Bejeeber

LORDY that is clever as all heck!! ;D ;D

Hey cannon, glad the shrooms helped - they appear to help a lot of different conditions. Just FYI, pain around the eyes (plural) is not a common CH symptom - typically it's just one eye that is involved. So yep it still might be worth doing the annoying doctor thing just to get the MRI and rule out other stuff. A genuine headache specialist, not a garden variety neurologist, is usually the only type of doc worth visiting.

LadyLuv! Hi! Here's the good news I just dug up on the parking: "Complimentary on-site parking" [smiley=thumbup.gif] MartyO - it'll be great to see you'n the wife. And I imagine the knowledge you've acquired about CH may have come in handy a time or 2 at work if you've encountered a CH'er and you were the only one in the room (or likely even the building) knowledgeable about the affliction!

Understood where you're coming from there iPain - FWIW, the wife seems to have had her success when the attack is still at her visual/aura stage, hasn't gotten to the pain/nausea point yet. Her triptan backup which she finds effective for anything an energy shot hasn't dispatched is Maxalt lozenges (no water required).

I can tell ya that my wife has been able to pretty consistently abort migraines at onset with an energy shot. If you haven't tried this yet, always having an energy shot on you and ready to gulp at a moment's notice could be something to consider.

There is indeed exactly that - it's called BOL-148 - but in this twisted world it is unavailable to us at this time. :'( Something you may want to still look at for busting though is Rivea Corymbosa seeds ("RC"). Many of us find we can take them right before bed and just sleep right through whatever mild effects there may have been. 8-) Some find RC doesn't work for them but mushrooms do, and on occasion others have found the opposite to be true, so there can be a bit of trial and error involved. Also, there's the vitamin D3 regimen, and, well anything CHfather mentions should be paid very close attention to.Â

Hi Echo, I voted "Oxygen stops the attack (entirely)", although it's not entirely as simple as that for me. After the intensity of a cycle would ramp up for me, I found that O2 would do exactly *nothing* for me when administered in the tired, old, outmoded (but sadly still prescribed) low flow rebreather manner. Then I got educated by our headbangin' bruthas and sistahs on high flow 100% O2 and could even abort stronger hits. This is an extremely typical, common experience. At the apex of a cycle when the intensity is through the roof and the CH seems to have some pent up ferocity from being stifed so much, even the high flow O2 can fail me, or for wake up hits, only last an hour, then the beast is back, so I've deployed imitrex shots in such cases as a back up (an injection could buy me 3 hours of sleep before the next hit). This was all before busting, which has rendered me not in need of any abortives for a good while now, and that is also a pretty common experience. Lotsa CH'ers swear by an energy drink/shot's ability to help the O2 work, and to keep the attack at bay longer BTW. Your doggie looks like he was about to snatch the camera.Â

Cool! ;D 8-) Given an opportunity to make an appointment at either Mayo Clinic, or with Dr. McGeeney, I would unhesitatingly opt for Dr. McGeeney. Of course a whole lot of us long time CH'ers here have found the research at Harvard medical etc. to be true: there are natural substances that are more much more effective as long term CH preventives than anything available by prescription. If you haven't heard much about it yet Echo, I think this Newsweek article on the subject provides a good intro: http://www.newsweek.com/treating-cluster-headaches-psychedelic-drugs-81473 (this article doesn't however cover a currently popular "busting" agent, the mild acting Rivea Corymbosa seeds, AKA "RC", which can be ordered online).

That is interesting and encouraging - your reports on the Gammacore are very appreciated davidj.

Whoa that is very good and intriguing, it's length correlates to my attention span , and I liked the zinger at the end about CH, thanks MG.

I personally haven't had a migraine for decades, but there are definitely chronic CH'ers here (such as MoxieGirl) who have reported busting to be very effective for migraine prevention - in fact it has been MORE effective with migraines for them than it has for CH, with it practically wiping out the migraines for some. [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif] I'm surprised and disappointed to hear it hasn't done more for your migraines so far , here's hoping the next bust will tip the scales in that dept. and get you PF for both CH and migraine.

Yep, that is definitely referred to as busting.[smiley=vrolijk_1.gif] Just based on my own experience, I'd say yes. :D

..and in the realm of supplements you might also wanna seriously consider the D3 regimen CHf mentioned. Heck, seriously considering EVERYTHING CHf mentions is always a good plan, he brings the goods. ;D

Hey Rob, glad to see you're getting the questions answered, but SAD to see you have both CH and fibro, which according to my calculations is just about.......THE MOST ROTTEN COMBO IMAGINABLE! > :'( At least you're not chronic though. That's an extreme biggie. A common, but by no means guaranteed scenario is for the episodic CHer's remissions and cycles to both become extended after the decades with CH have shot by, and for the attacks to become more severe. It does burn out with age for some. This is mostly based on what I've seen others report, and my own case, not hard statistics (although I did see some legit statistics at one point about the burnout).

