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Topic: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me (Read 2059 times) |
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gregmarx
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Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« on: Nov 15th, 2003, 2:49pm » |
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Hi,
I'm new to the forum, but not to clusters. I've had them for 15 years. They are 8's, 9's, and 10's on the fun meter. I'm not one to go to a doctor about anything, but 4 years ago I gave in. My headaches come 30 minutes into sleep. You can almost set your watch by it. Whether its a nap in the afternoon, or to bed at night, 30 minutes after falling asleep I wake with the feeling, get up, look at the clock, and get ready for the next 30 minutes, as thats how long they last. I take 4 Excedrin, and write down the time. Then start my walking. I walk to pass the time and I tell myself it makes the Excedrin work faster. I don't know if the Excedrin does anything at all, but even after 15 years of clusters, I don't have the nerve NOT to take it. I write down the time because if I have several consecutive headaches, I'll forget whether or not I've taken the Excedrin for this particular episode.
Now, except for the one or two headaches I'll have in the time it takes to get my prescription, I've become cluster free. For me, Prednisone and Verapamil work. The day I start taking them, is the day the headaches stop.
My Prescription:
Prednisone: 30 10 mg tablets - No refills
Verapamil: 30 240 mg tablets - 11 refills
It takes me 12 days to run out of the Prednisone, and at this point, I stop the Verapamil as well. I'm not convinced the Verapamil really helps at all, but I don't care. The combination works, and thats all I need to know.
My clusters will probably return in a year. But I'll only have a couple, and I'll get my prescription refilled. Its now worked for me 4 years in a row. The doctor that first prescribed the prednisone is no longer at the clinic. My current doctor doesn't like giving me the prednisone, but he'll do it. He says it shouldn't work. But for me, it works beautifully.
Good luck to all of you,
Greg
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Bob_Johnson
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #1 on: Nov 15th, 2003, 3:49pm » |
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Greg, NO! Either you or your doc misunderstand these meds.
The Pred aborts the attacks very quickly--and that's it's purpose. But you must continue with the Verap for a number of weeks. First, it takes several weeks before it becomes fully effective and you can judge whether it works for you to prevent attacks. Second, the dose you are on is rather low; it's not uncommon for folks to have to work up to the 800mg range to find effective preventive effects. The whole concept behind this combination is: quickly abort with the pred while buying time for the verap. to take effect.
Would much encourage you to explore treatments outlined at:: www.headachedrugs.com. Run by a doc in the Chicago area who operates a headache clinic. He has two books, listed on this site, which are quite the best I have found. Strongly recommend either one of them to you.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 15th, 2003, 3:50pm by Bob_Johnson » |
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Bob Johnson
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Prense
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #2 on: Nov 15th, 2003, 5:36pm » |
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I'd have to agree with Bob...but hey, if it's been working for you for four years, why change things right?
Chris
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Unsolved
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #3 on: Nov 15th, 2003, 6:13pm » |
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8's, 9's, and 10's on the fun meter 
4 Excedrin
That works for 'clusters'
Are You Sure You Have Clusters ?
Also, Bob's right. Verapamil takes awhile to do anything, you're on a low dose, and the Prenisone is a LOW dose too. I can take 80 mg of Prednisone and stop my headaches. (But how long can one do that before all the side effects from it kill you !?)
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gregmarx
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #4 on: Nov 15th, 2003, 6:56pm » |
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Hi everyone,
I appreciate your suggestions. Yes, I'm pretty sure they're cluster headaches. Left eye, only .... tears up, becomes bloodshot .... In fact it feels and looks like I've had stroke on the left side of my face. I describe the pain as acid leaking into my eye ..... or a hot poker in the eye, or maybe the ice cream on a hot day "brain freeze" that lasts for 30 minutes. My eyes can become very sensitive to light. Even the VCR clock can become annoying. (or maybe I'm just in a bad mood at the time  .....) I can have 1 to 5 attacks a night. As long as I'm wake and active, I'm ok. I've never had one at work. They always come during sleep.
As far as the Excedrin goes, as I said in my post, I'm not sure if it does a thing, but I'm to scared not to take it. Sometimes I think I take it to show respect to the headache god...... Whatever it takes .. right?
Yes, compared to some my doses seem low. Just to be clear, when I say the Prednisone is 10mg, I take 4 10mg tablets at a time for the first few days, then less and less til they're gone.
Thanks for the tip on the Verapamil. It may come in handy (increasing the dosage)
When I said 8s 9s 10s on the fun meter, I was refering to the Kip scale.
Thanks for your help, and caring!
Greg
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Prense
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #5 on: Nov 15th, 2003, 7:32pm » |
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on Nov 15th, 2003, 6:56pm, gregmarx wrote:| maybe the ice cream on a hot day "brain freeze" that lasts for 30 minutes. |
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I describe that level of pain as about a 5 on the Kip scale...it gets much worse than that, although the pain is totally different.
The reason UE asked is that OTCs normally do nothing even for a mild attack...let alone a full blown one.
Either way, PF times to you!
Chris
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beasley
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #6 on: Nov 16th, 2003, 9:19pm » |
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Be careful on with your use of over the counter headache meds. Prednisone and Verapamil have done the trick for me as well but during the 2 years it took me to get a correct diagnosis and treatment I began to take a variety of OTC headache products hoping to find something that would prevent the headaches or give me some type of relief. After getting the proper treatment for the cluster headaches I still experienced less severe daily headaches that were located on the same side of my head as my clusters. These headaches were diagnosed as “Rebound Headaches” caused by my misuse of OTC medication. After going cold turkey off the OTC meds and feeling very lousy for one week all my headaches ceased. Good luck to you.
You can read about “Rebound Headaches” at
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/DailyNews/2020_reboundheadaches03011 0.html
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The mad viking
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #7 on: Nov 17th, 2003, 4:40am » |
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Taking the liberty to tell about my coctail
Svenn
Verapamil Retard 120mgX5-7/daily during cycle
Oxygene alone at 10ltm for at least 15 minutes on a nonbreathermask or combined with imitrex-shots does miracles.The shots should start working in 6-9minutes.a few seconds after that you are almost painfree
Prednisolone in high doze for 10 days 80mg
then over a 3 weeks periode step down like 60-40-30-20-10-5mg every 3dh day
Tapering down the verap im on full dozage 7 days after my last hit,then over the next 5 weeks im down to 1/daily.
after 1 week on Verap retard 120mgX1 and still no hits i can quit that to
The very best from Svenn
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| « Last Edit: Nov 17th, 2003, 4:40am by The mad viking » |
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sandie99
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Re: Prednisone Verapamil Work for me
« Reply #8 on: Nov 17th, 2003, 6:39am » |
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Lucky you! 
Neither worked for me!
Best wishes & PFdays,
sandie99
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CH happends, Live anyway! PF days to us all!
"Do what you can and let God take care of the rest. Leave your heart wide open and always wish for the best" (Sanna Hillu)
"No matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible" (Marketa Irglova)
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