Posted by Jackie on January 20, 1999 at 11:09:51:
Sorry to have such a depressing subject line, but that's
the way I feel. I recently started on Verapamil since
my clusters have apparently "gone chronic." I started
on only 80 mg per night before bed. Even this low
dosage was quite effective. I was still awoken
by about 2 mild attacks, but nothing I couldn't easily
abort. After about 1 1/2 weeks, the attacks increased
one night in frequency, to an attack every 2 hours in the night.
After that night, I upped the dosage to 120 mg. This
time, the attacks totally disappeared. I was able to
get a good night's sleep. Then, after about 1 1/2 weeks (2
nights ago), I had 2 extremely mild "attacks," which
weren't even at the level of pain, but just a feeling
of tingling and fullness in the head. I was able to
abort both attacks with Tylenol pm. Then, last night,
3 of these nonpain attacks. So, on the good side, I'm
not dealing with pain. But on the bad side, I'm getting
totally sleep deprived. But the worst part is, this
is a very slippery slope. Will my body continue to adjust
as I up the Verapamil, so that the Verapamil loses its
effectiveness? Orj, if I go to a higher dose, a more typical
one, will the Verapamil remain effective over a much
longer term? This is like psychological torture. I
know that if the attacks persist, I'll just have to up
the dosage and see what happens. But in the meantime,
I'm totally, completely bummed. Not to mention, how
can I function on my job when I'm so blasted tired?
Jackie