CHfather

What the doctor wrote the script for is really irrelevant to your O2 use. The lpm settings you use from the regulator that you put on the tank are the only factors that affect how much O2 you are using. An M tank holds about 1700 liters of O2. That means that if you use a setting of 20 liters per minute, you will have about 85 minutes of O2 in the tank (1700 liters in the tank being used at 20 liters per minute; 1700 divided by 20 = 85). The higher your lpm settings, the faster you will go through the oxygen that's in the tank, but that is not affected by anything related to the script that the doctor wrote.

kat', This file has answers to your questions: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/5627-notes-about-welding-o2/ In brief: Typically, welding tanks are bought, not rented. They have no reason to ask you any questions; there are no legal restrictions for getting welding O2. If they do ask, they are just chatting. In the file, there are some suggested possible answers if you are asked. Plenty of women weld, or use welding O2 for other things, such as art projects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeaMj2m_Wj4 My wife and daughter both get my daughter's welding O2 regularly. The flow rate is determined by your regulator, not by the type of tank you have. Since you have an M tank, your regulator is the right kind for a welding tank (in my previous post, I was assuming you had a smaller tank). Just as an unrelated note, the prescription for medical O2 can be written for 15lpm. That's how most are written.

kat', sooooo happy to read this. You want an M tank or an H tank (plus you want to keep your smaller tank for portability). Those are the big ones. The big tanks are heavy, so you might also want a stand, or particularly a rolling stand if you have to move them. Now that you know more about O2 working for you, you can consider using welding O2, too, if your supplier is not cooperative. Since they make more money when they provide you a larger tank (or tanks), and have less hassle from having to constantly replace the smaller tanks, you'd think they'd be interested. If you get a bigger tank, or any kind of welding tank, you'll need a different type of regulator. An O2 supplier will know this, but you'll need to know it if you go the welding route or if you decide to buy a higher-lpm regulator than the one the O2 supplier would give you. Keep us informed.

The pills barely work in any event. If you ask your doctor about oxygen, s/he is likely not to give it to you. Lord knows why, but that's how it usually works. You need to insist on oxygen, and/or find a doctor that is competent enough to prescribe it. For a bunch of stuff that might be helpful, take a look at this file: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/6213-basic-non-busting-information/

For basics, click on the blue "New Users..." banner at the top of any page. Rivea corymbosa seeds (in most places) are "over the counter" in the sense that they are legal to purchase and possess, yet are very effective busting agents. To discuss any of this further, you'd want to start a thread at one of the more private boards ("Share Your Busting Stories" would work, or "Theory and Implementation").

Might not be any detriment. But . . . According to your NHS, "Diphenhydramine is also called by the brand names Histergan, Nytol Original, Nytol One-A-Night and Sleepeaze." https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/diphenhydramine/# Looks like maybe Tesco also sells it (??): https://www.drugs.com/uk/tesco-sleep-aid-25mg-tablets-leaflet.html

You might look through this file to see if there are any other strategies that might help. https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/6213-basic-non-busting-information/

Batch says that the average nmol/L for people who have been highly successful with D3 is 203.5, but the minimum that some successful people have had is around 85 nmol/L. That's a big range, but you seem to be in the ballpark. https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/1308-d3-regimen/ You should send Batch a message about the swollen knuckle. He is very generous about responding. His handle here is now xxx. So, click on the envelope icon on the top right side of the page, then put xxx in the "To" line. When you say you don't take any other medication for your CH, does that include not having oxygen? Many people who have a hard time sourcing MM use rivea corymbosa (RC) seeds. I think I might have read that they are now unlawful in the UK, but I feel like people were still finding ways of getting them.

I think everything is well covered here. As I understand it, Batch's recommendation from 2017 is different from what he recommended in the 2011 post linked to by Siegfried. The 2017 one (which seems like it would seriously save O2) is here: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/4919-batchs-hyperventilation-red-neck-bag/ Here's what I understand him to be saying. (1) For 30 seconds, hyperventilate using room air. That's ten three-second deep inhale/full exhale events, deeply inhaling and forcibly exhaling during three seconds each time. He says, "On the tenth exhalation, hold the squeeze/crunch until your breath makes a wheezing sound for at least 3 seconds... or until you stop wheezing." (2) Then inhale a big lungful of O2 and hold it for 30 seconds, exhaling with a crunch. (3) Then do another 30 seconds of hyperventilating with room air, followed by another inhale of O2 that is held for 30 seconds and exhaled with a crunch. Although he's describing this in relationship to the "red neck bag," I assume there's no reason to think he wouldn't recommend it with an O2 tank and mask. You'd want your lpm setting to correlate with the one minute between inhales of O2, which I would think would mean that you could use a lower lpm setting. You should read fully what he says here and at the other post. I just found it a little difficult to figure out the basics, which is why I summarized them here. He says in the 2011 post that you should stand up while doing this, leaning against a wall. Doesn't say that here, so I don't know whether he still thinks it important or no longer does.

kat_', you might be making a wise and perfectly good decision about this. But do keep in mind that here and at other CH sites, people are there because things haven't worked for them. A few people have showed up here to say that Emgality, Aimovig, or some other medication of that type has helped them, but for the most part, people who find relief from something are not likely to be here, so the comments are skewed toward the negative, which might not represent the whole picture.

