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Jon - I’ve heard great things about oxygen therapy but haven’t had the opportunity to try it. If your doc hasn't suggested/INSISTED the "standard of care/#1 abortive"...which is O2... time for a new doc....preferably a headache specialist....O2 has saved lives and sanity in clusterville.... It sounds like it gives moderately faster relief, which would be a godsend. .....how's 5-10 mins 90% of the time for me.....without ANY of those nasty side effects you mention...relatively inexpensive.... easy to use...way more portable than non clusterheads will tell you...can be obtainable by self pay if the insurance won't cover....from welding supply shop if not.......... I have a similar concern about so many medications - id like to know which one works in the future. I’ll see how feasible oxygen is with my insurance. ...a "typical" protocol would be prednisone to break a cycle while the prevent kicks in (10-14 days)...doubling up with two preventives (Verap and Depo) is unusual and I would say lazy...but then I do not know your med history so there could be valid reasons for that (he says doubtfully).... .....what is the verap dose (6 x 80 mg = 480?).....that would be a recognized 'sweet spot" amount...many require much higher (I used over 1000 mg/dy in hi cycle)....if you ever figure a pattern try timing the doses just prior to expected hits... ...if ya gonna use a triptan you'll want injectable or nasal (i use Zomig nasal spray 5 mg) as a last line of defense when all else fails...in my case, the Zomig has few, if any, side effects, no rebounds, and a long half life compared to sumatriptan....pills are worthless as an abortive and require exquisite timing to be at all useful as a prevent.... ...you are in the right place to learn about busting..... ....the D3 regimen could make all of this moot...do it now...it's good for ya anyway.... best jonathan sorry to step on Bof post...typed this before saw that.... totally agree........

Blair, hang in there, this is the place for you. With all the meds you are taking no wonder you so tired. I get it. everyone is different but all the same. I also take verap 240mg twice a day when a cycle comes, and that zaps energy like crazy. Please look through this board and fine the D3 Regimen. That has helped a lot of us to where we are pain free in about ten days. worth giving it a try. Once it kicks in I can stop the verap and get on with my life. Hope this helps and keep us posted.

HI everyone, nothing much to say except that I hope everyone is feeling substantially less or zero pain. I pray every day for myself to CH free and for all of you. What's works for me is chanting NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO. And Verapamil! I certainly don't want to push religion on anyone but I wanted to tell you all what works for me. We can and will defeat this. To your health and happiness always, Jimmy Martinez-

This is two years old, but Boston Headache Doc is quoted several times regarding current therapies for prevention and treatment of CH. A good read!!! https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/migraine-and-headache/treating-cluster-headache-weighing-current-therapies/

Thank you for this information. This place is great.

The TSA is very specific these days about what they are checking for -explosives! Not any meds or other stuff. Once you are through the TSA checkpoint, you can buy drinks in the shops on the concourse that you are allowed to take on the plane. I recently took on this hurdle after avoiding flying for 15 years. Got through just fine. Had shadows all one day after the flight, but that was it. It was over the Equinox which is my traditional start date, so, pretty scary! However, I was not in cycle nor did it precipitate one. Good luck! If you have a SPUT, take it as a preventative. It isn't explosive!

https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/4568-triggers/

....check your journal...you know, the one you keep on when, where, how hard, how long, activities, eats, stress, weather, etc..... soes you (and maybe a good doc) can figure this out (and then stop journaling)....cuz it sounds like maybe there's "something" happening one day but not the next (like weekend headaches from no caffeine)....we call 'em "triggers"... ....another thought......if yur fairly new to CH it could be your "pattern" has not settled in yet...for some it takes a while (1 yr for me)................

...oh...dang...forgot to mention energy drinks.....minimum 100 mg caffeine/1000 mg taurine at first sign of hit or on the way to O2 tank...great for shadows (small hits) and aborts for some folks...made O2 better for me....

Really appreciate your support, will definitely keep this thread updated as I continue the doctor visits.

Hi Blair, ...where's the OXYGEN!?........... ...that's a lot of rocks being thrown at the beast...careful that when you succeed...and you will...ya won't know which one hit...