Posted by Dusty (216.9.74.134) on August 31, 2000 at 20:56:19:
My doctor and I seem to have found a way to deal with my clusters . . . at the first "sign", one 50mg tab of Demerol, quiet room with the lights off and oxygen at 5-8 lpm (my insurance is paying for me to keep the oxygen at home). The pain usually begins to subside in about 10 minutes, but no more than 15. When it does start to go away, it's like going down a slide -slow at first, but then it tapers off very quickly.
He's given me some of the IMITREX injections to try, but I'm rather hesitant to try those when we have found something that is already working. So I just carry those around with me in case I have an attack away from home.
I guess I'm kinda lucky with my doctor - he is very willing to work with me (has been for three years now)and not "afraid" to try something new. It's been like a joint learning process. One thing we have found that works very well at night is taking a couple TYLENOL PM tablets before bed. Since starting this particular experiment, the frequency of my nighttime attacks has dropped off rather dramatically. Hey, I'll try anything at least once if it will keep me out of the ER in the middle of the night :-)