Just another example of why the doctors have to look at the whole patient , not just treat the symptom.  All the body's systems are interconnected and whether it be seratonin production, testosterone, poor blood flow, neurological damage.....the whole package must be assessed and treated.

Because it hurts so much, we often just are looking for instant pain relief.

Paul

It's the other way around - but still connected.  Melatonin is produced FROM serotonin:

"The precursor to melatonin is serotonin, a neurotransmitter that itself is derived from the amino acid tryptophan. Within the pineal gland, serotonin is acetylated and then methylated to yield melatonin."

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Laurie

To add my 2 cents...

Histamine is produced in large amounts during a CH, producing the red eye, tearing, runny and stuffy nose, etc.  Another effect of Histamine is to stimulate gastric juices (acid).

Ray

I am reluctant to post to this because I don’t believe I fit the case scenario.

I am a daily chronic 1-4 per day for 5 yrs straight.

What works for me (lithium and O2) what don’t work (everything else).

I had an H-pylori (sp?) infection type ulcer 11 yrs ago and CH crept in 6? yrs ago.

My understanding is that O2 is believed to cause the brain to secrete serotonin quicker during O2 therapy. This is why we chronics push the O2. if I used Trex for every hit, we would need a preverbal gal a month supply.

I have also noted that many of the drugs used for this (serotonin boosters and regulators) are more effective on woman than men making them far less useful to the majority of sufferers (men).

Many of the drugs tried on me nearly caused me to meet my maker, and were promptly ruled out as beneficial in any way. I just don’t want people to go running to the doc because they read the info posted here for a round of unnecessary mood stabilizers.

I have also noted that many men loose the beast later in life when testosterone levels drop way off so there is a lot of wiggle room on this one.

Add; I guess being chronic has also made me skeptical and pessimistic in nature so pardon me for putting a little bit of vent in there!

PFW’s to all!!

Roland.

This is an interesting theory. I've had acid reflux for years (before CH). Most of the time I wait for it to get really bad before I get back on the nice little purple pills and then take them till it clears up for a while and get off them again (did I mention I hate to take pills?). I've never paid attention to how the headaches hit when the indigestion is really bad, but will now.

I'm on the little purple pills now and am in a low cycle right now. Ummmmm......

Hugs BD

Quote:


Phil, if you told me that, I'm so sorry, I didn't remember it.  So let's make that 3 now. 

And Ray - that's very interesting about the histamine and gastric juices!  I didn't know that.

Wish I had the money to quit my job, get proper biochemistry training, and research this stuff full time!

Laurie

Gary responded to alternative therapy at first too (not seeds, but shrooms) - but the mechanism of action of alternatives is quite different than the traditional meds.  I guess I should also be asking the people who have gone the alternative route because they gave up on traditional meds about their issues with GERD or other gastro-intestinal problems!

Laurie

I am (or was) a med-resistant chronic with some gastric problems. I can't digest meat well, but changing my diet to 80% fruit and eliminating meat did not change anything regarding the headaches. The attacks lasted non-stop for a year, except for the short bouts of 40mg Prednisolon per day.

Rather what has worked 100% has been 90mg etoricoxib (Arcoxia) daily. It's not a common CH med, but rather a very inflammation-specific long-acting NSAID. Doctors would not have tried it, I suggested it to them myself. Now I'm attack and headache-free.

I tried oxygen, Verapamil, Depakote/Deprakine, Topamax, Lyrica and triptans previously. None of them helped, except Zomig Nasal only once. Indomethacin worked for a small while, but not after that.

First I tried meloxicam (Mobic) 15mg daily, which my mom loaned to me. It's also a long-acting NSAID, but not as inflammation-specific as etoricoxib. It was immediately effective and stopped the attacks like to a wall, like Prednisolon did. After a couple of weeks it began to stop working, as in I began getting attacks again, but since that I've been taking Arcoxia. No attacks, no pain!

I urge all of you, who get or used to get any help from Prednisolon, to at least try Arcoxia. I visited three neurologists and they all thought that I would have CH. Now they are saying that I still probably have CH, but in clinical practise and in theory the CHs behave differently. A lot of different kinds of medical problems and their treatments, like mine, remain undocumented and unpublished in medical literature.

- Best regards and PFDAN,
Rosa

Rosa, thank you so much for the more detailed info!

Unfortunately, prednisone taper (or dexamethasone, which he had to use when he had pneumonia last year) didn't affect the CH activity at all.

Barry, another unfortunately - taurine increases bile production, so people with GERD will have trouble with it.  One of the potential side effects of taurine is peptic ulcers (and for those with IBS it could also be a problem because it can also cause diarrhea).

He is on a 2:1 Mag:Cal supplement and takes a multivitamin.  But perhaps we should consider taurine in lower doses.

Interestingly, taurine is an "inhibitory neurotransmitter" and has been used as an anti-epileptic.  (Many of the traditional CH meds are antiepileptics:  Topomax, Gabapentin, Depakote, etc.).  Notably, ALL are very hard on the stomachs of people with GI problems.  Gary couldn't tolerate the Depakote.

Laurie