Bejeeber

Unfortunately I've seen plenty of previously episodic CH'ers report going chronic - an episodic's worst nightmare - but I've seen many such folk also report breaking that unwanted chronic CH condition with busting. The impending mushroom busting you spoke of earlier could really change things! I imagine you'll need more than one bust to put the 'ol nail in the chronic coffin.

Fingers crossed that the most unwelcome slapback action last night was just the storm before the calm.

I think you have no choice but to tough out the dose, since pred needs to be tapered off of. Please put together a nice beast fighting arsenal centered around high flow 100% O2 starting right now so you'll be prepared for any attacks that could come back with a vengeance when you're back down to the lower pred doses. Occasionally you'll hear of someone knocking a cycle out with a pred burst, but it seems rare. Still I hope it could be the case for you. O2 info: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1299901790 Drugs like prednisone and the issues with them are what have led so many of us to embrace non toxic, often more effective preventatives such as RC seeds and psilocybin.

Hey Fortran, understood that the imitrex tip procedure is not the right fit for you, but for the sake of others viewing this thread, while I don't claim to know all the medical ins and outs of injections, I can tell you this: when you pull a syringe from an auto-injector, you'll often (if not always) find it has an air bubble in it. The "imitrex tip" method actually allows you to remove the air from both the first and the second dose by pointing the syringe upright and pushing the air bubble that has risen to the top out while a lil' fluid may also sputter out. I imagine that these subcutaneous imigran auto-injections with air bubbles don't present the sort of probs that an air bubbly-ish different type that's supposed to be injected right into a vein could anyway.....

There are those who believe a brain scan to rule out other junk is imperative, but after my decades with CH my neuro doesn't see any reason to suspect a brain tumor or whatever else, and I agree, so I've never had a brain scan either and am not pushing for one. Regarding running out of imigran, have you seen the imitrex (imigran) tip for how to conserve supply and lessen side effect risk while you're at it?: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/imitrex.html

Ooh that's a good story - with your conversation with him being a good beginning scene, and what you saw today being a good ending scene (set to music) for a movie. 8-)

Ugh. When a CH'er reports getting hit really bad that is a serious situation indeed. :'( I'm afraid the conventional wisdom is that after imitrex you do have to wait before dosing with seeds. Whether you have to wait the whole 5 days or could possibly get away with more like 3 days seems to be a slightly controversial topic 'round here lately. Maybe some others will pipe in with opinions on how long to wait after imitrex. LOL ahhh gallows humor - where would the CH'er be without it? ;D (Amazon.com is offering free super saver shipping this week on new hypothalamuses if you insert coupon code FECK CH) ;D

I haven't seen any reports yet of melatonin interfering with busting and so far I've seen it categorized as one of the substances that shouldn't interfere.

I don't know if it would help your eyes, but a "bubbler" is commonly used with O2 to combat respiratory tract dryness. Melatonin at bedtime, starting at 9 mg, all the way up to 21 mg, is used by many to help avoid the night hits, which of course can aid greatly with sleeping! This form is said to be the one to get: n-Acetyl-5-Methoxytryptamine (available OTC at the drug store in the US)

That's common - after 30 years or so with CH, a lot of us think that, only to be rudely surprised. :-/ My impression is that yes it can, but there are so many variables regarding particular batches of LSD or mushrooms, not to mention the variability in the way different individuals react, that there's not enough hard data for a rule there that applies to everyone yet. I bet waiting these 6 days before the next mushroom bust will really help. There's another common situation to watch out for, which is that lower flow rebreather O2 can work at first, but as a cycle intensifies you very well may need higher flows and 100% O2. if you find the effectiveness of your current system diminishing and if you can afford it I would recommend getting a demand valve system - the most effective high flow O2 based CH killer out there. It could also be really good for quickest aborts with an E tank at work. It conserves O2 compared to just using a high flow regulator, since the O2 is only released upon inhale. And please keep in mind that the O2/energy drink combo can be particularly effective. They are quite full of baloney. The most common home tank size - an M tank - holds significantly more than that. Here it is according to one website: the duration flow in minutes for a full M cylinder being used at 15 LPM: duration of flow in minutes = (3000 - 200) x 1.56 = 291.2 minutes = 4 hours 50 minutes A whole lot of CH'ers tell the prescription writers to take those prescriptions and shove 'em, and they just get the same O2 without a prescription at the local welding supply place. 8-)

I hear ya about the smoke/fumes as a trigger. Just in case you haven't already considered it - loads of CH'ers just get the same O2 the medical supply places have on tap, but sans prescription, at the local welding supply place.

