on these as a reference !    cheers 

Hi Everybody!
I'm checking in after 2 wks.  Took the prednisone 12 day taper during my trip.  No headaches occurred.  (was in CA vs GA) Last day of steroids today.  Had first cluster last night.  Maintaining 20k IU D.  Also taking 1000 Depakote, 320 Verap. Upping verap to 480.

Feels like 20k IU D just aint getting it done.  I don't know.  What am I missing?   

B Allen,

Sorry to be so slow in responding... Was out of the loop and off the net in Pelican, Alaska fishing for the last two weeks...Rough seas but still managed a 50 lb box of king salmon, halibut, lingcod, yellow eye and black sea bass...


The good news is you respond to prednisone...  That means vitamin D3 should also help prevent your CH if conditions are right...  Make sure you're taking at least 400 mg/day magnesium...  It's essential to make vitamin D3 work properly.

You may need to start the 3-month course of vitamin B 50 if you haven't already done so...  I'd also suggest two Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) tablets a day, one every 12 hours for a couple days then drop to one tablet a day.  That's half my original suggestion as I've found 2 tablets a day is more than sufficient to counter most allergic reactions.

I know it sounds strange... but an allergic reaction produce a flood of histamine and that can make just about any CH medication less effective...

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Great Catch Batch!  Thanks for checking in.  D3 Blood level is now 129.  Recall I've been taking 20k IU for a few weeks.  Dropping to 10k IU unless I hear otherwise.  (also taking all co-factors except the multi-vitamin w/ calcium that might interfere w/ verap)  Where do i find the amounts  for the vitamin b 50 3 month plan? Last week was a good week with shadows on only 2 days out of 7.  (Verap at 480, Depakote at 750 (which reduced spacey feeling).  I think we may have leveled the plane off and are climbing out?

Hi B Allen, below is a link for 2 months of B50

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All the best

B Allen,

I wouldn't worry about the verapamil...  It's likely it wasn't working all that well so the 220 mg of calcium in the Mature Multi should not pose a problem.  You can also separate the verapamil and Mature Multi doses by 12 hours to reduce any potential loss of verapamil effectiveness.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Batch,    Something told me you were a fisherman, now I know.  Here's an update on my results with the D3 regimen---- Started on May 2nd and total amount for the month was about 600,000 iu, added 1 capsule of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (500 mg) daily to the regimen on May 16th and saw the first positive response on The 17th (coincidence?). The rest of that week was mostly positive and then improved from there. I dropped my nightly dose of imitrex on the 26th with no negative results and dropped down  to 10,000 iu d3 on June 3rd and have seen a slight uptick in shadows but still PF. Still taking the l-cysteine.   When I think back to what I used to go through this is amazing. I haven't had my levels checked yet which is why I dropped to 10,000 iu, but till I get tested I'll keep it there unless I start getting hit again.

        On another note, about those fish.  I fish the Gig Harbor side and up to Pt Richmond all summer for Kings and Vashon for Pinks casting with light tackle. It's not Alaska--- it's called fishing not catching but we do pretty well considering it's the South Sound. If you would like to meet another clusterhead and his wife (if the boat leaves port and she's not on it, I'm in deep doodoo. Besides, she catches more fish than me). Family included. Send me a PM, I'd be honored. Gig makes for a good pick up location.

                      Sean

P.S I'm of the downrigger, troller persuasion.

Batch and gang.  It is now July 24th and I've been pain free for a month and a half.  Was it the D3 regime?  Was it Prednizone, verapamil and depakote?  Or did my cycle simply run it's course?  I really don't know, but I greatly appreciate the help and support of everyone on this forum.  So I want to say thanks again to Batch and everyone.  When I was down, you really supported me.

Sean,

You're on...  We'd love to drive over to Gig Harbor to go fishing with you and your wife...  It's only a 25 minute drive from home here in Tracyton...  Nothing wrong with downrigger trolling...  I do it all the time... When you pay as much for a fishing license and King Salmon stamp as we do...  getting fish in the box and limiting out each day is the only way to go.

