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Clusterbusters Has Exciting News for 2020 Dear friends, For nearly 20 years, Bob Wold has managed Clusterbusters as a volunteer. He takes our desperate calls in the middle of the night, answers emails, travels, organizes, and sacrifices time with his family in order to ensure that every person living with cluster headache has the best life possible. His efforts in education, driving research, and support are unprecedented and unparalleled. In addition, Bob has held a regular job to help support his family. He does all of this, likely working 80 or more hours a week in total, with so much kindness and without complaint. He also lives with the same crippling disease that we are fighting to eradicate. We are living in a special time in the headache community. More attention is being given to research and to our disease. We have received tremendous support from the research community and even more amazing support from our own patient community. It is time for Clusterbusters to make a change. We have a growth opportunity, but we need to focus. Consequently, Clusterbusters is proud to announce that we have asked for and received Bob's resignation from our board of directors. He is no longer our president. Instead, we have hired him as our Executive Director. He will now work under the direction of the Board of Directors full time to carry out the mission and vision of Clusterbusters that he developed in the early part of the 2000s. As the position of President of the Board has been vacated, I have been asked to serve as the President and I have accepted this position. I am so proud to be able to continue to serve this community that has given me so much. Thank you all for your support. As you may know, we have added Ainslie Course to our Board of Directors. We are excited to include her as this will help us to grow and expand our reach. Thank you, Ainslie, for adding your talents and light to our community. We will be continuing to grow our amazing organization. We are so proud of Bob Wold, those who came before us, and all of the accomplishments of Clusterbusters, and we are looking forward to helping to shape a better future for everyone living with cluster headache. Sincerely, Eileen Brewer President Clusterbusters Connect with us ‌ ‌ ‌ Clusterbusters | P.O. Box 574, Lombard, IL 60148 Unsubscribe dennispohlenz@yahoo.com Update Profile | About Constant Contact Sent by eileen@clusterbusters.org in collaboration with

When the great tommyd created the first Clusterbuster Files entries back in 2010, he wrote that there was an "ongoing debate" about whether the taurine has an effect, or whether it's just the caffeine that is impacting the attacks (or shadows). I don't think that debate has been resolved, since some people get good results from caffeine alone, and I'm pretty sure that the V-8 energy drinks that some people prefer don't have taurine in them. Some people even think it's the niacin in those drinks that helps, more than the taurine. So if by "just a taurine supplement" you mean taurine alone, without caffeine, I suspect -- but can't say for sure -- that it would be ineffective. I know that some people have taken taurine pills and caffeine pills, but don't ask me why, or how helpful it was. (I'm guessing that the reason that the Red Bull doesn't make you shaky is that the 8 oz. version has roughly the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, about 80mg. A 5-Hour Energy shot has 215mg of caffeine!)

That is the best news of 2020!!! Bob is a saint when it comes to CH. And our Fantastic Leader. Congrats to Bob, Eileen, and Ainslee! All great people in our midst.

Klasterman, I appreciate that you're pain free, but cure it is not. Every week now it seem someone is coming here claiming a cure. Being in remission is not cured. Sounds like your cycle stopped. Again I'm happy for you, but you're like the hundredth person that have claimed a cure and none have actually been proven a cure. CH is an abnormality in our brains, the hypothalamus. There really is no cure without making a change to the hypothalamus.j You'll find that claiming a cure when you only have 3 days pain free is going to put people off. Oh my gosh. I just read that article and I'm cracking up. (sorry, I'm still glad you're pain free, but it has nothing to do with some pressure point, or a plastic device you press on your torso.). Since both those links are selling a supposed cure... I'll have to remove the links. If you have links to something legitimate that isn't selling a cure, they are welcome. PFW, J

Well Brian, I'm not going to go looking for those posts I'm going to ignore them. I refuse to believe it. Aging out is one of the great hopes and I won't allow you to destroy my vanity with the truth!!

