Posted by Abbas (62.252.236.159) on September 06, 2001 at 11:40:06:
I am a CH sufferer and have sufferred for about 5 years now. I get sporadic attacks lasting anything from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. All the Doctors I have seen upto now have dealt with it like a migraine and put me on a Paracetamol derivative treatment, but by the time the pain killer took effect the pain was abating anyway. The doctor I am seeing now has given me Zolmitriptan tablets at 2.5mg which is also used for the treatment of migraine. This apparently is not a painkiller but works by stopping the blodd vessels that are at the root of the pain from contracting. When taken at the start of an attack, for me they stop the pain from developing at all. As you all know this is vast improvement on waiting for the beast to go. These tablets do not interrupt the cluster altogether, but do seem to stop two or three of the headaches at a time so I can go a whole day or two on just one tablet. This includes sleep at nights too!! If this info helps just a couple of you suffers whose doctors won't prescribe oxygen, then good luck.
Abbas