Fishing out of Pelican, Alaska has been a hoot for the last 5 years...  I've also fished Ketchikan for the last 8 years...  Pelican is a throwback from the late 50s to the early 80s when salmon was king...

You run into the greatest people there...  Last year I attended church the day before King season opened for the commercial trollers...  7 of the 12 people in church that day were from Kitstap County where I live... Go figure...

With the Alaska Ferry system in the red, the only way to get there most of the time is by an hour's ride by Beaver out of Juneau... 

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The cannery has been out of business for years and the only thing that keeps the town alive is the hydroelectic plant that essentially makes electricity for free... the locals still pay 3 cents/kilowatt hour and the gas dock that sells gas for $5/gallon with a dollar a gallon that pays for the city government.

That said... you meet some of the best people there... usually at Rose's Bar and Grill if not out on open water.

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Rose is 82 and has been running the establishment for the last 42 years...  and I've yet to see anyone best her in many rounds of tequila shots... 

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We were there on 2 July 2013 to celebrate her 80th birthday and 40th year as owner and proprietor of Rose's...  She's an Alaskan icon and skippered a tug boat in Alaska for 10 years before she sold the tug in order to buy the bar and grill.

I even have Rose and her daughter taking the anti-inflammatory regimen on a daily basis

It's better than Cheers with only 130 full time residents and the usual bar crowd during fishing season includes a lot of faces you can't miss...

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The gent with white hair in front of me is Bill Pierre of Bill Pierre Ford in Seattle...  He keeps his boat in Juneau and spends a month there in Pelican.

We've never been skunked fishing out of Pelican and always come home with 50 to 100 lbs each of vacuum sealed frozen fillets...

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And yes, I do a better than average job cutting fillets off halibut...

The trick fishing there in Alaska is getting the fish in the boat and into the fish box before the Orca help themselves to all your hard work.

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I grew up near Bremerton, WA and spent my summers from 1949 through 1966 catching cutthroat and blackmouth spin casting off the beach with just a candlefish on 6 lb test line...

Regarding your CH, what was working and what wasn't... Stay on the anti-inflammatory regimen at 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 year round and your next cycle will likely be a non-event.  Then you'll know for sure...

My wife and I have been on this regimen since 2010...  My wife was a 20 year chronic migraineur when she started this regimen in 2010...  She's been PF ever since and takes 15,000 IU/day vitamin D3...  She's also 78 and runs my ass off... but that's ok by me.

The latest finding and good news is taking one or two 25 mg Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) tablets a day along with the anti-inflammatory regimen.  I didn't realize how much an allergic reaction can clobber the effectiveness of CH medications including vitamin D3... 

When the pollen count is heavy with alder and maple pollen, I need two 25 mg tablets of Benadryl and at least 30,000 IU/day vitamin D3 to stay pain free...  It jacks my 25(OH)D well over 100 ng/mL, but my serum calcium remains within the normal reference range.

Take care and please keep us posted.  I'll send you a PM with our numbers...

V/R, Batch

Hey B Allen,

Good question.  End of cycle can and frequently does confuse episodic CH'ers looking for the reason why their painful attacks ceased.  This confounding factor increases as the episodic CH'er nears the end of cycle.

As you can see from the latest online survey results, the majority of CH'ers experience a favorable response to the anti-inflammatory regimen within the first week to 10 days after starting this regimen.

