My name is Tanya, and I just found this message board.  My brother suffers from CH, and I am trying to help him.  He is 33 has had them for 8 years.  Gets an attack every two years like clockwork from the end of may till the first week of september.  Except this year they came back.  It's been less then a year since his last attack.   Looking for any info that might help him.

Welcome to the board Tanya. Is your brother working with a headache specialist neuro yet? We have seen the best results from doing so. There are hundreds of headache types, some which mimic CH, and it’s important to eliminate those before arriving at a firm diagnosis.

I’ve had CH for 33 years, they haven’t killed me yet! You need an organized approach to managing them so they don’t manage your life. I use a 3 pronged approach, many use a similar approach:

1: A good prevent med. A med I take daily, while on cycle, to reduce the number and intensity of my attacks. I use lithium, it blocks 60-70% of my attacks. Verapamil is the most common first line prevent, topomax also has a loyal following. Some have to combine lithium and verapamil together to get relief.

2: A transitional med. Most prevents will take up to 2 weeks to become effective. I go on a prednisone taper, from 80 mg to zero over a two week period to give me a break while my prevent builds up. Prednisone will provide up to 100% relief for many CH’ers but is harsh on the system and should only be used for short periods of time.

3: An abortive therapy, the attack starts, now what? Oxygen should be your first line abortive. Breathing pure 02 will abort an attack for me in less then 10 minutes, that’s completely pain free. Read this link as it must be used correctly or it will not work

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


Imitrex nasal spray and injectables are very effective abortives. I use the injectables, they’re expensive, and I rarely use them, mostly just when I get caught away from the oxygen. The pill form generally works too slow to be effective for CH’ers.

Go to the medications section of this board and read the post "123 pain free days and i think I know why." It’s a vitamin/mineral/fish oil supplement, all over the counter stuff, that’s providing a lot of relief for people who have tried it, it’s a long read, worth the time.

For now, get him some energy drinks. Rock Star, Monster, any containing the combo of caffeine and taurine, have him chug it down as fast as he can when he feels an attack starting. Many can abort or at least really reduce an attack using these.

Finally, visit our sister board for “alternative” treatment methods outside of mainstream medicine. As you’ll see from all the success stories on this board, there is something to it.

clusterbusters.com


Read everything you can on this board, and drag your brother over to the computer. there is way too much available these days to just rock and cry when he gets hit. Thanks for doing the initial footwork for him.

Joe

Good that he is seeing a specialist for so many docs lack experience/training in headache.

BUT--important that he not start to use any treatment which without the doc's kowledge. This leads to confusion in knowing what is/is not effective.

AND--would urge himto get started reading/participating here. This is a highly personal experience he is undergoing and he must be deeply involved in his own treatment, in gaining understanding, in "taking in" the essential insights/information. You can't do this by remote.

Suggest you buy him the second title, below:

MANAGEMENT OF HEADACHE AND HEADACHE MEDICATIONS, 2nd ed. Lawrence D. Robbins, M.D.; pub. by Springer. $50 at Amazon.Com.  It covers all types of headache and is primarily focused on medications. While the two chapters on CH total 42-pages, the actual relevant material is longer because of multiple references to material in chapters on migraine, reflecting the overlap in drugs used to treat. I'd suggest reading the chapters on migraine for three reasons: he makes references to CH & medications which are not in the index; there are "clinical pearls" about how to approach the treatment of headache; and, you gain better perspective on the nature of headache, in general, and the complexities of treatment (which need to be considered when we create expectations about what is possible). Finally, women will appreciate & benefit from his running information on hormones/menstrual cycles as they affect headache. Chapter on headache following head trauma, also. Obviously, I'm impressed with Robbins' work (even if the book needs the touch of a good editor!) (Somewhat longer review/content statement at 3/22/00, "Good book....")



HEADACHE HELP, Revised edition, 2000; Lawrence Robbins, M.D., Houghton Mifflin, $15. Written for a nonprofessional audience, it contains almost all the material in the preceding volume but it's much easier reading. Highly recommended.

I'm more than a little concerned that the dr prescribed pills as an abortive for CHs. Pills are way too slow for us. Zomig comes in a nasal spray form, as does Migranal. And the injectable form of sumatriptan is the fastest of the drug abortives. The best abortive though hasn't been mentioned and that's Oxygen in 100% high flow (15lpm+) form. It is a safe and natural abortive that has saved my life. Coupled with an energy drink (Monster, Red Bull) it is extremely effective. Check out the link at the left. And I concur with getting your brother online himself. It's great you are trying to help him. God bless. lance