Posted by Jackie (207.137.176.61) on April 04, 2000 at 21:11:16:
I haven't posted on this board for a LONG time. That's because after I went from episodic to chronic last year, I became so stressed out that I devoped Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The clusters never put me on long-term disability. The CFS did.
Anyhow, one amazing thing did happen, and I'm passing it along in case it could help anyone else. Before I developed CFS, I was on Verapamil. It was working just fine. After the CFS, my CFS doctor wanted me to get off the Verapamil. Boy, was I scared. He put me on Sinequan (37 1/2 mg--3 3/4 10 mg capsules). Sinequan, or doxepin, is a tricyclic antidepressant. If you're using it for depression, though, you have to take about 150 mg. Lo and behold, my clusters were held at bay. I only had occasional shadows. I later went on 7 mg Paxil (an SSRI) for depression. It took about 8 months of CFS and being out of work to get me really depressed. Anyhow, the Paxil helped even more, in the sense that I had fewer shadows.
My neurologist seemed very surprised that these antidepressants were working so well for the clusters. Has anyone else tried them?
I hope you're all doing as well as can be expected. I'm sure that there's so many new people since I last posted.
Take care,
Jackie