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Hey Headsufferer, Welcome to Clusterbusters. You need to join Clusterheadaches.com at the following link and talk with DJ, a.k.a., Dennis Johnson. He started CH.com and had Moya Moya. He also had surgery for his Moya Moya so will be a valuable resource for you. www.clusterheadaches.com Check your message InBox, I've sent you some additional info. Take care, V/R, Batch

Yes, I have used it to abort as well as for shadows. As with anything else, take it quick, do not take the wait and see approach. I found some real candied ginger 2 years ago and grabbed it. Before, I had used some lozenges that were not nearly as effective. I suggest checking on Amazon for it. Mine is Little Temptations crystalized ginger - ginger with sugar.

Hiya plhbn...sorry the beast found your address....but welcome aboard sleep, stress, food, barometer, activity CHANGES (like vacations) were ALL triggers for me...I stopped trying to figure out which one(s) because it basically came down to ANY changes in routine. Makes for a restricted life...yet another present from the beast. Depressing way to live...which is why forums like this to help figure a path out of the darkness.... triptans in various forms have been reported to cause rebounds and/or lose effectiveness...the goal is to make them a last resort abortive. I had my best luck with Zoming nasal spray (5 mg)...oral tabs were worthless to me....too slow. injectables effective but felt like killing a flea with a hammer and SO DAMN expensive.... OXYGEN OXYGEN OXYGEN...saved my sanity...perhaps my life. best reported success with high flow (>15 LPM) or demand system, the proper non rebreather mask (one such priceless gem available at clusterheadaches.com), and proper technique (there are several.... including breath and hold, hyperventilation)….if no medical available welding O2 is the same stuff in a different labelled tank...quite safe and usually cheaper.... energy drinks at first sign of hit and while racing for the o2 proved quite effective for me....triple strength coffee early in career, then the energy drinks came out. all taste like ass soes yur looking for content first: at least 100 mg caffeine per serving and at least 1000 mg taurine (caffeine booster). Buy by content and price...I get mine at outlet stores for $1 per 16 oz can (good for 2 hits). Red Bull too expensive and lower in the ingredients you need.... I have not heard this from others... but my first thought was perhaps you've developed a tolerance for diphenhydramine or there is some kind of rebound effect going on like with triptans. I'd try weaning off for a while and/or trying melatonin for sleep. many a clusterhead finds it helps with nocturnal hits.... interesting comment re reasoning and memory....I had quite the opposite. used to do a lot of critical writing at work and would almost wish for a cycle when I had an important project...seemed to sharpen and clarify my thinking....out of cycle it got all muddy. similar to depression...in cycle no problem...too busy...out of cycle...DAMN! Best Jon

HI plhbn and welcome you have come to the right place. Ive had a decent amount of experience with oral forms of sumatriptan all forms actually apart from the injections as they are $160 i my country. Before I was first diagnosed with Clusters, I and the doctors thought I was having migraines and I was prescribed Sumatriptan tablets. In the early days of my headaches they were much less frequent. The tablets definitely worked better than otc and opioid painkillers I had tried and actually would kill the headache. The problem being they did take a long time to kick in, minimum 30 mins to an hour. That feels like a long when you are in agony. After being diagnosed with clusters I was prescribed the nasal spray version. I found that to be very hit and miss. My nose gets totally blocked sometimes so I felt it didnt even get into my system. At times it worked and It would start to kill the headache in about 20 to 40 minutes. I then tryed the wafer version, you put that in you mouth and it dissolves, I found that to work pretty well usually working in 20 to 40 minutes. The key I found with all oral Triptans is that If you take them as soon as you feel you might have a headache coming on the more success you have at aborting the Headache quickly. Also Drinking strong coffee or a energy drink seems to make it more effective also. This method was effective for me for a fair while. The problem I found was The worse my condition got the more I needed to take them. Not only did they start losing effectiveness but I started to feel very average, tight felling in the chest, high blood pressure, even more tired than usual, a walking zombie pretty much. At times a Headache would hit so fast and was so strong that I would take one and it wouldn't work so after an hour of agony I would take another one out of desperation then that still didnt work for another 40 minutes. Then I felt so crap for the rest of the day dizzy tired, and a few hours later it would happen again. Maybe because of a rebound effect or maybe not im not sure. Once I moved to Oxygen I felt much better. In closing oral Triptans were a saviour for me for a fair while when used at first signs of headache with caffeine and taken sparingly but were not the long term solution. Tread carefully and goodluck, There is a lot of information on this forum to help you improve you pain. Plenty of people to provide answers to your questions. Dan