bobvalli Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi First post from a new user here. I've had episodic CH since I was about 15 and am pushing 59 now. As I've gotten older, my cycles have gotten shorter, and the PF period between them longer. This last time I was PF for 4 years. but.....they're back starting last week. I take Verapamil 180mg ER twice a day and receive opioid pain relievers during the active periods. Now considering the huge amount of information that's become available on the Internet, I happened upon this site. Thanks to all of you who share your experiences and knowledge. I pray for all of you. I've been reading about busting, D3, steroids, O2 therapy, the Imitrex type meds, and supplements. After a lot of reading, I decided to try Melatonin. Problem is that within an hour of taking it, I got a headache. This headache came on only a couple hours after getting rid of a previous headache. For me, normally once a headache breaks, I'm good for 6 - 8 hours before the next attack, but when I took the Melatonin, within an hour I had another headache. I tried it 2x nights and both nights same thing. Anyone else experience this? I think Magnesium is going to be my next test. Thanks for reading a somewhat dyslexic post. I'm writing this first thing in the morning, and I still have some cobwebs from an attack that woke me up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amon10 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi bobvalli As far as melatonin goes, you might be allergic to a certain brand perhaps? I never heard of someone getting hit after it. It also never worked for me personally, just made me more tired after getting up. It does help many though. I would stay away from the opioids, wouldn't do anything for CH and can make things worse. Verapamil usually works best in the non extended release form. I would definitely look into the D3 regimen. My last cycle(also episodic) I was able to abort 90% of my attacks with proper oxygen therapy, which I believe had a lot to do with the D3. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHfather Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 A couple of years ago I posted about a person who thought that melatonin had made her nighttime attacks worse. I think one other person said they had had a similar experience. On the other hand, the young woman I originally posted about now takes melatonin pretty regularly when in cycle. She's not sure it helps, and she doesn't like being groggy in the morning, but she no longer thinks that it makes things worse. Pain in the butt to figure out, this CH. I gather that you are looking for the simplest and most benign way to treat your CH. I'd strongly urge you to go straight to oxygen, which will abort most attacks very quickly when properly set up and used, and has no side effects. You might well want to also see if increasing your verapamil dosage (and switching to non-ER, as amon10 says) is feasible. That usually has to be done slowly, so it might not be practicable, but dosage as high as 960mg/day can be needed during a cycle. Oxygen, D3, and verapamil are in my opinion the combination you want to try. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobvalli Posted January 29, 2017 Author Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi amon, CHfather Thanks for the replies While my PCP is a GP, he still did wonders as far as making a proper diagnosis. I'll have to mention about the non ER formulation of the Verapamil. I was also thinking about asking for Sumatriptan oral. I'll mention the O2, but I'm not sure what my new HSA will cover. The wife has been busy the last couple days getting the stuff together for the D3 regime. I started taking the D3, Omega 3 and Magnesium today. I started getting a hit around 1:45 and it felt like it was going to be a bad one. Got into my "safe space" and before I knew it....bam...2:05.....gone, so I think one of those things might have already had an effect. I'm going to do the 2 week hyper dosing plan for the D3 to get my serum levels up as quickly as possible. Another thing I'm going to try to keep an eye on is trigger foods. We went through the trigger list today and checked foods we bought recently looking for nitrates, nitrides, and preservatives . Apparently without knowing beforehand we did pretty good. All these things combined will hopefully bring a quick conclusion (or at least a good reduction ) to this cycle. Thanks again Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Denny Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 G'evenin Bob! Very important to not leave the K2 out of the D3 regimen! DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHfather Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Sumatriptan oral is very unlikely to help you. Nasal spray, a little better. Injections, most effective. BE SURE to check back with us if you go the injectable route. There are a lot of misgiving about triptans -- anecdotal and research evidence that they might cause rebound attacks and extend cycles. Have you tried quickly drinking down an energy shot, such as 5 Hour Energy, at the first sign of an attack? Often lessens the severity of the attack, and sometimes even aborts them. Some people say the colder they are, the better. Don't forget to check for monosodium glutamate in your foods as a trigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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