Why is the D3 Regimen not common knowledge after all this time?

[Bilal]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with cluster headaches almost 9 years ago and you can go back and read my posts from that time to see my journey. I was introduced to the D3 Protocol/Regimen by CH Father (God Bless You!) at the time. This protocol has genuinely saved my life. I've been CH free ever since I started it. But I recently met someone who's wife had CH and he told me that they had tried everything, I told them about the D3 Regimen and they had never heard of it. I tried looking up treatment for CH online and change my phrasing to get different results but I didn't see the D3 Regimen anywhere. 

It breaks my heart to know that this life changing treatment where all you have to do is take a bunch of inexpensive supplements to be completely CH free is not common knowledge. I was lucky enough to be guided in the right direction almost a decade ago, but I expected this treatment to be widespread by now, why is that not the case?

[BoscoPiko]

Not sure why but it's definitely sad that it's not a common "go to" treatment. My first thought is that CH is pretty uncommon in itself so that could play a role. Then you have the very much so common migraine that the D3 protocol works for as well which makes my second though lean toward the fact that you generally cant patent naturally occurring vitamins or minerals so there is no reason (monetary) benefit for pharmaceutical companies to bother with it. Tens of billions of dollars are spent annually on migraine medications and unfortunately there are financial incentives for Doctors to influence medication prescribing. 

[Bejeeber]

2 hours ago, Bilal said:

all you have to do is take a bunch of inexpensive supplements to be completely CH free

"Completely CH free" isn't what everyone on the D3 regimen achieves, but glad you've arrived there!

[BoscoPiko]

1 hour ago, Bejeeber said:

"Completely CH free" isn't what everyone on the D3 regimen achieves, but glad you've arrived there!

So true Jeeb. Unfortunately full and continuous cessation has yet to be achieved through the D3 regimen. Less frequent attacks, regular cycles and intensity of attacks has been greatfully experience from many on the regimen making it a very useful tool  for any CH sufferes toolbox. 

[Craigo]

Your post hits me in the feels. It really does. I would say it is changing lives. I have had one of those days, your post is timely and let me be as real as I can with you on what is a topic that lies close to my heart.

At least once, more often several times a week, I receive an email from someone who found www.vitamindregimen.com, come across Clusterbusters, a social site or watched one of the interviews with Pete Batcheller on YouTube. They rolled the dice on the regimen and got pain free. They write to say it changed their life. Even one of those emails is enough to justify every hour of advocacy. It’s worth it. 

I have spent over a decade now reading obsessively on this topic, not just to understand why and how the regimen may work, but to also understand why a percentage of people do not get fully pain free when applying it. Along the way I have interviewed some of the most amazing people in the vitamin D3 research space and with every interview, every study read, every question asked, I feel like I have moved a little closer to an answer and built upon my knowledge of the subject. I am so grateful Pete opened that door for me. That man is a global treasure.

It’s also perplexing because this week alone I have seen cluster headache social media channels suggest ginger, purple cabbage, and today, chewing on a lime. I should have become a fruiterer! I understand the premise behind criticism of the regimen or pushing it to the side as a bunch of simple pills. From the outside, a handful of vitamins can look just as batshit crazy as cabbage when stacked against the sheer terror of CH. I get it.

That is the real challenge. How do you communicate the regimen in a way that reaches more people, without overclaiming, without slipping into evangelism and without being lumped into the bucket of folk remedies? How do you communicate something that sits uncomfortably between patient-led discovery and clinical blind spots?

I may have an opportunity to do more having just resigned my job today with no intention of continuing on the same path / career. 43, soon to be jobless - very tempting to study and see what further value I may add to this important body of work. Never too old right?

Absolutely agree with you, happy for you to have found success with it and pleased to see you here on the CB forums!