That's what I would do. 8-)

Well you've let us down horribly DD, so don't even bother coming around here anymore. HA , but seriously, with so much luck and so little skill being involved in that tournament, I can see why you'd feel like ya might as well be playin' BINGO. ;D We gotta get you in a tourny where shrewd and finely honed skills can be put to use. 8-) I picture this taking place on a paddle wheel boat rolling down the Mississippi.

Yeah I hate the killin' too. Ever since I had to kill a mortally wounded really big field mouse to prevent it from crawling away and "escaping" to suffer a lingering death when sprung from a rat trap, I said no more mouse/rat traps, no more animal killing for me. And man that is obviously such teeny teeny little small potatoes in the killing dept., just as your toad was. Plus you really didn't have a choice - you had to protect your pets and native animals. In some cultures you apologize to the animal's soul - I've apologized to that mouse's many times - and I often give that a go with bugs too, although no apologies from me to mosquitoes! Meantime I suggest you re-focus on the critters you've just saved, celebrating the positive life forms you have preserved there, by running around the house 3 times shouting "I've got Kookaburas!!, I've got Kookaburas!!" at the top of your lungs ;D, kind of like "I'm cuckoo for cocoa puffs!, I'm cuckoo for cocoa puffs!" (apologies if you didn't have the Cocoa Puffs breakfast cereal commercial there that I'm referencing). I would love to have Kookaburas (and KANGAROOS!) here, and would certainly want to protect them. Sorry you're faced with that tuff choice/tuff cane toad situation there.

Where ARE those pesky Amish headbangers when ya need some?Â

Whoa - I don't know if I can believe my eyebones - the Shaggy McShagmeister is back and posting. Meanwhile I remain astounded and appalled at what a small, unbelievably misguided group (or is it just the one individual, sometimes referred to as the "Osama Bin Laden of CH"?) can do to censor Facebook discussions, wikipedia, etc. in a fundamentally evil crusade to keep CH'ers from even hearing any mention of the alternative (and easily most effective) treatments.

Jkan is entering the home stretch and going for the GOLD!Â

Weird and unexpected if actually true, but I imagine I can speak for many of us when I say I would be happy to accept such a consolation prize!

Ah haaaa, I'm guessing (and hoping) you may still be right, that it could be a particularly long cycle of the episodic variety, not a definite chronic thing yet you got going on there.

Yes that's right I've reported using and liking them for aborting low level hits/shadows, and the wife has aborted many a migraine with them, but I should probably just mention that I don't know if anyone in a full blown cycle has reported trying them for impending high level CH hits. The Monster and RockStar CHf mentions have been more battle tested in that heavy beast combat kind of way. OK enough of my cluttering the place up with that trivia - it's undoubdtedly a tuff thing to get your head around detoxing from the triptans, jkan, but glad to see how this most excellent community has come together to advise ya so well here. Maybe you can think of this process in a one step at a time low risk sort of way, where first you get that "power user" O2 rig together, then with your triptans by your side for back up, you can give the high LPM 100% O2 a try. Once you've proven to yourself that it can supplant the triptans you could start the detox. Hey Purple, yes, fortunately I have seen and heard specific reports form CH'ers who have been able to bust while on verap. One striking case I can think of right off is from one of the members here who like Tingeling was indeed CHRONIC. After getting siginficant CH reduction from busting, he was able to go off the verap and put the nail in the beast's coffin. Last I heard he's been CH free for a LONG time, Chronic no more. 8-) He does also credit the D3 regimen, which I think he started after going off the verap, with his success. I'm not specifically naming him because I don't know that going completely public about busting is his thing, plus you never know when I might get the details of someone's story unintentionally skewed.Â

Hey jkandola, Well that tends to be the main vitamin M busting hurdle right there, and you've already cleared it, so you're ahead of the game. 8-) When the strain subject comes up, what I've seen so far is a consensus that the strain doesn't tend to make a big difference, so feggedaboudit. Anywhere from 1 to 2g dry powder is pretty standard, as is spacing the doses 5 days apart. Also (brace yourself - this is the bad news) ya gotta make sure you haven't taken any blocking meds for 5 days or so before a bust. Blocking meds include zomig and imitrex dammit. Ugh, yeah so you may wanna look into high flow 100% O2 for aborting attacks while you're detoxing (it appears that verapamil may interfere with busting some, but not totally block it - some headbangers have busted while on verap with pretty good results, enough to then go completely off the verap and finish the busting job). If you haven't experienced the vit M before, it's of course important to read the warnings on who shouldn't mess with it.... https://clusterbusters.org/?page_id=236 ....and to realize that you could be tripping pretty good there for 6 hours. Here's some O2 info: https://clusterbusters.org/?page_id=77 I bet you're about to revolutionize your cluster migraine experience.....fingers crossed that we'll hear back from you about a successful bust, and a life regained. 8-)

Cool - yeah that's not surprising I guess that they're proceeding cautiously with the frequency of use, until more data comes in on whether there is a risk there or not. Fingers crossed big time for you - and heck everyone here - that it will turn there's no significant danger there, and multiple hit types will be freed up to use it more often if necessary. Imagine the relief for CHf and his daughter if this type of technology turned out to be a good fit for her. OK maybe I should stop naming people around here who I think could benefit because the list would get really long really quickly!