Nurtec is an abortive, Emgality and others are preventives. Nurtec's materials specifically say "Not for prevention."

I guess it's late, but any chance of getting a prednisone taper for your trip? For most people it will stop attacks at least part of the time while you're on it. Seems like that would be safer than driving while aborting. It will also give the D3 more time to ramp up. It can take a while, weeks or even months, for D3 to get up to therapeutic levels. You seem like a wise and knowledgeable person, so the rest here is just in case . . . (and I might not have read carefully enough, so forgive me where I'm wrong) Batch has talked about not driving while taking those Benadryl doses. Maybe you're not significantly affected by them. If you decide not to take them while actually on the road, considering going with 50mg at night. You don't mention energy drinks/energy shots/coffee as you start on the O2. Maybe you are using them, or maybe you've had some kind of issue with them. I think you are surely aware that higher flow rates can be helpful for aborting. Even with your good O2 results in the past, you never know with CH. As you know, the issue is to be able to take full deep breaths and have the bag be full when you're ready for the next one. You can send a PM to Batch, and he'll almost certainly reply promptly. His username here isn't Batch anymore, it's xxx. Go to the envelope icon at the top of the page and type xxx into the "To" line. Don't tell him I sent you (inside joke).

Phantom, just a note that if there's a topic you're wondering about, you can search for it using the search bar at the top right of each page. I'm not saying that you shouldn't ask questions, but sometimes you can get a lot from a search, too.

Flunarizine can't be prescribed in the US (or Japan) because it seems to create "movement disorders" related to Parkinson's disease. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37901-z There was a time when it was also banned or limited in the UK -- not sure whether that's still true. It does seem to be effective as a migraine treatment, but maybe not more effective than other calcium channel blockers with less risky side effects.

For treating your CH or as a defense (in his view) against coronavirus? He was big on the latter, so just checking.

Acupuncture is almost always ineffective. I think a few people have benefited from it. WHY do neurologists keep finding reasons not to prescribe O2. It might be difficult to get it approved by insurance, but with most private insurance companies that battle can be won, and sometimes there isn't even a battle. Medicare and Medicaid won't cover oxygen. Also, having a prescription allows you to pay the O2 provider out of pocket if that's a necessary way to go. If you read the post I linked you to, you'll see the answer to this question (which is yes, by using welding oxygen). Be sure you do the whole regimen, which is more than just high doses of D3. Yes (see the post I linked you to). Cold air can help. If it's cold outside, that's one way. Others inhale from an air conditioner or open freezer. If that helped you, O2 will be great for you.

Here's some basic info about treating cluster headaches (it does sound like that's likely to be what you have). Among other things, there's a link in here to the D3 regimen, which the previous posters recommended (for good reason). You should start the D3 right away. https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/6213-basic-non-busting-information/ Check out the "Triggers" link, too. I have a slightly different view regarding the Topamax. Yes, it is not a first-line CH treatment. So, if you can get a revised set of prescriptions quickly (something like oxygen, a nasal or injected triptan, verapamil, and maybe a course of steroids), those (or something like them) are your best bet. You will also see in the post I linked you to some strategies for dealing with CH without prescription meds (energy shots or caffeine; "busting"; Benadryl; standing in very hot water; and some others). But there are some people who take Topamax without severe side effects, and it helps them. So if you are going to be without the better prescriptions for a while and the non-prescription methods aren't helping enough (D3, for example, can take several weeks to get to effective levels), I would consider taking the Topamax and seeing how it affects you. If you don't want to continue it, you can stop. Incidentally, if you want to look into posts on a topic, you can use the search bar at the top right of the page. You'll find lots of information that way.

