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Second Update from the OP Well Hallelujah and pass the ammunition. Last week I got a call back from my Doc's office, they needed help filling out a form from Aprila Healthcare for the O2 setup. They asked me all the medical questions again about our condition, stuff I know is in my record, but I'm in no mood to complain since it looks like we're making progress. Stuff like eye swelling, nasal congestion, consistent pain location etc (you know all the symptoms). She says she's sending the form over to Aprila and they should contact me. Sure enough Aprila calls me Friday to set up an appointment. I have to come in to be trained how to use the equipment. I went in for my appointment today, got the rudimentary explanation how to use everything, They gave me 3 small tanks to take away with me, mask, hose, regulator and carrying rig. They set me up for delivery of their largest tank, which is supposed to come this afternoon. They'll deliver tanks whenever I need them from this point forward. Here's the kicker - Its all covered by insurance! I was presented a zero dollar invoice when I left. After all the hassle, I felt like I hit the lottery. I guess calling my CEO and complaining to him about our health insurance may have helped. Apparently threatening to pull the account of 600+ people has a way of getting an insurance company's attention.

I wanted to take a second to send a HUGE thank you to this website and it’s moderators. Four weeks ago, after a 15 year absence, my CH returned. And with a pain level I don’t remember. I didn’t know what to do and couldn’t remember my drugs I used to take or if there were even any changes in prevention and treatment. I went to my own general practitioner and as I explained what was going on, he began thumbing through his drug catalog, gave me a referral and that was that. I called the doctor he referred me to and he couldn’t see me until the end of February, clearly (or hopefully) beyond my need to see him. This past week I was in hell. Multiple attacks per night and then attacks while I was at work and driving to work. All I had were triptans at my disposal and those were clearly messing with my cycle, making it impossible to predict and creating multiple attacks per day and night. Wednesday evening, after having three kip 7 or 8 attacks, I found myself in my partners lap sobbing. I couldn’t find someone to help me an I didn’t know how to fix it. That morning, I found the list of recommended doctors on the site. Curiously my referred doctor was not there, but there were three others. One five miles from my home. I called them fully expecting to get the, “we aren’t seeing new patients until later next month”. But instead, after telling her I suffer from CH, she asked me if I was available this morning at 7:00am. Needless to say, my emotion bled through the phone. I felt saved. And this morning I went and met the most amazing people. They knew what CH was. They knew how much we suffer. They told me that CH sufferers always get bumped to the front of the line. They knew of all the current treatments and gave me the options of choosing. And to top it off, at 7:30, I started an attack. The doctor injected me with imitrex, guided me to a quiet room, and let me deal with the beast in private. When I came out, I had a bag of goodies that I had recently paid an arm and a leg for, and several reassuring smiles that made me know, I am in good hands. And I wouldn’t have found it if it weren’t for this site. I am eternally grateful. I don’t know if I found my personal fix, but I found a trusted partner in the process. Thank you.

Well, after obtaining my supplements before the headaches surfaced I wasted no time doing the loading dose, my last shadow was on the 26th of December, since then, I was PF with the use of energy drinks, and now, I have my supplements, and am starting to feel good, going to be staying away from alcohol for a bit

Caffeine does not trigger CH. From my personal experience and the people here. It is a very effective aid in moderating or aborting a hit for CHers'.

Your friend can't get nearly enough D from foods. Batch's recommended minimum daily dose of D3 is 10,000IU. Your friend would have to eat between 5 and 10 pounds of salmon in a day to get 10,000IU (depending on whether the salmon is wild caught or farmed). More than ten pounds a day of fresh herring; more than 20 pounds of pickled herring. More than 6 tablespoons per day of cod liver oil. Pills are a lot easier. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/9-foods-high-in-vitamin-d#1

To All, The following might be of interest given the growing hysteria over the coronavirus. The coronavirus, enterovirus (colds and flu) and rihinovirus (colds) responsible for upper respiratory infections are all about the same size and shape with the same propensity and mechanism for spreading. Accordingly, for the CHers on the anti-inflammatoy regimen, adding a gram or two of vitamin C a day can help. For CHers and Supporters not taking this regimen, taking at least 5000 IU/day vitamin D3, 1000 mg/day Omega-3 fish oil and 1 to 2 grams/day vitamin C can help immune systems combat upper respiratory viral infections. For reference this combination of vitamins and minerals has an NNT of 2 in preventing viral infections. The NNT = The Number Needed to Treat to prevent one case of the viral infection. From CDC data, the best matched flu vaccine has an NNT of 12 to 40. Take care, V/R, Batch

Day 5 of 100% pill, med, vitamin and everything else free. Still feeling better then I was before I quit it all. I have gotten 1 or 2 hits a day that I do use oxygen on but over all I fell surprisingly good. Hope I get through the weekend, they are worse then weekdays due to relaxing I believe. I will continue to go without taking anything for a few more days then I need to decide if I am going to order Emgaility, I am due to take that next Friday.

