Posted by Lori N (216.54.156.27) on March 17, 2001 at 17:53:08:
I have been lurking around this board for a few weeks now, and want to thank you for all the valuable info. My husband began a new cluster cycle almost a month ago, after a 12-year reprieve. We really thought/hoped he was done with them because it had been so long. Last Monday we were able to walk into the neurologist's office armed. When be threw up his arms, I was able to make some suggestions I had gotten from this Board and the link to Dr. Robbins' site, and he wrote the prescriptions.
The good news is that just one week ago his HA's were out of control every 3-5 hours, he was unable to function, and we were going broke buying Imitrex. After discussing the possibility of using an oral triptan preventatively, the doc hesitantly gave him some samples of Amerge. WOW! What a difference a week makes. His HA's are almost totally controlled during the daytime, and O2 always knocks out any that try to break through. He needs to take it every 6 to 8 hours (twice the daily limit). Nighttime is still a problem, though. He's up several times to suck O2, but it always works, which wasn't the case when he was on Imitrex--the O2 would only work for so long, then he had to use Imitrex.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks and share our success with Amerge (which for some reason is not an approved treatment for CH's...go figure).
Lori