If 25lpm with a non-rebreather (NRB) mask is sufficient flow for you (sufficient that the bag is always full when you are ready to inhale using a fully effective breathing technique), there's no reason I can think of that your aborts would be faster using a demand valve. There are small "studies" claiming greater effectiveness for demand valves vs. NRBs, but in those studies the people using the NRBs had flow rates of 15lpm, which might just have been too low for them. (Average abort times for people using the demand valves in one study was 12 minutes. I don't think that means much, since everyone has different results from O2, but 12 minutes isn't super-fast.) I also have never seen how a demand valve would save any significant O2. With a non-rebreather mask, the O2 goes into the bag and you inhale it. All the demand valve does is to skip the bag part, so it seems to me that at the end of the abort you have inhaled very close to the same amount of O2, except possibly for some small leakage in an NRB system (or, conversely, getting a deeper inhale somehow from the DV might mean you'd use more O2 with the DV if abort times were the same). If you got faster aborts with the DV, it clearly would save some O2, but I am not confident that that would happen. That said, my daughter loves her demand valve system, in part because the mask is very cushy (not true with all DV systems) and I think maybe because she feels more in control in some way. She's had it for many years. Her aborts have not been faster with it, as far as I can tell. I'm not sure you can buy a DV valve from a supplier without a prescription. I don't think you can. The Ebay ones, when they appear, don't require a prescription.

It's not like we didn't expect this would happen, but it's infuriating and disgusting and disgraceful, and the words I have for your PCP and the practice are a lot stronger than that. You said in a previous post that the neuro was going to tell the PCP that he (the neuro) recommended high-flow oxygen for you. That had no effect, either??? jon' -- I'm thinking these are standard migraine prescriptions, no??? Just sayin' they probably didn't actually have to put in any real effort, since they've probably prescribed this stuff many times for people with "headaches." The heartless bastards. Cap', Please consider welding O2. This post is a little chaotic, but it will get you started with understanding the basics. https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/5627-notes-about-welding-o2/

People often start at about 9mg of melatonin, and then work up as needed/tolerated. Some people here take amounts in the high 20mgs or even higher. Melatonin plus Benadryl is a strong dose of sleep-inducing medications, though, so take care if you are doing both. Yes, GET THAT O2, ASAP!!!!!!! You're putting yourself through a lot right now that you won't need once you have the O2.

Jimmy, wishing you the best, as always. What specifically have you been doing for your CH?

Colette (and maybe Monica), you really should read this file. You're missing a whole lot of treatment options. https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/6213-basic-non-busting-information/

I was kind of surprised that this wasn't actually a BOL trial. (For those that don't know, BOL-148 is a whole lot of LSD, many times the recreational dose, that is rendered non-hallucinogenic by the addition of another molecule (brromine).) I know there were issues with another company's attempts to bring BOL to market for CH, and I know some of those issues were related to licensing rights and fees. Or something. Anyway, it could be that there's a "business" side to this choice.

Your triptan decisions are completely sensible. I just wanted to be sure you saw the other side. Great that you have such a good O2 setup! Only advice, which you might already be using, is to be sure you get as much air out of your lungs as you can before your first inhale and after subsequent exhales. Hyperventilation as Batch recommends, or at least a good forceful "crunch." I don't think the D3 regimen should be an "if." Even if it doesn't help you right now, most people find that it's generally good for them, and it will help you with the next cycle. Two years is far away, though (if your pattern continues), so I can see why you might want to start it later. Just don't completely let it slide, would be my advice.

Acknowledging spiny's strong knowledge, I'm not sure I agree. There is probably no question that triptan overuse will have many bad effects, probably including rebounds and maybe including extending cycles. On the other hand, so much of this is guesswork. Look at your current cycle--came sooner, has been more severe (so far). If you were using triptans (now or before), you might be inclined to attribute it to that. My daughter has virtually never used triptans, but her cycles seem to keep getting longer and she has plenty of what seem like rebound attacks. (Many people get wicked rebound attacks from busting, which we call "slapbacks." That's a different situation for many reasons, but not completely un-comparable.) So I would say that if you're heading for a long one that your O2 + caffeine isn't stopping, you might weigh the amount of misery reduced by the spray (assuming that it works for you) against whatever the probability might be that moderate use of triptans might have undesirable effects. Is your O2 setup optimized? Forceful breathing technique; flow rate such that you can use good breathing technique without waiting for the bag to fill; top quality mask (ClusterO2 mask)? Yes, get started now on the D3, and consider busting, and be sure you are doing all you can to manage this. If you haven't seen this post, I'd recommend reading through it: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/forum/6-clusterbuster-files/ Be aware that there is MSG in a lot of prepared foods, not just your Chinese takeout. I've had it in a hamburger, a fancy lobster dish, a Philly cheese steak, and pizza, among other things. (I know because MSG almost instantly gives me pancreatitis, which is the second most painful thing to CH in some big studies (still far behind CH in painfulness).) Check labels. You can't do much about it when you're eating from a restaurant, but maybe you might check back on days when your attacks are more severe to think about what you ate.