Hello SPP-Fan Welcome to this forum, although not good that you have found it as CH cluster headache is a serious thing if you have it. My first thoughts are to see if you have one or more of the following signs or symptoms: Excruciating pain that is generally situated in, behind or around one eye, but may radiate to other areas of your face, head and neck One-sided pain Restlessness Excessive tearing Redness of your eye on the affected side Stuffy or runny nose on the affected side Forehead or facial sweating on the affected side Pale skin (pallor) or flushing on your face Swelling around your eye on the affected side Drooping eyelid on the affected side Diagnoses of CH is done by eliminating possibilities while taking into regard the above symptoms. Especially the first and second may be a first indication for cluster headache, along with a one or more of the others. People experience sometimes different signs because CH can morph over the years, but as a starter you can see if the above applies. Seriously hope it is not CH and take care the next time you have sex.

Thankfully the medicos are learning that CH affects women about as often as men. Many women were labeled as having migraines when actually they had CH. And then they are prescribed a Triptan in pill form, which is pretty useless for CH. Takes too long to kick in. Your move and the return of CH has reported by many. I had the same thing happen 16 - 17 years ago. I had been PF for 10 years! It is disgusting when it happens. With no O2 at the moment and you being in Ohio, you could truck it outside in the cold and do your deep breathing and forced exhale there. It should provide some relief. Sometimes you can do the breathing with just air and benefit too. Cold does seem to work better. I would suggest you hit the caffeine first! Some put their feet in water as hot as you can stand it. These methods work best if begun early! Another idea is to sleep in a recliner, just keep your head above your heart. It is good for night time hits. As an added bennie, you will wake sooner if you get a nocturnal hit. Another thing: If you can't get O2, like many of use, you can use a welding set up. Welding tank of O2 and your regulator and mask. The non-rebreather Clustermask is the BEST! Welding O2 is safe to use. I hope that some of this helps. I definitely would begin the D3 Regimen ASAP! It is easy, no doctor needed, and all good for you stuff. All the best! We are here to help you get to a better place. I changed my original post to you and deleted most of it after I did a bit of research. It was another poster that I saw, not your posts! Apologies.

https://vitamindwiki.com/Cluster+headaches+substantially+reduced+by+10,000+IU+of+Vitamin+D+in+80+percent+of+people found it! Sorry I’m at work at the moment someone else had posted in another thread. Please read carefully

Hi, found this very interesting Ayurveda diagnosis and treatment for cluster headaches. Attached fyr 2191_2194.pdf

I once saw a sign in the back window of a van. It said 'If you can read this, you are in sniper range.'!!!! No, pistol range dufus. I'm about 30' behind you to read your sign and you are showing a disturbing lack of ballistic knowledge displaying it that way.

I have stopped taking all meds for 3 days now and do not notice any change in cluster behavior if anything it has gone down. I do realize that I still have some in my system and that the shit is bound to hit the fan sooner or later but as of rite now I feel good. I am not due for the next shots of Emgality until the 14th so I will see how I am feeling by then.

Hi Tony, I'm from india and so much more exposed to Ayurveda. My brother was born with very serious egzema all over his body. He was weak and i saw him struggle with it all out childhood. My parents tried everything including Ayurveda oils and medicines but nothing seemed to make any difference in his condition. When he was 18 we met with a Vaid who felt his pulse and cured him in 2 weeks. He then regained his health and joined the Indian army. I went to a Vaid myself for my CH last month. He felt my pulse and said that he was not able to figure out anything as there were some bad medicines in my system. He advised me to stop all medication, wait a month and go back to him. Only then would he know if he could help me. At the time i was on Prednisolone and Verapamil. Have since stopped. I will visit him again and if he is able to help me, i will report back on this page. Ayurveda cannot be overlooked for any sort of treatment. Om Namah Shivaye

Pleased to say we are starting to get a bit more rain in New South Wales, particularly in the Hunter region, hopefully the end of summer will be the ass end of these fires

Getting cold will not replete a vitamin D3 deficiency.

Here is the link but I am sure Batch will be able to help you out soon. https://vitamindwiki.com/Cluster+headaches+substantially+reduced+by+10,000+IU+of+Vitamin+D+in+80+percent+of+people

Here is some food that triggers CH so we need to keep ourselves away from this. Caffeine High Fat Food Chocolate Alcohol

