Posted by John B (216.85.128.110) on January 02, 19100 at 04:33:35:
In Reply to: New to site, but a longtime member of the club posted by Ray on January 02, 19100 at 01:59:27:
Hi, Ray,
If oxygen works for you, but takes an hour, you may not be using it correctly. Are you using a non-rebreathing type mask? That is the kind of mask with an accumulator bag and one-way valves. Your post is kind of confusing to me because you say your headaches are lasting 10-30 minutes, but the oxygen works within one hour. Maybe it is not working?
Ercaf is one form of ergotamine, a class of vasoconstrictor commonly used as a treatment for migraine headache, among other things. It is useful to prevent and to abort cluster headache, but is frequently too slow-acting to be of much benefit in aborting the acute attack. There are some significant health consequences associated with long-term use, over-use or overdose of ergotamine.
Imitrex is one form of triptan. Triptans are a new type of agent used in the treatment of migraine headache, among other things, which have vasoconstrictive and other properties. I would say more about their mechanism of action, but to do so would expose my cavernous ignorance on the subject. Suffice it to say the triptans are a wonderful drug, very useful to abort cluster headache, they are less useful in preventing cluster attacks than the ergotamines. It is very difficult to get the insurance companies to pay for triptans in sufficient quantities to be really helpful to us clusterheads. If you can get your hands on the stuff, it is the very best way to get rid of an acute attack, if oxygen doesn't work.
LYG
John