Long time visitor, few time poster.

I was diagnosed with episodic CHs when I was younger. At first, I was proscribed hydrocodone. Well, that made me nauseous and didn't kick in until too late. I stopped taking it and turned to redbull and biting the towel for the next decade plus for a number of reasons. I followed the boards, knew there were meds and O2, but didn't have the means.

In the middle of my cycle, I recently went to the doctor who proscribed 20 sumatriptan nasal spray - imitrex. I took it this evening at the start of one. Within five minutes the med washed over my face and knocked out the CH. I'm almost in disbelief, and beyond relieved something worked.  I'm overjoyed.  :D

Before I get too excited, are there drawbacks or concerns other than the side effects listed?  Does its affect ever wear off?  Are there rebounds?  Anything else I should know?

Thanks all. You guys are really great people.

You worked out by yourself that hydrocodone is a bit of a no-no, and well done, because many of our friends have come to grief using the stuff.

Great that you're getting relief from the immitrex nasals, too. There's also immitrex injectables giving people good results.

Hi Clusterbluster

There are side effects, drawbacks and rebounds for SOME people. But not every one gets them all, if any. 

What you have to decide, if you do have any adverse effects - is which is the lesser of the two evils. What I mean is, if the side effects you may experience are mild and not dangerous, then it may be worth putting up with them to relieve the CH. Decide which is worse.

As I said not every one gets any side effects. Personally the only thing I get from imitrex (injections) is pure blessed relief. They are my best friend.

The safety record is very good. You protect yourself by reading the package insert whhich comes with the med, paying attention to the possible side effects and calling your doc if something serious developes.

After a short time using, you will have sufficint experience to have a decent sense of whether there are any cocerns.

Key is using it at the first sign of a Cluster starting. Waiting to see if "this is the real thing" before using it leads to failure.

We spend our entire lives weiging the balance beween benefit and risk. There is no avoiding that little routine this side of the grave. So, be aware of the risk and then you judge whether the benefit is worth it to YOU.

And, keep in mind: the list of possible side effects you find on the med insert is NOT a prediction this will happend to you; it's a list of possibilities.