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Hi Daniel, Really appreciated you tell us what is working for you ! It's great people do that ! Some methods proposed here are as eccentric as it can be but who cares. Even if a million try it and there is only one patient for who the method works, that is already a huge victory Best Regards ! siegfried

Hi Daniel...welcome.. Looked it up.....Grandpa powder = caffeine+aspirin+paracetamol. Caffeine is our friend...the powder gets it there quicker....but careful re longterm use...the aspirin and paracetamol in there can have significant negative side effects... What is the availability of energy drinks in SA? Anything with at least 100 mg caffeine and 1000 mg taurine (caffeine booster among other things) taken quickly and in my case, super cold, will get ya the needed effect (blood vessel constriction) quickly as you crank open the OXYGEN tank. Speaking of OXYGEN....if your CH progresses (likely but let's hope not!) you're gonna want an effective, quick, cheap, safe, medically acknowledged, side effect free, front line BEST abortive. That would be O2! Dunno what your med system is.... but you might wanna start now looking into how to get the right script and the logistics of obtaining. High flow (15 LPM) or a demand valve type, proper non rebreather mask, and proper technique.... has saved the life and/or sanity of many a clusterhead.... In the meantime.... look into the vitamin D3 regimen...also quite effective for a high percentage of clusterheads... Best Jon

Hello Nikki, I am not sure if triptans can use rebounds but they definitely can cause Medication Overuse Headache (MOH). This is a different headache and IHC has a proper classification for it: ------------------- 8.2.2 Triptan-overuse headache Description: Headache occurring on 15 or more days/month in a patient with a pre-existing primary headache and developing as a consequence of regular use of one or more triptans on 10 or more days/month for more than 3 months. It usually, but not invariably, resolves after the overuse is stopped. Diagnostic criteria: Headache fulfilling criteria for 8.2 Medication-overuse headache Regular intake of one or more triptans1, in any formulation, on ≥10 days/month for >3 months. ----------------------- Now its a bit a choice here between the pest and cholera. Or you take your cluster attacks as they come without MOH risk or the clusters are so painful that MOH is a small price to pay for getting rid of them. Sumatriptan injections are suggested here. This is indeed more effective against CH attacks and its presented as the standard treatment but also keep in mind that the injections put more pressure on the heart than the pills. When I have a CH flare-up, the attacks follow each other up in rapid succession with continuous background pain in between. So for me the pills are the safer option than injections. I do not use injections but a nasal spray in the worst case (Zolmitriptan for both the pills and nasal). I can also tell you that, if you decide to use the pills, there are much better triptans available than Sumatriptan. You have fast acting ones such as Eletriptan and Rizatriptan or slow acting ones like Frovatriptan or Naratriptan. Having said that, keep trying with the oxygen. There are several masks, breathing techiques possible you can try as Chris pointed out but if you can get it working, its a huge benefit ! For me oxygen works like magic. Rebreather, non-rebreather, high-flow, lower-flow, it all does not matter. Whenever I breath in that stuff, the pain goes away within 10 minutes in most of the cases. Even if I stop oxygen after 15 minutes with still 20 % of the pain remaining, that pain also goes away during the next minutes. With oxygen, I have managed to cut down my triptan usage with around 70 %. So it's worth further trying it but patience and creativity is key here. All the best ! siegfried