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I was aware of this confounding factor when I developed the questionnaire for the online survey so posed the following question...  and you can see the responses in the graphic below:

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The only way you can prove the efficacy of the anti-inflammatory regimen with any degree of certainty is to stay on it at 10,000 IU/day year round...  That way when your "normal" cycle comes around... the odds are it will be a non-event and you'll sail through it pain free.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Batch,
           That fishing destination is now on my bucket list Sir.
  Whilst my boat is docked getting some serious fibre glassing repairs and re powering, which time wise is really stretching out,  Those photo's sure do make me drool !
   I call fishing, "cluster theorapy"   I've never ever been hit with them, whilst in the boat !  Its my excuse !  and what I tell my wife,  A cluster preventative  ;D  all be it one of the most expensive types  ;)
kindest regards
colin

wrote on Jul 25^th, 2015 at 10:17pm:

I call fishing, "cluster theorapy"

My greatest preventives have always been fishing and making love, and DennyM has long been buying me all of my tackle and bait.

She even chipped in for my new beach rod!

There's nothing to compare with a great supporter who truly understands and cares.

I've been having a lot of fun for the past few weeks catching 5-7kg Salmon, fishing from the rocks at Fremantle.

Hoppy

             That's great Batch, I was hoping you'd bite. Your pics make me jealous, I've only been to Alaska twice and that was awhile ago but it sure offers incredible fishing. Lings, black rocks, halibut and kings...... don't get any better than that! Cept maybe a yellow eye or two.

              It's been slow for me so far in the South Sound, only 8 or 9 hook ups, only 4 stayed on and 2 of those were wild, but August is the best month down here so there's still hope. And catching pinks on trout tackle is a kick and that's just around the corner. I'll get in touch so we can figure out a time. Plus there's Sept for silvers when we motor up North and fish the west side of Possession Bar and that's when we fill the freezer.

               My cycle is still clinging on but it's lost it's punch, should have been over by 4 weeks now. Synopsis.... 3 weeks for vitamins to take effect, 5 weeks PF, ch's came back week 9, upped the d3 to 20,000 per day for a week and that turned the tables, been 95% Pf weeks 10 thru 12. Even had a couple of Wild Turkeys on Friday..... and got away with it!


                                           Sean

    I'd love to post some pics but it would probably take me forever to figure out how.

Sean,

Sounds like a plan...  I'll shoot you a PM with my nums...

I'm making a run up to Ketchikan for 5 days on the 14th of August for the annual family outing with the guys... bother in law, two nephews and cousin...

and we did limit out on Yelloweye while at Pelican...

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I hate to pull in a big hen like that full of eggs... Unfortunately, they're coming up from so deep their swim bladders have rearranged all the internals to the point it would be useless even if we could get them back to the bottom for release...  A Yelloweye that size is likely over 30 years old...

We also broke the code on shrimp... although next year we're going to pick up an electric pot puller...  Pulling up shrimp pots from 300 feet by hand is a lot of work...

Regarding your CH... Give Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) a try...  One or two 25 mg tablets a day made a huge difference for me when pollen from the alder and big leaf maple was blowing like a dust storm...  I'm still taking one tablet every other day...

Take care,

V/R, Batch

  Batch, sounds good to me. Beautiful yellow eye but you're right, it's seems a shame to kill a fish that old but on the other hand they taste awesome. I'm assuming you're talking about 4 spot shrimp (tastiest shrimp in the world). We used to shrimp Hood canal before they over regulated it and we too hand pulled the first year.By the next season I'd welded up a stainless steel davit and mounted a Vickers hydraulic pump on my motor with an electric clutch and quick disconnects for the davit. It's a sweet set-up and we can really smoke those pots through the water but the electric setup is a lot easier to install, works just fine and is way cheaper.

        I have been lax on the Benadryl lately, when my sinuses aren't going ballistic I tend to forget.

                 Thanks,  Sean

Spots...

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  That's the critter.... we call em 4 spot but I think they're known as spot shrimp, either way they taste like little lobsters to me..... dipped in butter.  We used to live for shrimp season but nowadays with a 4 or 5 hour window on Saturdays and Wednesdays, an 80 shrimp limit and a
4 day season we don't bother anymore. Sad


                         Sean