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Hi Friends, I'm 53, my CH began at 37. I get them about every 12-18 months for about 4-8 weeks. Maxalt, Verapamil, and Oxygen are my top 3 "helpers". I will though explore busting and anything else that can help prevent, reduce, or extinguish the pain. I'm thinking about the stretch of time between the attack. I'm basically healthy. No smoking, drinking, fairly decent diet. I'm thinking about what I can do to gear my body (and mind) up so that if a cycle comes, I'm ready for it and maybe I'm so "fit" that the severity and length of the cycle gets reduced. Should I take vitamin D regimen throughout the year? Bust every 6 months just to keep the brain peaceful? Lift weight like a madman? Breathe from an oxygen tank or get into deep breathing exercises? what can I do to prevent the cycle or if I I can't prevent it, what can I do to stockpile and prepare when the battle comes? Is sounds like people who bust do it every few months as a lifestyle thing that also either prevents the CH cycle or it makes it so that when the cycle comes, it's weakened dramatically? My primary doctor (not headache doctor) told me that the faster you get to the oxygen when a cycle starts, the better chance you have of destroying the cycle. Maybe just pound oxygen for a few days straight and perhaps that can kill the cycle before it can "take off"? we are all different but I'd love to hear more from the people who have either found a way to cure themselves or make it 1000% easier and better to deal with. is anyone in LA and would anyone be open to phone call about all of this? my thinking is that if I throw enough things at CH and try as many combinations or remedies as possible, someone will break loose and big time progress can be made. has anyone put together an entire list of EVERY SINGLE remedy or option we have to throw at this condition? I'd love to see that list and hear what other people think about it. also, if we use drugs like lexapro or Vyvanse or any type of drug for ADHD, depression, etc, could that help with the CH? how about cold plunge therapy. it seems cold helps with CH. or the caveman diet? there has to be a combination of things that can make a big difference. who is the most successful person to ever combat CH? I'd like to read their book. thank you all and I truly believe by sharing information and persevering, we can help each other end this ailment FOREVER.

I fully concur with CHfather that chances are pretty good that your doc never got you up to a therapeutic dose for clusters anyway and, it kinda sounds like increasing your dosage would be contraindicatedso.....!! And, like him, I'm not a doc, but a quick Google search stressed that it should be titrated down under strict doctor supervision....and then told me what a doc would probably do to titrate down from a 240mg (3 x 80mg) daily dose so.... I'm of the school of thought that Verapamil is another off label pharma med that's thrown at cluster patients often but effective for a relatively small % and many of them deal with unwanted side effects!!! I commiserate with ya though, being a student and trying to learn stuff would be a biotch with the Beast hangin around!! DD

It's very unlikely -- in my view, of course -- that 120mg of verapamil has had any effect at all on your CH. The recommended minimum starting dose is 240mg/day (3 80mg doses), and that is usually just to provide an initial safe test, with dosages going up regularly if it proves safe. At least for CH, regular monitoring by EEG and symptom-watching is considered essential. Drowsiness is one symptom to watch for, and you seem to have that. Weaning is considered important for verap, but how much you have to do with 120/day would not seem a lot (and I think the weaning is mostly for BP patients, because of rises in BP while stopping). Typical weaning, I think is a 30-50% reduction every 5 days or so. I assume you can find this info on your own. There are people here who hate verap and think no one should ever take it, and others who found that at higher doses (sometimes as high as 960/day or more) it helped them (usually with side effects they did not like). You are in a perfect situation to start the full vitamin D3 regimen, a better (and generally safer) preventive. I'd strongly recommend reading this -- Basic non-busting information - ClusterBuster Files - ClusterBusters -- and the replies to it, and following the links, and then getting back to us. (A personal hobbyhorse of mine: A lot of students tend to eat a lot of food with MSG in it, for instance, those instant ramen meals and flavored chips, and for many, MSG is a trigger.)

...a few thoughts.... best, jon