I am suffering from cluster headache since 2003. Over the years, It was misdiagnosed several times such as: - Weak eye muscels - Dry eyes - Sinus blockage - Tension headache - Psychological (its nothing just you think so you feel it) It occurs to me every 11 months and lasts 15-20 days. I consulted a neurologist only in 2020. Till then, I found an indigenous way to get out of it. When I do intense cardio exercise within a very short interval, the upcoming attack subsides. What I mean is that you get a time window of about 2-4 minutes where the pain is very mild and is only beginning. So, in that window, all you have to do is get your heart rate to about 150 bpm. If you do that, the pain will naturally go away. There are 2 advantages of this treatment: 1. You don’t need to take any steroid or any injection. It is completely natural. And some exercise can never hurt. 2. It releases anti oxidants which uplift your mood. So, you don’t get depressed in that period. One thing to note that if you have missed your window of a few minutes and the pain reaches its peak, the exercise won’t work no matter how hard you do it. Also, I have tried strength training (eg. Lifting weights) in that period and it does not work. Only cardiovascular exercises work. It sometimes does not work if you get pain in the night. This is because in the night you wake up with the pain only when it is strong enough. So, that time window within which you can exercise has already been missed. One more thing I want to share that I have found out by myself is that when you are suffering from pain and you don’t have any other way, engaging in sexual activity proves to be a very nice distraction. No matter how serious the pain, it goes away as long as you are engaged in that activity. Regards Shitiz Bansal Whatsapp-9643753154

So I got all my D3 stuff today and I’m set to start that on my own. I did mention it to her during my consultation and she said she had heard about it but didn’t know enough about it. She didn’t poopoo it and said that it didn’t sound like it would hurt. She prescribed a prednisone taper which is pretty mild because I am likely nearing the end of my cycle ( at least I hope so) and I’m going in tomorrow morning to Get my three Emgality shots. I’m going to confirm with her that she sees no problem with me doing the D3 in parallel with this. I realize that I won’t know what ultimately “fixed” considering I’m going down three paths, but Whatever it takes to get my life back. We did talk about O2 and when the beast returns next year, I’ll likely go that route instead of the triptans to abort. Any holes in my plan?

Welcome to the site Lilly. Perfect first post. I would look at your oxygen setup first. what size are the 2 tanks that you have and how fast does your regulator let out the o2? You will want to get as much oxygen into your system as fast as you can at the first feeling of a cluster coming on. This sometimes needs up to 25lpm regulator and a larger rebreather o2 mask. The symptoms you feel with stuffy/runny nose swolen eye, I tand to get them all too just not all at the same time and not the same thing every attack. One attack i might have a stuffy nose and get the feeling I am over heating the next one I might have a tearing eye and be cold. Sumatriptan injections work great in aborting your clusters but some believe the more you use them the more attacks you can get and they can make you feel groggy after you take them this is why the oxygen setup is so important. If you optimize your 02 setup you will cut down on the injections and feel much better. The Verapamil will take some time to make a difference and people usually take a larger dose up to 720mg a day of this but only your doctor can up that for you. Look around on this site and ask a tun of questions and you will find a lot of help here.

You are presenting a fairly significant list of prescription drugs largely aimed a an individual with significant reactive airway (or COPD) lung disease. The asthma meds are a mix of bronchodilators (open up airways), inhaled steroids and a combination of the two. The medrol is a steroid (fairly equal to prednisone in potency) I would assume being indicated for the lung condition. Zolt is a proton pump inhibitor similar to protonix which blocks the production of gastric juices irreversibly. It works through an enzyme system and generally is used in short courses, it does not work right away but you dont want to use it in a sustained manner either. A beta blocker is usually used for hypertension although it has a role in migraine prevention and heart disease. The estrogen preparations are used vaginally and have little systemic absorption once used for 6-12 weeks. So if you subscribe to the belief steroids are blockers there is a concern about the medrol and some of the inhaled meds. The bronchodilators can cause feelings of anxiety and a rapid heart rate but should not block. I doubt the proton pump inhibitor is an issue. Systemic estrogen can increase drug metabolism in the liver but usually vaginal estrogen doses are insufficient to cause that. Beta blockers show up on some blocking lists but I doubt its a real issue. This is the med list of a person who has significant medical issues. Would not advise stopping any of the pulmonary drugs without close medical supervision. If she has been on steroids a long time I suspicion they are required for handling physiologic stress and weaning is probably not practical. She needs to be well prepared for the anxiety that can accompany a busting experience and a sitter needs to understand her breathing issues. Ultimately it is her decision but tread lightly Significant care and caution are urged.

@Rush I think the 125 cu ft tank is the perfect balance between size and portability. The tanks are fairly large, but I can carry them around without issue. I fill my E tanks off of them and also have them set up for home use. The rough conversion is that a 125 cu ft tank has almost 3500 L of O2 (close to the volume of 6 E tanks), and that can usually last me a couple weeks. If I have a really bad hit (or get hit at night), an E tank is not quite large enough to kill it. Having the extra capacity in the house and ready to go is of great comfort when you're getting hit a lot. Also, I had a good experience getting an O2 Rx while traveling to Orlando a few months ago. I had absolutely no trouble getting E tanks delivered to my hotel room, and only had to fax them the Rx. The company is called Orlando Medical Rentals. They appear to be setup for serving vacationers paying out-of-pocket, so it might not be cost effective for someone who lives in the area. But I thought I would pass along probably the only good experience I have had getting service from an oxygen supplier.

Why do I feel like I do after a Jehovah's Witness or Hari Krishna just knocked?

Wait, you supposed to peel them??????? ;D Oops.