Verapamil makes me tired, fatigued, depressed somewhat. I do a little, have to sit down, do more then sit down. I have no energy. I'm not myself anymore. I'm supposed to take 2 a day. If I take 2 a day, 12 hours apart, I don't have any attacks. Great news!! Then since I felt so bad from side effects, I thought I'd skip a dose at night. Attack within 2 hours! Oh, I won't do that again. Lie. 5 days later, I thought I feel so bad-skip a dose. Attack! Then, can you believe I waited about 6 days and was stupid enough to try missing a dose again?? Yes, attack!! It's the only med that ever worked on preventing attacks but I feel so zapped out. I also get very dizzy but don't think they could cut dosage because immediate attacks within 2 hrs of missed doses. This should surely show them what's wrong with me. What's wrong with me????  I had cycles during my life with no meds whatsoever that lasted about 4 months with tons of attacks-then they were gone for about 12 to 15 months. Do you think taking meds might make cycle last longer than just suffering the pain and letting it run its course? I'm only at 3 months so far this time, but it did occur to me that made me think maybe you should let it happen if you can go without pulling your eyeball out of your head. Grasping at straws and insanity probably setting in.

Verapamil is one of those preventative drugs that takes 10-14 days to build up in the serum level to become effective. I'm thinking that missing one dose after you've been taking it for a long time wouldn't have that kind of immediate effect. I could be wrong, but it almost seems like a fluke (okay, a couple of flukes).

But Bob is right - time to talk to your doc.

Brew wrote on Jul 6^th, 2010 at 6:04am:


Yeah, verapamil takes time to build up in your system, but you could totally be having effects from missing just one dose - your blood pressure would likely go up and you don't get that (even slight) bolus effect from the med.  (from the 2x/d dosing schedule, I'm thinking that you're on the sustained release?)  Many of the SSRI anti-depressants take 4-6 weeks to kick in, but I know people who miss just one dose several months later and totally feel the effects...   The human body is a funny thing...
I'm thinking, particularly if your body is just on the borderline of having enough medication floating around, if you will, at any given time - miss one dose and you drop below 'critical mass' of medication.

I do completely agree with Bob_Johnson and Brew though - definately talk to your dr.  There are lots of meds to try (if you haven't already) - hopefully, you don't have to be in a
damned if you do, damned if you don't situation...

black wrote on Jul 6^th, 2010 at 7:18am:


I was talking about SSRIs, but I could totally see it happening with Verapamil as well - everybody and every body is different.   

Studies have shown the regular or immediate release form of verapamil to be more effective for most CH'ers. You might want to talk to your doc about it. Might also help with the constant tiredness (i.e., maybe you'd only be tired for an hour or two after taking it instead of all day)? I'm just guessing on that one, but it might be worth a shot.

I have been on V for a little over a month now, but my doc (a luminar in the field) prescribed 2x120mg tabs before going to bed, to diminish the "tiresome" effect, perhaps. It's a slow release drug, so probably it doesn't get absorbed straight away.

I do report tiresomeness, but at a sustainable, moderate level.

And the same thing happened to me when I forgot my tabs on 2 occasions (silly, distracted me): attacks within 24 hrs! I mean from having had zero hits a day for two weeks, one day without V brought me back to 3 hits a day. But as soon as I took the medicine again, they went back to zero over 24 hrs. Weird, but I think the "rebound" effect of this medicine can be quite dangerous.

The last time this happened was saturday, after 3 weeks of "freedom". This makes me think that the Verapamil delays the whole series instead of eliminating it straight out, even though time will tell me if I am right on this or not.

I'm not too sure when to stop dosing at this point. My normal cycle would last 4-5 weeks, am now in my 6th but I'm afraid stopping - even gradually - will bring the beast on again!

Hi all,
Years ago I was put on verapamil because I had "unilateral migraines", they were always on the left with eye involvement. I never had the 'space shuttle" launching from my brain back then...I'm talking about the late 70s and 80s... I really thought I was being treated for high blood pressure causing migraines.  i was on Verapamil until about 10 years ago and my PCP at the time tapered me off.  At that time I still did not realize that I had CH.  I learned by accident that placing my face in front of the a/c worked to get rid of the pain...much beter than the narcotics that were readily dispensed back then; they only seemed to prolong the pain.  So ten pain free years they are back but this time with all the classic symptoms of CH. Alas, I am, once again, on Verapamil with excellent results. I take Calan SR 120 mg 2x a day and I'll assume I'll be on this forever.  The thought of having to deal with the pain far outweighs any health risk at this time.  When I get brave, I think I will try the alternatives; for today, I just pray I don't forget a dose.  lib