In my last cycle last year I used energy drinks almost only as preventatives. I felt kind of stupid why I had not tried that ever before. I got the idea to try them out from migraine sites where lots of people aim to prevent their migraines with coffee. The other reason why I went at it was that my usual preventative, liquorice root tincture, was not responding well so I started thinking maybe dilation was a bigger issue for this particular cycle and for me. I would suggest just about anyone who can tolerate energy drinks (especially if they already work on hits but also if they don't) to try them as preventative as well for at least a week - if hits come like clockwork it should show it's response easily. But they took me a few days to reach the optimum prevention. I still don't understand how they worked so well though, I got shelter for hours. It can't be just taurine?
I can't recommend topiramate for clusters, for anyone, but that's just me. Lots of great news Suzz !
EDIT: At least on me when I used energy drinks as preventative, I didn't need to use the whole drink, or the same amount used to abort. For me 1/3 - 1/2 of the abort amount worked as a preventative, fine tuning that based on the strength of the shadows.