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....ummm.....same here ^^^^^^^^^ ....the advantage of a bag is a reservoir of O2...no waiting. i suppose if flow is high enough that wouldn't matter, but potential waste of precious gas thru blow by.. ...many use the Cadillac of non rebreathers from sister site clusterheadaches.com...this their store...cheap at any price, but $30 a screaming deal (and i aint got no financial connection ) ClusterO2 Kit - Clusterheadaches.com - Online Store

Thanks for the reply. These masks actually do have holes in the side. As I was unfarmiliar with these I did not even realize it. I do think I will go back to the original masks that I was using that was just the mask and line. I have in the past experienced a decrease in effectiveness when my tank got low which is funny because if you tell anyone off of this forum they will say no that is not possible. Haha.

Thanks for the reply. I did not know about the no nose breathing as I believe that is how I used to do it with other masks atleast on inhale. I feel like my breathing is similar to when I use to have bad anxiety and was trying to abort panic attacks. This time around the 5 hour energy was actually making things worse. The past two times I took them it actually made headaches last longer and gave me some sort of secondary headache that went on all day. In the past they worked well so not sure what changed. Honestly these day headaches are much worse not in severity but lenght wise. Before i just had to wake up at night hook up 02 and either go back to sleep or maybe stand in shower 30 minutes after and then to sleep. The pain of those in unconparable when they peaked but I would have gladly took those over this last bout

Some O2 thoughts. (1) Your mask probably has a set of small open holes on one side. Block those so that no room air gets in when you inhale. (2) Some people find that when a tank is relatively low in O2 (maybe 1/3 full or thereabouts) O2 is less effective. (3) If the bag is not full when you are ready to take your next deep inhale, your flow rate is too low. As far as changes in frequency/timing/severity of attacks, many people do experience that.

.....are there any holes in the mask? tape 'em/plug 'em....you want pure O2 with no room air mix... ....make sure flow is high enough for bag to refill for next breath....you don't want to be waiting... ...some find breathing directly from tube better...just be sure no nose breathing while using mouth tube... ....downing an energy shot (2 oz/5-hr energy type quick, easy, no sugar) on the way to tank enhanced effectiveness immensely for me.... ...absolutely critical to start O2 immediately upon perception of hit...stay on after for as long as it took to abort...if i waited or could not get to tank quick enough there was a point where no amount of O2 would work. since it is best to avoid triptans as only a last resort abort, learning your hit "tells" is vital. is not always obvious to the clusterhead as many report that others around them can see a hit coming before they do....weird but true. ....hyperventilation (some start even before getting to O2 tank) is reported best method....others (me) find slow DEEP breaths just as effective with added benefit of calming effect....another is breathe and hold. try various methods to see which works best....a combination worked best for me (slow/deep/hold..repeat), sometimes within same hits.. ...no, reliable sources of medical/welding O2 will not give you "bad oxygen"....note that scuba tanks are compressed air, not O2 on the off chance this is what you're using... ...schedule changes are poison to clusterheads....a sadly limiting factor for many....i had to maintain very specific routines...especially sleep and eating (low blood sugar a trigger)...

It's hard to figure out why that would work better, but I'm sure hoping it does again for you.

I started taking verapamil to prevent cluster headaches many years ago, and it worked. Well, at least the headaches stopped for the most part. When I developed high blood pressure, since it works for that, too, the dosage was increased -- that was 10 years ago. During that time, never a cluster, only very occasional isolated attacks New doctor, two months ago, took me off verapamil and prescribed a different med for BP, and guess what. I've been in a cluster period ever since. Went back on verapamil, increased dosage, 160 mg. X 3, and duration and severity have decreased since then. Oxygen was delivered today. Haven't ever used that before. I can hardly wait for my next headache, to see how it works! Not. But glad I have this additional tool. Delivery guy told me he has a number of customers who use oxygen for cluster headaches -- which surprised me -- I thought I was the only one. And, he said all these other customers are very pleased with oxygen therapy, so, that's good news. Point is, though, might be best not to go off verapamil. I had thought, why not -- hadn't had a cluster in years! But boom -- big time cluster right after stopping verapamil. Sure wish I had said "No thanks" to the doc who suggested taking something else for blood pressure. Won't make that mistake again.

These types of reports scare me. I wonder what your dosage was prior to increasing to 480 and what type of verapamil (ER or RR)? I am assuming you were on a lower dose prior with the "increased" wording in your message. Anyhow, I am happy you are finding relief at 480 which is where I am at. So glad you also got O2 as it really can be a game changer for so many. I struggle with the O2 and get "hit and miss" results but any score is better than none and most of my unsuccessful aborts happen when I was unable to get to the O2 quick enough. Since you got your 02 today, keep in mind that you will be in need of a non re-breather mask along with a regulator that allows at a minimum of 15-25 LPM flow rate which can be easily purchased online. This made me laugh. Sorry I tend to appreciate humor of this sort. I may be demented in that way but blame God.. He made me this way.. Jelly over this comment but do need to preach the D3 regimen which has kept me doing quite well for some time now. You can read about it on here by using the search bar. Wishing you the best!!

...nose breathing ok INSIDE a mask....the caution if mouth breathing with tube....dilutes the O2. ....the breathing you describe for anxiety was similar to what i did to calm the frantic panic of a bad hit....which only made it worse. when adopted (part by accident...part by "there has got to be a better way!")...the effectiveness of O2 then dramatically improved.... ...my experience with low tank volume was the necessity to monitor the resulting decreasing flow volume...actually was a nice distraction to focus on and crank up....that or pounding my head with whatever hard object was in reach, at least til i figured shit out.... ...never tried but some report better success with a demand valve (can be expensive)...provides plenty O2 while, at least theoretically, saving O2 ...plenty of incredibly sadly funny "info" on some FB forums....at least here it's easier check out our (my) biases/history...