Just a few comments on the gammaCore device. As was mentioned by someone earlier in the thread, I think the first inclination on the device should be of the positives it brings. The cost is more a product of our broken and complicated medical system than of it's current cost. The Vagus nerve has long been discussed as it's potential involvement in cluster headaches. So it was a logical choice in research. The company did spend millions on this research and it has an important role to play in the overall need for more research into clusters and helping find another piece of the puzzle. Even research that eliminates possible routes to successful treatments and an eventual cure help paint the picture and help us all zero in on discovery. So, the most important part of this particular story, to me, is the basic research and someone, anyone, investing money into searching for something that helps us as a community that has for so long been completely ignored. The eventual effectiveness of this or any treatment is secondary. Of course we all would hope that this research finds is help but some things will be more of a help than others. Its most important that they keep searching, keep researching. The FDA approved this device because they understood that even of only 30% of the people using it were helped, that's 30% of an entire community that needs help. That's 30% of a community that can find a new option that helps that they didn't have before. I'm extremely happy for those 30%. It should also be important for the rest of us in that there are people looking for things that can help us. That alone should give hope to 100% of the community. Clusterbusters has been trying to help the community since 2002. In many cases its been helping people one at a time. That take s a lot of time and dedication from a lot of people. We appreciate anything that helps just one of us. This is a very close knit community and we know that helping just one person, helps the entire community. When individuals or companies or even government agencies try to take advantage of the community and anyone in the community, we have and will take a stand and try to protect each of us. We have been following this research for many years and we have heard many reports of people getting better results the longer they use this device. Yes we've also heard many stories where it was not helpful at all. Its a similar story for so many of the treatments we choose or have available. We will stay on this and follow up on its success and failures. With the cost being the biggest hurdle for people to try it, we will continue to fight to get insurance companies to cover its cost. As everyone knows, Clusterbusters has always offered help and advice regarding things that people can't get a prescription for from their doctor. We also know that a large portion of our community relies upon staying within the rules and only using prescription medications and treatments. We fight just as hard for all of them and try to move the entire medical community forward to find help for all of us. People should be able to choose whatever treatment works best for them and they should be able to afford that treatment. As simple as that sounds, there are many barriers that we need to tear down. Peace out~ Hope everyone has a great 2019 Bob

SpineBob If there is a way to send me the photos and instructions of how you reset the GammaCore I would be most grateful. I had it for 30 days, worked to abort migraines.... THANK YOU.

I have used the Gammacore for the last month and it works great as a preventative treatment for me, I use it for 4 minutes twice a day. I paid $598 for the gammacore device that has 300 two minute sessions and a 30 day shutoff timer that shuts off the device after 30 days of use (or non-use.) Once activated the gammacore expires in 30 days, I used it 90 times in a month so 300 uses is more than enough for anyone in a month. I also underwent Botox for a year prior but the side effects of Botox were too much for me so I prefer the gammacore. I am a retired Electrical Electrical Engineer that served on a nuclear submarine so I know a little about acoustical energy, I took the gammacore apart and the 2 silver round electrodes on top are actually sonic transducers that emit sound waves - NOT electrical waves. Underneath the electrodes are two clear plastic balls filled with a gel in which the sound wave is transmitted into the vagus nerve. 2 electrode screws are inserted into the gel to transmit the sound energy and the frequency is adjustable. This stimulation of the vagus nerve is by sound, quite similar to the Yoga chant "oooohhhhmmmm" that also can vibrate the vagus nerve slightly while the gammacore can REALLY vibrate the vagus nerve! The Gammacore is powered by 2 three volt batteries in parallel so if you know what you are doing you can "bypass" the 30 day shutoff timer and use the single gammacore for months and save thousands. You will need a couple electrical jumpers and a small rheostat to adjust the sound frequency, can get at radioshack for $5 bucks. I will post the detailed instructions and photos as to how to bypass the gammacore timer and have a permanent device, I cannot recommend this for novices due to safety risks and always wear eye protection when working around batteries. And I predict gammacore will start selling a permanent gammacore device soon, $598 a month is ABSURD!