Posted by Todd (64.34.202.197) on February 23, 2001 at 12:14:12:
Due to changing insurance plans at work, I had to drop my former doc and sign up with a new one. I've been shadowing for a while now, so I decided I best go meet him and open the communications channels.
I can't say enough good things about Dr. Waters. He's heard of CH and done some reading about it. His neighbor has CH and they've discussed the gamut of treatment possibilities.
Dr. Waters and I discussed my past meds - what worked and what didn't. He asked if I knew about Maxalt and I relayed the success stories I've heard here. He brought up O2 as well. My one experience with Pred was 15 years ago. Back then, the taper approach wasn't taken. Rather, I was put on 3/day - probably 10mg each according to the Doc. Not enough in his opinion.
He spent 1/2 hour with me and before I left:
1. Wrote a script for Imitrex tabs, with 6 refills (so I can stockpile around my insurance company's 9 tab/month limit)
2. Committed to filing an over-ride application with my ins. company to get the monthly limit raised.
3. Wrote a script for the medrol pred taper pack.
He also suggested a new approach to using Imitrex which has worked for his neighbor. Imitrex is now available in 100 mg tabs. His suggestion is to take one at the earliest moment when I realize a shadow is turning into a full-blown CH. Nothing new there - I've done that with 10-15 minute success at 50 mg for years. The new part is this - he says take a second 100 mg tab 2 hours later. This seems to ward off future attacks for the day - much like using Imitrex as a preventative. The downside is that 200 mg/day is the limit, so if it doesn't work I'm stuck with my pacing and icepack. I figure it's worth a try and will test it out as soon as this cycle starts up for real.
Oh, he also asked if I'd heard of Zomig. Since Imitrex works, he's reluctant to try something new.
If I weren't a guy, I'd offer to have his baby. :-)