There are a couple of schools of thought on this.......I'll give you what works for me. I had the same problem as you with comebacker attacks. Only mine hit within 10-20 minutes of shutting off the 02. For years I took an oral Cafergot....it's an old school CH med.....the 02 would knock the attack down, the cafergot would push any attack off as much as 12 hours.

Now I drink an energy drink while I'm aborting with 02...literally take swallows in between my breaths. Seems to speed the abort and also pushes back the come backer attacks 6-8 hours. I use sugar free red bull but any of the caffiene/taurine drinks should do.

As to breathing, again 2 schools of thought. Some do best with the power hyper ventilation. Literally breathing as hard, fast and deep as you can, (that's what she sa.....oh never mind )......for the first few mijnutes, then settling down to the deep breathing.

I do the following:

Exhale completely, even trying to cough at the end to totally empty the lungs. Then breath in as deep as I can off the oxygen, and hold it for a slow 10 count, exhale completely, repeat. After a few minutes, I'll hold the breath as long as 30 seconds. Several here use the same technique, like with everything else related to beasty it's mostly trial and error to see what works best for you.

Hope you've got a decent prevent med you're using also,

Joe

Hi Katie,
Please correct me if i'm mistaken, but you are able to abort an attack with o2 therapy and get another attack two hours later?  This was unfortunately realistic with me also. 

If you would've written that you are able to abort and get a re-attack within 30 minutes or less, then I would recommend staying on the o2 for 5 or 10 minutes with lower flow rates and just breathe normal yet inhale deeply and exhale deeply.  Hyperventilation at high flow rates (25 lpm to 40 lpm) only required at onset of attack until abort.

You've expressed concern of taking Replax and considering you went off the Verapamil, you might consider slamming a Redbull or your favorite energy drink containing Taurine/Caffeine.  Energy drinks must be chugged down fast and complete at onset of attack and then get on the o2 to abort attack, if needed. 

Techniques of breathing were previously mentioned by others who replied to this thread and agree with their recommendations.  Ask questions if still unsure, but sounds to me if you can abort with o2, you are doing the right thing.

I personally found getting hit with an attack every 2 hours is unfortunately common with o2 therapy and no preventive meds.  This is why a preventive med is so important, to control the frequency and intensity of attacks.

Just curious what dosage of Verapamil were you on before you gave up on Verapamil?

Did you replace the Verapamil with another preventive med?  If so, what med and what dosage?

Be Tough!

-Gregg in Las Vegas

Hi Katie,
Do yourself a big favor and read up on preventive meds.  Use the yellow tabs on the left side of your screen, the google search bar at the top of your screen and look under the many, many pages of threads posted at "Medications, treatments."

There are several preventive meds that have been known to be effective for CH's, but it's trial/error.  You have to be your own advocate armed with your own knowledge to effectively get CH treatment; as there are very, very few medical professionals even aware how to properly treat CH's. 

Plenty to read here on this site for you to look at the pros/cons of each med and decide what you believe is best for your health and lifestyle.

If Verap didn't work at 480mg/day, a higher dose is commonly needed for treatment of CH's. 

For blood pressure and other cardiac indications 480mg of Verapamil per day is the maximum recommended dose. 

However, those who are TORTURED with CH's sometimes require a higher Verapamil dosage for effective treatment.

I just started 560mg Verap and am still being hit an average of 5X/day.  Day = 24 hr period.  Hoping, wishing and praying this 560mg dose provides relief soon as I am starting to finally lose patience.

If you do increase above 480mg of Verapamil, an EKG is highly recommended.  My cardiologist stated he would have "no objection to a higher dose of Verapamil as long as your heart rate stays above 50/min, your systolic blood pressure stays greater than 90 and your EKG remains normal."

I would recommend speaking with your doctor about this about your particular health if you choose to give Verapamil another try, specifically at 480mg+ dosages.

Don't feel bad about complaining as you are a "Newbie."   

Read, knowledge is power, be your own self advocate, trial/error, patience, rant whenever you want, and ask questions to better your understanding of CH's.

You are not alone!

-Gregg in Las Vegas

Funny enough, I haven't had an attack since last Friday. Just a few shadows here and there. Murphy's Law - just had the O2 empties swapped out. LOL

Not taking anything right now so we'll just wait and see what happens.

I have tried melatonin before and yes, it did help with the night attacks. I use O2 at 15 lpm on my E tanks, but my M tank can go higher than that which is good for the deep heavy breathing.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that we're done till next fall.

Wishing happy holidays to all and painfree days ahead in the new year.

~ Katie

Katie, I didn't read through the whole thread, but did anybody mention rebounds from the triptans?  Just something to keep in mind for the future.  Hope the beast never returns to your head a long with everybody else.  I have a huge stockpile of imitrex tabs and injections laying around that I haven't used since oxygen.  I've learned to keep on it after I abort for a couple extra minutes because the CH can come back just like that.  Well, I wish you a happy holiday.

Chad