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New CH.com Forum › Cluster Headache Help and Support › Medications, Treatments, Therapies › Calan

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Calan (Read 1422 times)

jlk5269 CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 7	Calan Jun 15^th, 2010 at 10:13pm I was curious to see if anyone has had Calan (Verapamil) work for 8 months pain free and then suddenly become ineffective? By the way it is good to finally be diagonosed. I went for years not knowing. jeremy
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Guiseppi CH.com Moderator CH.com Alumnus Offline San Diego to Florida 05-16-2011 Posts: 12063 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USA Gender:	Re: Calan Reply #1 - Jun 15^th, 2010 at 10:18pm It happens. Some who have had verapamil stop working, have had success combining Verapamil and Lithium....often referred to as the chronic cocktail. Might be worth talking to your doc about. Joe
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Bob Johnson

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Re: Calan
Reply #2 - Jun 16^th, 2010 at 9:04am

For people just experiencing their first attacks a good diagnostic work-up is important. There are a number of conditions which appear to be cluster ("cluster-like" is the term you see in medical literatre) but which are, in reality, a different, sometimes quite serious, disorder.

If you have had a stable picture and your doc is comfortable after several years--I'd relax.

Bob Johnson

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jlk5269 CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 7	Re: Calan Reply #3 - Jun 16^th, 2010 at 12:11pm I was diagnosed in august 2009 and my doctor is very confident that I do have CH. I will ask Him about lithium. thanks Jeremy
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Skyhawk5 CH.com Alumnus Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 1320 Ypsilanti, Mi. USA Gender:	Re: Calan Reply #4 - Jun 16^th, 2010 at 1:22pm The amount of Calan/verap. you're taking is important. Many of us take 480mgs/day, some less and some much more. Finding the right amount for you can take some time. Good luck, Don
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Re: Calan
Reply #5 - Jun 16^th, 2010 at 7:18pm

I don't know what level you are taking, but as Don said, many of us have to use higher levels. I tried using Lithium with it as Joe suggested, but had probs and had to quit. If an increase or a Lithium combo doesn't work you might want to look into Kudzu. I have found it to be very successful for me.

A second thought is that if you were PF for 8 months you may have been out of cycle and still been taking the meds. It never made me PF, nothing has totally, it just kept 8s, 9s, and 10s down to 4s 5s and 6s.

Hope you get a handle on it soon.

Jerry

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jlk5269

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Re: Calan
Reply #6 - Jun 16^th, 2010 at 9:13pm

I am very thankful for the response. I was just starting into a cycle when I started taking 120MG 2 times a day. After having a bad one the first night I only had shadows for the next 3 weeks, then PF for about 8 months. I am now on 180MG extented release 2 times per day. I do feel it has reduced the strength of the ch's until recently when I had two long lasting ones that lasted 3-4 hours and left my kneck very sore. No sleep those nights and dragging the next day. This info is very helpful. Jeremy

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jlk5269

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Re: Calan
Reply #7 - Jun 20^th, 2010 at 11:21pm

I had one 7-8K last night and two CH during the day today. This is unusual. I normally only have CH at night. I used vigorous exercise to abort all three with a small piece of 100MG imitrx tablet for 2 of them. The exercise seems to be the main thing that is aborting them in 15 min. The last one took 35 minutes with me intentionally breathing deeply. I am glad this seems to be working but I am hoping that lithium will help as a preventative so that I can actually sleep and work. I will call doc tomarrow. Jeremy

« Last Edit: Jun 20^th, 2010 at 11:41pm by jlk5269 »

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Re: Calan
Reply #8 - Jun 21^st, 2010 at 12:09am

I'm a scatter brain and don't keep track well......have you tried oxygen yet? The fact vigorous excercise is helpful tells me oxygen might be worth a try. I used to go for a 30 minute hard run when I felt an attack starting. It would always reduce the pain level for me. Now I just fire off the oxygen tank and in 10 mnutes I'm pain free.

Read the oxygen info tab on the left side of the board. Been a miracle abortive for many of us.

Joe

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