Posted by Bob P on March 16, 1999 at 10:16:27:
In Reply to: a follow-up to your responses posted by Andrea on March 15, 1999 at 19:04:09:
If you've got CH, alcohol will start an attack. I used to use it to determine when a cluster was over. If I went a day or two w/o a HA I'd have a beer to see if I got hit. NO HA after the beer, the cluster was over. I am alcoholic (recovering, 9 years sober). I could polish off a quart of vodka on a Saturday with no HA when I wasn't in a cluster. When I was, half a beer would cause a 10 within 5 minutes.
I also take verapamil during a cluster. 360 mg/day. In past clusters it didn't seem to do much but the side effects were minimal so I figured no harm in trying. This last cluster only lasted 5 weeks instead of the normal 10. I think the verap. had something to do with that. As I tried to wean off the verap. the shawdows would increase and the fear of the HA returning would set in. Went up & down on the dosage a number of times before I could get off it completely. Funny thing, the shadows lasted 5 weeks which would normally have been the second 5 weeks of my cluster. Makes me think the verap. took that long to kick in and kept them at bay for the second 5 weeks.