Well my longer episode has been 5 years now....

When I had my trex, if you had tried to take it away I would have broken your fingers though.  Even after the doctors revoked my use of ANY triptan or ergot compound, I kept 6 vials of trex in the cupboard;  After being told if you use triptans and/or ergots you risk dropping dead, and it's a high risk, I still kept those vials. 

I have used 2mg shots here and there over the last 4 years as I needed them for very severe attacks, 9's or 10's after more than 2 hours and nothing else in my arsenal was working. 

So yeah, even though I KNOW that the trex made my hits far more intense, and longer, and the opinion of a couple of different headache specialists is that it was a large part of why I went from a clockwork episodic to a random chronic, I knew it would bring relief, every time.

I wouldn't go back through the post triptan phase after heavy use again, but if I had it available to me, I would continue with judicious use that didn't interfere with other treatments.  I would think the problem for most CHers is trying to make 6 vials of 6mg each last over a 4 year period.  The tendency if you have a sure fire abortive available, is to reach for it.  And I don't think you could talk me into ever returning to regular daily use again, even minus a cardiac condition, just because of the way it made my hits sooooo much worse.  I much prefer a 45 min. attack over one that is 3 hours long and a 2 hour break, then another 3 hour attack, etc. etc. 

I don't imagine there is anyway any specialist, or even us sufferers, that can *definitively* say that trex was/is responsible for turning one chronic, but that is one hell of a longer cycle....

So if I had it to do over again, I would probably find a different way.  I didn't have the same result with Maxalt MLT tabs, nor with zomig nasal spray;  But I also did not use either of those to the same extent I used trex.

Perhaps moderation is the key.

Cat

What Seaworthy said.

I stayed on prednisone for 9 months early on in my CH career....without my doctors knowledge of course, when I eventually told him he had a cow!

My point being, it comes down to the most personal of choices, how you want to handle YOUR CH. I'm convinced trex extended my last cycle from the normal 2-3 month to an 8 month cycle. If my oxygen stopped working tomorrow I'd be reaching for the trex in a heartbeat.

Joe

PS: in NO WAY am I advocating a 9 month pred taper, I suspect that may yet come back to haunt me as I age.

I've been using "alternative therapies" (see Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ) exclusively for over 3 years now with great success.   That said, I have kept a pred. taper and couple vials of trex in the fridge for a few years now.  The pred was "discarded" a month or so ago, but even with the alternative success, I'm not ready to part with my trex backup plan. 

I have no insurance, so a 5 pack of vials is 10 to 15 aborts should the alternatives quit working.