Zembrace

[Brandylynn1008]

Hello, I've had cluster headache for 12 years now, I'm 28 and finally thought I found a routine that worked for me I've been take 480mg of verapimil and then have the zembrace sumatriptan injections for when a headache does happen which is twice a day lately...I just called to refill my zembrace injections and I was told that my regular $25 for 12 injections has gone up to $600 which is completely heartbreaking....I can't live a normal life, take care of my kids and work without these. Does anyone know of a coupon,discount program or possibly similar drug that helps wI think the cost? Any help would be appreciated...I'm feeling pretty hopeless.

[spiny]

Welcome Brandy!

Yes, that stuff is high dollar. Hopefully someone can tell you if there is a coupon. You are fortunate that they give you 12 a month. Many only cover or allow 9. If it has not been a month, you will pay a lot. Most won't fill it if it is less than a month. Is that the case?

In the Clusterbuster Files is a thread on splitting injections I believe. It will allow you to get three shots instead of one from a 6mg injector. Two mg is sufficient for most Cher's. There is also a file on the D3 Regimen. Those vitamins have helped many go pain free and it lowers intensity for most who follow it. Just vitamins!! Imagine that.

Do you have Oxygen? It is the best abortive for a hit. Can kill one in 5 minutes flat. Your Neuro should set you up with a script for O2.

You can toss an Energy drink or shot down real quick at the start of a hit and sometimes kill it. There are some other methods that many use to cope.

Melatonin at night 9mg up to about 25mg helps many with nocturnal hits.

Wish that I could help you more.

[CHfather]

So, I'm doing some guessing here.  Zembrace seems to be 3mg of sumatriptan in an autoinjector.  The typically prescribed injection med for CH is Imitrex, which is also sumatriptan but comes in a 6mg injector.  Then people often take apart the injector and give themselves either 2mg or 3mg injections.  So I'm saying that one way to look at it is whether Imitrex would be cheaper for you if you got the injectors and then took them apart.  I looked at www.goodrx.com, which is a discount program for pharmaceuticals, and the prices there for Zembrace seem astronomical.  It's not like Imitrex is inexpensive . . .  You can also have vials of sumatriptan and syringes prescribed and create your own doses.  Again, I'm sorry that I just don't know what the cost of that would be.  I would say that you could discuss these options with a pharmacist who could probably help you figure out what might be best.  Finally, at zembrace.com there's some kind of discount card, but I couldn't make sense of what the deal is.

With all that said . . . You really want to be aborting attacks as much as possible with something other than triptans (there's research and experience saying that triptans extend cycles and create rebound attacks). In particular, you want oxygen.  You really, really want to have oxygen.  And most folks here would strongly recommend that you try the vitamin D3 regimen that is described in the ClusterBuster Files section of this board.  Finally, 480mg of verapamil can be a relatively low dose for people who are in cycle.  Up to 960mg is acceptable according to the medical experts.