Posted by Doc Greg on October 14, 1998 at 19:04:54:
In Reply to: Becoming immune to an effective treatment again! posted by Robert Cartagine on October 13, 1998 at 11:56:20:
Robert
It is very easy for people to become "immune" to cafergot...as your body gets used to the caffeine...in fact it is notorious for rebound headaches as you become dependent on caffeine.
Cardizem is a form of a calcium channel blocker...as is Verapamil...but I actually find verapamil more effective (it's what I use). If you responded to cardizem, you might do well with verapamil. I usually start patients at 120mg, rapidly increase (over a week) to 240mg...and if not effective, increase to 360...480. Needs to be managed by an MD at high doses to make sure side effects OK.
Lots of triptans out there (imitrex, etc) to help with the actual attack...and many other things to try. It seems that each time I get a cluster it takes me a long time to find what works, and it's often different each time (most of my clusters last 8mo to a year or so). But I manage them... Don't give up, you can fight this...and win
Good luck
Greg