Posted by frazzled on November 16, 2001 at 17:07:11:
Hi, I'm new here and along with the rest of you suffer with CH's. I was diagnosed 9 years ago during my first cycle. The neuro put me on lithium and that just made me crazy, so he gave me prednizone. That worked very well, but the side effects were bad too. I had another cluster 2 years later and discovered the imitrex injections after blacking out during a CH and coming out of it not knowing where my kids were. I had to call the school to find out if I had gotten my oldest on the bus. He was at school.
I haven't had a cluster for 7 years, but 2 weeks ago, they started up again at night. I can almost set my clock to them. 12:15 am, every night, and again at 6:15 am some mornings. I went to a new nuero and the first words out of his mouth were, "You can't have CH's, you're a woman." With a dumbfounded look on my face and little sleep in the past couple weeks, I almost pounded him into the ground! After explaining my symptoms and treatments I had been on before, he started to listen. He suggested Verapimil. After reading how it worked for some of you, I thought I would give it a try. My question is how long does it take for them to start working after you start them? 2-3 days, a week, 2 weeks??? He gave me some Imitrex nasal spray and it made me throw up, so I'm trying to get him to give me some more injections. I would like to know what you do with the needle and stuff after you give yourself only 1/3 to 1/2 a shot? Do you put it back in the case and save it for next time? Sorry, lots of questions.
Thanks in advance,
Mel