Posted by Jose on April 22, 1999 at 13:22:27:
In Reply to: I KILLED MY DOCTOR!!! posted by Carl D on April 21, 1999 at 21:45:14:
>> They gave me a prescription for Vicodin ES. Its keeping the constant dull ache in the back & front of my head down, but doesn't do a thing for the h/a's. <<
If the new MD didn't prescribe some form of triptan or ergotamine to abort an attack then she doesn't know much about cluster HA's. I recommend you get an Rx for one of the "triptan" type medicines such as Imitrex (nasal spray is nice and fast) or Maxalt asap. If those are too expensive the ergotamine type meds are cheaper alternatives (e.g., Migranol? which also comes in a nasal spray form). Another excellent, drug free alternative is inhaling pure oxygen at 7 - 10 literes per minute for up to 20 minutes at a time (limited to 1 hour per day); this works well for 2/3's of CH sufferers. All these remedies work best if administered at the first signs of an attack. Ergotamine won't work at all during the advanced stages of an attack which as you know can occur within minutes.
I use the Imitrex 20mg nasal spray and oxygen with great success to abort attacks.
I've also started using Sibelium (flunarizine HCL), a calcium channel blocker (like Verpamil only better), to prevent the attacks and it's working *extremely* well and was effective in just three days rather than the weeks one has to wait for many other prophylactics.
So you need two Rx's: one to abort an attack and another to prevent them. There are lots of medical resources on the web (see the medical documentation on this site) for cluster headaches which list lots of drugs used for both purposes. You might want to print out the more useful articles and take them with you to your next appointment.
With the proper Rx's you shouldn't need to use narcotics which don't deal with the source of the pain directly (or quickly) anyway. I've never needed to use a precription pain reliever for my headaches.