Posted by Rick on September 19, 1998 at 22:03:45:
I have finally reached rock bottom.
I am getting several h/a's each day, and oxygen no
longer helps. I am taking 3-4 imitrex injections
each day and the headaches are coming every
6-8 hours like clockwork. I always seem to have to
reach this point before these damn things go away.
Back in July, when I first started getting the
precursors, I went to see my neuologist and he
gave me prescriptions for verapamil, depokate, and
sansert, along with the imitrex.
I was orignally taking 180 mg of verapamil p.d., and
that seemed to keep things in check for about 5
weeks. The headaches I did get I could abort with
oxygen. Things started coming heavier around
Labor Day, and I upped the verapamil to 360 mg.
Things got worse and worse, so I called my neuro
and he said to start the depokate, 500 mg p.d. for
the first week (along with the 360 mg verapamil), and
increasing to 750 mg p.d.
This has pretty much had no effect at all. The back
of my left arm looks like a pin cushion from all the
injections. I'm totally hyped up on the imitrex. I'm
plunking down about $50 a day just to keep from
letting the h/a's go to full bore. I am thoroughly
sick of all of this.
There, thanks for letting me vent to an audience
that would understand. My wife is an RN. She
said that it sounded like the h/a zone in my head
was completely inflamed, and that I might ask the
doc about anti-inflamatory meds. I then remembered
a cycle about 12 years ago where the doc gave me
prednisone. I also remember reading about it quite
a bit in these posts. Well, I called my neuro, but he
wasn't in, so I called my GP and explained things to
him. He looked it up in his book and found that
prednisone is a viable treatment for clusters.
Here's what was prescribed; 10 mg tablets with the
following directions:
6 tablets (60 mg) for 7 days
4 tablets (40 mg) for 1 day
2 tablets for 1 day
1 tablet for 1 day
My reason for this lengthly post is to find out from the
experts:
1. Does this sound reasonable?
2. Will this help?
As always, thanks in advance for all the advice.
Rick