Hello, my name is Josh and I'm a CH'er...I haven't posted in a few years, since my last really bad cycle.  In '09, I found an angel of a doctor who gave me Prednisone and Verapamil, and I've been under control ever since.  Well, until this deployment.

I'm in the Air Force, and I've been deployed for the better part of a year now.  When I first left, I was in good shape--lots of meds, docs who knew what was up and what I needed, I was good to go.  But sh@t soon hit the fan in around February.  I started a right-side cycle that subsided for about a week in May and rolled right into a left-side cycle.  It usually works like that for me.  Well, I was COUNTING on being able to get Verapamil refills over here...not so much. 

So in June, I ran out of Verapamil, right as my left side cycle was getting into high-gear.  I had a scrip in the system for Express-Scripts, but they screwed up the authorization for insurance, and wouldn't ship it out until TODAY--a month later.  So, I've been off of all preventatives for about a month and change.

Still not worried, I'll just do a couple Pred tapers, that'll tide me by until my Verap shows up...nope.  For some reason, the Pred seems to have lost its effectiveness.  My usual taper is 80mg for 3 days/taper every 3 days afterwards.  It only worked for one day.  Plus, I only have 5-6 Maxalt MLT's left, and they don't have Imitrex injectors here. 

So I went into the doctor's office in full-on uh - oh mode.  His suggestion:  Battlefield Acupuncture.  He said that it was 80% effective in helping reduce the pain of IED blasts, so he was pretty sure it would work for me.  Now, I would never ever compare a CH to getting your legs blown off, but I can definitely say that it didn't work for me--even a little bit.

So, back to the docs, more uh-oh.  Now, my blood pressure is through the roof.  I've never had high blood pressure (I'm only 31) and I'm not sure if the blood pressure is triggering more CH's, or CH is giving me the high blood pressure.  Doc is more worried about the blood pressure than the CH--he was right I suppose, CH isn't gonna kill me after all--but I don't know.

He prescribed me Norvasc, as it's a close cousin of Verapamil, from what I've read.  I haven't read too many reviews of it being used for CH though, and I'm really just hoping for a miracle here.

My Verapamil is indeed in the mail though, and it should be here in 2 weeks.  In the meantime, I've been lurking--I just received my shipment of D3 and Fish Oil, so I have started Batch's vitamin plan as of today.

My questions:

1.  How long normally does it take for the vitamins to start affecting CH?
and 2.  Anybody have good feelings towards Norvasc for clusters?

Thank you everyone for contributing all of the literature that I've read in the past 3 years.  I may not have contributed, but I still log on and read every cycle.  Best thoughts and wishes going your way.

First of all, I would like to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service to our country.

Second, if you have never had high blood pressure before, then it is only a hop, skip and a jump to assume that it is the CH that might be causing your pressure to go through the roof.  My blood pressure is normally around 125 over 70.  I  have one of those BP cuffs at home  and I asked my husband to take my BP while in the throes of an attack.  It was so high that it scared him !!!!!!!!!   It came almost back  to normal about 2 hours after the hit was over.

You have computer access I see.  Can you check out what Wimsey said about the interaction between Norvasc and Verapamil?  In civilian life it is hard enough to find a doctor knowledgable enough to treat us properly.  Military is a whole nother ball-game.  I don't know where you are stationed, but is it possible to attain an oxygen tank?  If you've been here before you know that we push pure 02 with a regulator that goes to 25 lpm and a non-rebreather mask.  I can abort a hit in less than 10 mins. if I get on it right away.

Wish I could be more help.

That's great news! But, as Linda has said, if you can get access to O2, do so. It is better as an abortive than almost anything. You can save the trex for those few times the O2 does not chase the beast away. This may be the end of your current cycle but beware, the enemy never truly goes away. It just finds another cave to hide in until it is ready to attack again. Keep us in the loop as things progress, OK? Stay safe and God bless. lance

I know and I didn't want to stop the Verapamil at all; I ran out of medicine and Express-Scripts has taken their sweet-a$$ time getting it out here to me.  On the last few days of the medicine I knew I had left, I tapered myself, only taking one 180mg per day instead of the usual two.  Mostly it was to make it last a little longer, but also to taper correctly. 

Update on the Norvasc though since I'm here...I went 3 full days without even so much as a shadow, and just today I got hit, like 10 minutes ago.  It only lasted 20 minutes though, and I was able to get through it without any triptans.  I'm really trying hard to not take any, as I'm almost out of them as well, and I am really afraid that what was causing most of my headaches to begin with was triptan rebounds.  I'm keeping track of every single one I get though, and I'm still confident that the Norvasc + D3 treatment is at least cutting down on the frequency--which has been a huuuuge improvement.  Thank you again everybody for the support and great information.

Just a quick update on the Norvasc treatment:

After 1 week, the Norvasc seems to have either worn off, or didn't really work in the first place.

For 3 days after I started Norvasc 5mg/day, in conjunction with Batch's D3 regimen, I had 3 PF days in a row--it was like a vacation!  But alas, it was not meant to be, although I will say that it is better than it was. 

My cycle has shifted to a less-predictable schedule.  I can't really nail down what time of the day I will get hit, but I know I will DEFINITELY be getting hit at least twice while I sleep.  I've got some Meletonin in the mail, and it should get here this week.  Aside from that, not too many day-time hits--that's a good thing for my job.  I can handle this schedule.  Aside from that, I had the doc prescribe me Topamax--it has worked for me in the past--and I will be taking it along with the Verapamil with it (eventually) arrives in the mail.  Also, I got another Prednisone taper, although I'm not going to start it until I feel like I can't possibly take one more single headache.

So, just so it shows up in searches, Norvasc -- not a lot of help.