Posted by Tony P (204.6.91.1) on October 22, 1999 at 12:25:28:
Hi. Just saw this site for the first time during my pilgrimage on the web to look for some anwers in PREVENTING my clusters. I am 30 and have been getting these since I was 18 years old. You know the drill...they go into remission for months (last cluster I was in was over 16 months ago) and the BAM! Guess who's come back to make my life a horror show for the next 2-3 months. I, as most sufferrers, take Imitrix shots to relieve my migraine. But unfortunately, I get 3-5 a day and I am not to exceed the 2-3 shots per day maximum. So I also take Cafergot, the suppository (yuck) form of ergotomine. I take it in that form because the response time is incredibly fatser than orally since it does not need to travel through my kidneys before it works on my migraine. But the REAL problem is my rebound headaches. I take my med and then as soon as it wears off, I get another headache which is sometimes worse than the one before it. So I take another shot, and the cycle continues until I have reached my max dosage on both drugs. Okay, I can deal with a few clusters without any medication I tell myself, but sometimes I just want to cry the pain is so intense. Often I do cry. I am currently seeing a chiropracter in hopes that this alternative treatment can help my migraies from starting in the first place. I have seen him 4 times in the past week (expensive proposition), but have yet to notice a decrease in their frequency. I'll give it a few more tries, but will have to shut that down soon since it is costly. I have been told though that many, many migrain sufferres have found relief from spinal adjustments. I wonder if they are just talking about stress or tension migraines and not clusters, which we all know is a totally different animal. Anyway, I am desperately searching for a preventative. I have tried the following with no success:
Propranolol, amitriptyline, verapamil, and I am currently taking Depakote (also with no success)
I know that there are no "one size fits all" type solutions out there, but if you have used a medication that you believe has prevented your clusters on a consistant basis, I would love to know about it. I want to try methysergide, but I am nervous about the possibility of abdominal lesions (scars)as a common side effect.
Oh, and for those of you who are interested to know, Oxygen does work in aborting clusters, but you WILL rebound within 90 minutes or less. I've tried that too. Hey, in twelve years I have tried everything including banging my head against a wall.
Tony