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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Stop the cycle?
        
(Message started by: rbmb on Apr 1^st, 2008, 8:01pm)

Title: Stop the cycle?
Post by rbmb on Apr 1^st, 2008, 8:01pm

Has anyone here actually been successful in stopping a cycle once it starts? I've been HA free for nearly a year, the longest pain free period I've had since I started getting these things. About a week ago I had some wine and starting feeling that old familiar pain and quit the wine. I've been getting one or more mild HAs in the middle of the night......nothing killer, just enough to wake me up. I started taking lithium pills left from my last cycle and made an appointment with my neuro. My past experience is that the HAs become more intense and I'm into a 3 or more month cycle no matter what I do in the way of medications. Has anyone been able to stop the cycle before it gets to that point?
Rich

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by coach_bill on Apr 1^st, 2008, 8:10pm

hello, i would like to say there are many people who have been able to completely bypass thier cycles before they started and also to break a cycle as soon as it starts. please read www.clusterbusters.com there you will find much info. coach bill

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by kevmd on Apr 1^st, 2008, 8:48pm

I believe lithium has stopped several cycles for me. I take verapamil everydday no matter what. And when I start getting shadows the same time every year, then I add lithium and I am completely pain free. That led to a 4 year pain free period, the longest since I started getting these. The same thing happened this year and I thought I was in the clear. Like a jack ass, I stopped the lithium cold turkey and spent the next 3 months in pain. Even after restarting the lithium, I could not get rid of it. My advice( but I am no doctor) is to continue the lithium for the 3 months that you would normally be in cycle. Hope you dodged a bullett this year

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by CostaRicaKris on Apr 1^st, 2008, 9:26pm

Darn! I saw the subject line and got excited (I'm three weeks into one)

I was into remission for four years until last fall. If I figure out how I was able to do that, I will be sure to let the rest of you know ;-)

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by Guiseppi on Apr 1^st, 2008, 10:30pm

Never able to stop a cycle once it starts, but a strong vote for lithium as a prevent. At 1200 mg it'll block a large percentage of my hits, provided I hide from the triggers, alcohol etc. Hoping it's a light cycle and you're pain free quick!

Guiseppi

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by BMoneeTheMoneeMan on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 1:18am

I have not been able to completely stop a cycle, but with medication i have noticed a large decrease in frequency and in intensity.
There are many people here who have sucessfully stopped a cycle. Your best possibility is catching it very early and taking whatever medication you have chosen.

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by thebbz on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 1:29pm

Shrooms and seeds are the ticket for me. Stops the episode.Stops it and aborts the whole episode. [smiley=huh.gif] Not for everyone though.
all the best
thebb

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by JohnM on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 3:58pm

I have stopped several cycles, and managed to prevent my last 2 cycles from lasting longer than 2 weeks. I have posted on what works for me on lots of occasions in the past but met with resistance from lots of board members trying to protect the other members.

I sort of promised I would not bother posting on the subject again but after reading this post and due to me very recent experience I decided to go again on the subject.

Here is a brief history:
I am 56. Had CH/Migraine and whatever it was thought to be for what seems forever since my youth. I started the "classic" symptoms of seasonal 6 to 8 weeks of multiple daily HA's on the right side with red watering eye, extreme pain behind the eye, waking up in the night for no apparent reason then within minutes getting a bad hit, etc. Sensitive to Alcohol as a trigger. Finally diagnosed with CH in the early 90's and discovered Imigran inj in mid 90's.

In 2001 my cycle was very long and by the 3rd month I was at the end of my rope. I was offered a "Detox" drink to be taken daily throughout the day which I followed with a strict fruit and veg diet and it broke my cycle in about 7 days. A few days into this regime my HA changed to a constant 24/7 kip 6 all over my head. This I will call the toxic HA.

For a long time I repeated this regime at 6 month intervals and had an almost 3 year remission - the longest ever. I slipped back into old habits and on Dec 24th 2003 my cycle started again - what a time to start! I used trex inj using the trex tip until new year and did the detox regime again. A week later after enduring the toxic HA again the CH cycle broke. I again did the 6 monthly detox regime, but slid after a couple of years being HA free.

Now to my current situation. I started getting some mild HAs a few times a week in Feb this year and knew I should do another detox but my kids were visiting me from London for my daughters 30th birthday celebration. A few days into the visit and wham bang - 2am Sunday I woke up and got a kip 10 hit shortly after. Luckily I still had 5x 2003 expired imigran injs left. Took 1/2 a vial inj and 10 mins later I was PF. 11am the CH came back and I took the other 1/2.

