Posted by Jack Boyd on December 13, 1998 at 15:43:32:
There are some very nice, well-meaning folks who contribute regularly to this web site. My humble advice to anyone who needs information regarding side effects of the medicine commonly used to treat clusters is to not rely on the anecdotal stuff posted here but rather to get your hands on the appropriate medical and scientific literature and make an informed decision.
All drugs have side effects - some are simply annoying things like temporary indigestion and others are long term and devastating such as osteoporosis and kidney failure.
When it comes to side effects of medication no one should rely only on what is posted here or even what there MD says but rather do your own research and make a decision based on risk and reward. There is no shortage of information on any of the drugs used to treat clusters.
All an MD does when asked about the side effects of a particular medication is go to his desktop reference book and look it up - the same thing we should do.
Unfortunately many of the effective cluster medications have serious long term side effects if the medicine is used for any length of time.
Sorry if I sound like such a know it all.