Me too, fingers crossed for ya! If it's not the end yet, I know if it was me I'd be seeing if I could get any mushrooms or paper for busting, while upping my RC dose to more like 50 "non-floaters" for this week's upcoming bust (if you haven't tried that yet). Also have ya tried combining high flow non rebreather O2 with a Monster for the double whammy CH abort?

Thanks for posting that link, Ron, I finally got off me lazy cyber arse and registered at that site in order to view it. A nice surprise in there is that it actually mentions high flow O2(!)

Hi Whooli, Sorry to hear of the lack of results with RC. Some of us find when we move on to mushrooms the busting results will then materialize. Personally I think your chances of knocking the beast down will be much better with the addition of mushrooms (or paper) to your diet than they will be with removing aspartame/MSG from your diet. That's a homeopathic med - I haven't heard of anyone obtaining relief for their CH with those yet, but at least they are harmless/side effect free. Please make sure you have your high flow 100% O2 rig all tested and ready to go before you begin the taper off of the prednisone! Here's hoping you get some breakthrough relief.

I figure drug sniffing dogs don't ID mushroom powder but what do I know??!! :-/ Hopefully someone else will have a real knowledge of any risks. If it was me I think I'd choose between bringing it or just staying home the first 5 days until the 2nd dose is taken, but I tend to prioritize beast killing over holidays'n such. :-? One other idea would be to see if Rivea Corymbosa seeds could be legally shipped to your Crete destination....

Good stuff there Ricardo. [smiley=thumbup.gif]

Here's the pilot study of six patients treated with 2-bromo-LSD, a nonhallucinogenic analog of LSD, showing a significant reduction in cluster headaches: http://www.abstractserver.com/ihc2011/planner/index.php?go=abstract&action=abstract_iplanner&absno=575&

Will deep sniffing of old books work as a CH abortive? Or if there are no cases of CH among those who are constantly in contact with old musty books, I guess that could be proof of their preventive properties.

This one works really well, is easy to use, and is cheap (from amazon.com): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KVB64I/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

Hi del, Sadly most every detail of your case looks very typical to me, but fortunately a lot of us here are finding busting to be a more effective preventative than any drug, and you very well may find this to be true too. Sounds like you may have been prescribed the pill form? A headache specialist would be very unlikely to make that prescription error, as the pills are slow and much less effective than the injectible or inhaler. I'll echo Mystina's recommendation of the O2. Legions of CH'ers have found that it can actually be especially effective for aborting attacks if an energy drink with lots of both caffeine and taurine such as Monster or Red Bull is also consumed with it right at onset.

PHEW that is good news indeed about the shunt now working the way it oughta! Sorry to hear about the UTI - those must blow, especially when they trigger a both sides CH attack! > FWIW I know some gals who swear by having this very effective sorta stuff containing mannose on hand to take and kill a UTI at the first signs. Kinda like the CH equivalent of using O2 instead of imitrex:

I think there may be another reason why interest in this "mostly safe cure all in use by hundreds of millions of people", has been slow to develop, which is that (sorry for the let down here folks ) cigarette smoking is extremely carcinogenic......

An important point there about an important combo. Many CH'ers swear that downing an energy drink that contains plenty of caffeine and taurine such as Monster or Red Bull when they get on the O2 will facilitate a quicker abort, and if attacks are frequent, it can make it the abort last significantly longer.

I think my case is somewhat typical - started around age 22, with month long episodes every year. The second time they hit around at age 23 I went to the library (this was around 1981, no internet!), found a headache book and saw that I clearly had CH (in later years I was officially diagnosed). that book mentioned O2 so I found some and back then I could even get some relief with low liter flows of 8-10 LPM. The number of hits per day, intensity of hits, and length of episodes increased over the years but in a nice trade off, so did the length of the remissions. I never had a formally diagnosed concussion. I did have a monkey bars incident as a kid though that involved a violent head slamming, the clang of which must've reverberated for blocks. It didn't knock me unconscious but I was "blinded" for many hours with loss of maybe half of my vision similar to how a migraine can half blind ya.

Well usually going without needles is accomplished by replacing them with high flow 100% O2 (not the outmoded, ineffective, but still widely prescribed low flow rebreather O2) for aborts, as outlined here: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1299901790 Also, if results are not obtained with seeds even in higher doses DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED - this happens to some of us sometimes, and in such cases switching to mushrooms often does the trick. 8-)