This continued every 6 hours or so. I got 12 inj refills from my Dr on the Monday afternoon as my old stash was fast running out. I tried on the Monday to buy some more of my Detox drink but nowhere had it in stock. My daughter pleaded with me to visit a chinese medicine "professor" and I agreed. He listened to my story and examined my tongue (his only diagnosis tool it seems). He said that these HAs are what they call "I don't know HA's" :-) and did not hold out much hope for a cure. He did acupuncture (a first for me) it was an ok experience but did nothing for my HA in my opinion.

What he did give me was 3 x 8oz packets of "Tea" consisting of a bunch of odd looking roots and bark from what I could see. I was to put the contents of 1 bag into a pint of water for 40 mins, then boil for 40 mins, this reduced down a lot. Pour off the liquid into a jug and add another pint to the tea mixture and boil for another 40 mins. This left almost a pint of dark brown thick sludge (tea?). I was to drink 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 at night for 2 days. Then the 2nd bag of tea I was to drink 1/2 am 1/2 pm and the same with bag 3.

It tasted much worse than it looked!

I ate the same food as normal - no fruit and veg diet for me this time.

Day 2 into this and I had a raging toxic HA. I was still using the trex tip to get rid of the pain, but it seemed to only give relief for a few hours.

Day 3 HA just the same but now I was on the toilet 10 times a day. No runs, just masses of really black solid poo

Day 4 and 5 were the same. I was glad to finally drink the last of this nasty tea

Day 6 and 7 the visits to the loo had slowed done and my HA was now a pretty constant kip 1 or 2. Irritating but not debilitating

Day 8 and 9 almost normal, just a vague shadow on and off most of the day but bearable.

Day 10 - I risked a beer and 2 glasses of red wine - no CH appeared - yipee!!!

The shadows finally disappeared completely a few days later and now here I am HA free again with my cycle having lasted less that 10 days. I still have 4 injs left for next time.

The detox worked again for me.

John :D

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by thebbz on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 4:07pm

:) I remember that John. ;)So whats in the stuff is my question. What is it? If it works for you that is a good thing. There are many treatments out there now avialable, compared to twenty years ago. [smiley=huh.gif]
all the best
thebb

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by JohnM on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 4:34pm

I have absolutely no idea what was in the chinese medicine. It just looked like bits of unrecognizable roots and bark. The 3 bags did all seem to contain a very similar mix to each other. You could clearly see he same colors and shapes in each bag.

As for the Detox Drink that I have used since 2001 it is called BePure and it seems s only available in South Africa. It was quite popular a few years ago for all sorts of things including weight loss, but it became less popular due to it's "signature" toxic headache which most users seem to get while taking it. According to the bottle it contains:

Prune
Apple
Grape
Orange
Carrot
Lemon
Wheatgerm Oil
Juniper extract
Fenugreek
Cumin
Closes
Star Anis
Caraway

I have no idea why, but this seems to work for me to break or prevent my CH cycle.

The Chinese Medicine Tea seems to work just as well if not better.

I recall someone else posting a similar chinese tea post a few years back

Might not work for others, but thankfully it does for me.

Also thank God for the Trex to get me over the first few days

John

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by rbmb on Apr 2^nd, 2008, 6:31pm

Thanks for the responses folks. It sounds like it is possible to stop a cycle if you get lucky and find the right treatment (like some foul tasting Chinese tea that makes you spend all day on the toilet....hey, I'm not knocking it if it works). My neuro wants me to refill my lithium prescription, take 900 mg, get a blood level test and adjust the dosage upwards if needed. I've had pretty good luck with lithium in the past, so I guess I'll go that route and hope for the best.
Rich

Title: Re: Stop the cycle?
Post by JohnM on Apr 3^rd, 2008, 2:17am

why not risk trying the chinese tea method? If it works for you too then you avoid having to take even nastier drugs like lithium which can really screw you up.

Before I discovered what worked for me I went down the same route.
Lithium, Prednisone and so many more over the years that I can't even remember the names of all the drugs I was prescribed. The only thing that could ever stop a CH was Imigran Inj.

The only thing ever to break a cycle was my detox method. Surely I can't be the only one this will work for?