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Hello, Quick follow up. I've got a new Primary Care Physician and have gotten the results of my OH 25 D2 test. 14 ng/ml which is deficient. Been waiting on the protocol until I had the baseline numbers. I will be starting the D2 (plus cofactors) today. The reason that I had the luxury of waiting for the blood test results instead of just starting is because the busting method was an incredible success! No headaches after the 2nd installment although I went ahead with the 3rd installment to complete the regimen. I have been CH free since 12/10 with very slight twinges that I wouldn't even call shadows. After bust 1 there was definitely a shift in symptoms for the best although a ton of shadows for several days leading up to bust 2. Ginger tea was my friend. After the 2nd bust all was well except for a nice tension headache that was easily attacked with ginger tea and Excedrin. FYI I was about 6 weeks into my episode which are typically 12+ weeks long. Thanks for all the help CH Father, Jonathan and Batch! Your tips in this blog and previous ones have been very helpful and you have made my quality of life so much better. And thank you Mr. Bob Wald for having the courage to advocate for us!! I owe you big time. Peace and love, John

Thanks CHfather. The Cyclobenzaprine was definitely a reach . I have tried many of the conventional drugs over the years and triptans are effective at aborting a CH but I need to pick and chose when to use it as I am not taking that stuff everyday for health and financial reasons. I have yet to try O2. As you said given the frequency of my episodes I just haven't gotten to it. My number one most effective method for aborting a CH (for daytime events) has been deep breathing and consciously relaxing my next muscles (that why I hypothesized about the muscle relaxant). If I can get away from everything when I first get the signs I can usually abort within 10 minutes (sometimes not). This has been a life changer for me. My issue is the arrival of the beast at night. By the time it wakes me the party has already started and it is a real challenge to slow it down at that point. Absolutely no perception of crankiness on your response. I very much appreciated it. I have read through the basic non busting busting info in the past but need to re-read it. I will look more closely into the D3 regiment. Just thinking of what I have available with regards to busting. Thanks!

The good news is that it's highly unlikely that Cyclobenzaprine (flexeril), a muscle relaxant, is going to interfere with busting. It's always possible that I have this wrong, and others will correct me. In other news: Cyclobenzaprine--WTF?? I've been here for ten years and read hundreds of posts in which people describe the meds they are taking, and if there have been three other people who have had that prescription, I'd be shocked. I've never seen any research that it helps with CH. Maybe some discomfort can be ascribed to muscle tension, but I seriously doubt that flexeril can address it at that level. I'm probably being overly cranky late at night, seeing another person with an prescription from an actual so-called medical professional that is highly unlikely to have any value, so don't take me too seriously. Maybe I'm turning into Potter (very inside reference). As one actual medical professional has said here, if you take something for six weeks and you don't know whether it's helping, it isn't. So the jury can be out a couple more weeks. I'm going to imagine that over the course of 33 long years, you have tried the more conventional CH medications and concluded that they didn't work for you--verapamil, oxygen--or maybe you didn't like the side effects of triptans or prednisone. And since your cycles are relatively infrequent, maybe you don't have reliable sources for those things. One thing I can tell you, particularly regarding oxygen but also with reference to those other things, is that they are all prescribed wrong more often than they are prescribed right, so most people who think they don't work for them probably just weren't doing it right. Also, non-pharma things like the vitamin D3 regiment are hugely effective, but largely unknown outside of CH message boards. You don't have to respond to all that. Just me "venting," I guess. Busting is a good choice, but it can take time, and it's nice to have some effective abortives or preventives while you're doing it. If you haven't seen the general principles of busting as listed in the blue banner at the top of each page ("New Users - Read Here First "), that'll give you a good starting place. Those same principles are listed at the very end of this file -- https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/6213-basic-non-busting-information/ -- along with a bunch of other info, most of which, as a CH veteran, you probably already know.