Arcan

I've been reading up on histamines and how this causes CH but it's difficult to find good sources with easy to understand explanations. Does anyone have a good one ? My question is: if we know histamines are the problem, isnt there anything we can do about it? Taking out high histamine foods doesn't seem to be enough since stress and pollen can also be a factor and there's probably more. And mast cells seem to become immune to meds like benadryl. So how about increasing diamine oxydase which decreases histamine ? Dao deficiency is a primary cause for migraines and vascular headaches. I assume The Vitamin d regimen is helping on this because vit d decreases histamine but also because it facilitates absorption of zinc and magnesium which are essential to making dao. But has anyone tried dao supplements ? Or does our body get used to this over time as well ? See this research as well : http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/811920#vp_1 sorry if this was mentioned already earlier in the thread, I'm at work and didn't have time to read everything properly.

Thanks for the explanation! I read the entire thread, although I should read it again while googling/translating some words to fully understand it. Anyway, since the tincture shouldn't be mixed with vera I'll stick with it for this cycle and try out the licorice off-cycle after detoxing, just to see what happens. Then I'll give it a shot next cycle. By the way, do you think it could be combined with the D3 treatment, perhaps if it doesn't prevent the attacks completely?

Hey Les! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, however I respectfully disagree with this part: I can't speak for meditation though (youtube only advised me to focus on my breath :/), but the second day I was on verapamil I had 3 attacks, the next day 1, and the following 2 (including today) I have been attack-free, just some minor shadows. I'm just getting started though, and so is the CH, so I figure it won't be long untill the vera isn't enough. However, I can't say anything about how safe this treatment is (no noticeable side-effects yet though). It seems you're quite busy, but if you could show me a thread or some research that confirms the problems with vera, I would gladly show it to my neurologists and discuss your licorice treatment with them as a substitute (they are also affiliated with a university, so doing research on this treatment wouldn't be too hard for them either). Also, what CHfather said Thanks!

Will do! Though I doubt (and hope) that I won't have any exciting news to report 'till next cycle, perhaps longer if I plan a trip to Amsterdam one of these days (I'm from Belgium) But I'll try and stick around to remain up to date and ask some more questions. Too bad I can't try the licorice though, I sure could a use a little pick-me-up Thanks again for your help, it's good to know I won't have to go through all this alone.

Of course not, you have no idea how grateful I am for finding this site And thanks for the imitrex tip, I don't think I'll be needing it this cycle, but at least now I'll know what to do in the future. Thanks for the summary CHfather, I'm all ready to go if the verapamil doesn't work, but I don't feel too good about already calling my doc a few days after she started me on a (working, so far) treatment, and saying "hey I decided to go for another treatment instead!" if you get what I mean. Christinauj, you don't have to go through all that pain. Pure oxygen can stop attacks in a few minutes if used in time, and there's a bunch of other treatments to prevent cycles altogether, all of which you can find out about by reading CHfather's first post at the top of this thread.

Hey! I have to confess I'm only at page 4 of this thread atm, but a reliable source told me this isn't entirely covered in here yet: Do you think the licorice treatment could work to prevent cycles?

I disagree, I can imagine what you go through when you see a loved one in that much pain isn't much fun either, and people doing what they can to help out strangers are pretty rare as well. All right, I'll ask it then, but I'm holding you responsible if people say it's a retarded question BTW when you say the licorice treatment might work better w/o mainstream meds, do you know if that includes verapamil? I swear I'll stop asking questions and start doing more research before asking, but I'm already behind schedule so I don't have that much spare time. Ahh the pressure.

Yeah, I started reading that thread but I haven't gone through all 8 pages yet, plus his posts are huge so I figure it'll take me a while I'll start reading up on that D3 treatment as well, thank God I should have about a year until my next cycle! What has been your experience with all of this, if I may? Have you managed to get it under control? Thanks for helping me out btw

Of course, if I were chronic I'd think twice about using verapamil daily, but at the moment I'm still using a low dose and it does seem to be working so far, I've been attack free all day \o/ The second I'm experiencing nasty side effects or if it becomes less effective I'll be switching to plan B Speaking of which, I haven't been through all the posts yet, but does anyone know if the licorice root treatment could work to avoid cycles? Thanks CHfather, and sorry to hear about your daughter, must be quite hard :/ In response to your questions about my oxygen set-up, I have two pretty big tanks (not quite sure about the volume, but they weigh about 20 kgs each ), which goes up to 15 lpm, with one of those water-thingies. As for the mask, I can get the original "accessories" for free once a month so I'll see if I can switch to a mask for april. I don't have a portable one though because it still looks like a pain to carry around (not to mention how people would look at me in school ) so I figured I'd go for redbull and imitrex. Oh and thanks for the good news about cycles becoming worse

Thanks for the warm welcome guys Though this may not seem very smart to you guys, I'm not planning on doing any busting just yet because at the moment I'm giving the verapamil a shot. It seems to be working OK and with the o2 it's quite bearable, so if I throw in some red bull, ginger and a non-rebreathable mask I might be good to go In the meanwhile I'll be looking around here to get informed about my options, so that when the time comes I know what to do, but there's an awful lot to read and it's quite difficult for me to concentrate, especially because I'm not a native speaker. About those trigges: how fast do you get an attack after being exposed to such a trigger? Is it within minutes? I'm not sure wether alcohol is a trigger for me or not.

Thanks for the info! I'll start reading up on that. It's not really that I have high blood pressure, I just forgot the name of what the doctor prescribed (Isoptine/verapamil, now edited) and all I remember from the explanation was "lower blood pressure". Sorry for the confusion, I was having some severe shadows when the doc was telling me about the meds

Hi all! Let me start off by introducing myself: I'm 20 and have been diagnosed with HC 2 days ago (woop dee doo), though I'm currently in the 2nd half (I hope) of my 3rd cycle. They usually last about a month, once a year. I just got some verapamil and an oxygen tank, which seems to be working, as it managed to fend off all attacks since yesterday, though I have shadows all the time. Anyway, what I'd really like to know is how this is going to evolve. Could it go away on it's own or is it more likely that it'll keep comming back for the next 40 years? What are the odds of it getting worse, such as longer/more cycles, or, worst case scenario, chronic HC? Two off-topic questions, if I may: Why the non-rebreathing mask? I have the nosetubes, should I ask for the mask? I was prescribed Imitrex though I haven't bought it yet, but could its use increase the intensity of the attacks? That's what I seemed to understand from what Bob Wold said in the Horizons 2009 movie. Thanks, and good luck!