I take Verapamil 240ER capsuls every day for my CHs.  A couple of months ago I stepped down to older 120mg pills and the headaches came back.  I recently stopped taking the 240 completely (5 days) and no hits, but I've had some GI issues... maybe a side effect of stopping the Verapamil so suddenly.  I've read a lot now stating that you shouldn't stop this drug cold turkey, but I wonder if that's just for people taking it for their heart?  Does anyone know if I should start taking it again and back off slowly, or at this point, 5 days in, should I just stay off of it?

G'day, slhaas, and forgive me if I'm fighting outside my weight because I don't use any medications at all, so I can hardly counsel you on your use of Verapamil.

I can, however, repeat a mantra of ch.com.

Never start, stop, or alter medications without first consulting your doctor!!!

I know... I know, but I already did, so that isn't the question.

I wish I knew what to tell you.  I stopped it because it really messed with my vision and I stopped cold turkey.  But I was also almost out of my cycle.

It messed with your vision?  How?

I think I'm out of my cycle.  I've been off of the Verapamil for 5 days now and no hits, but I've had a hell of a time with my GI tract since stopping the verap, and wonder if I should taper it off instead, or seeing as I already have been off of it for 5 days, if it would do more harm to go back on and then ween off at this point.

It was causing me to have "ocular migraines".  It should prevent those also, but it caused me to have them.  I hate verapamil; however, it helps alot of people here.  Since I've been off the verap, I haven't had a single ocular thingie.

call your doctors office and ask to speak with the nurse and get their advice.   They seem like the best to advise at this point and you'll hopefully get a definitive answer.  I tapered off verap slowly- bout 3 weeks went from 660 to 480 to 240 to 0.  no hits -  

good luck to you

kelly

I stopped using verapamil very, very slowly (that was back in 2005). Probably slower than necessary, but I didn't want any trouble for doing it too quickly. Before I even begun the taper, my doc told me to take it slowly - he was very clear that should I rush it, there could be serious consequences. He used "trip to ER". Perhaps he was being bit too dramatic, but it did the trick. I wanted to get off meds as soon as possible, but didn't want to risk my health.

How did you taper it off?  Take it every other day for a week, 2 weeks, something else?

Tapering for me went like this:

No hits for about a month when tapering began.   was taking 240 in am, 240 @ 5pm and 180 at bedtime

1st week dropped the 180 at night
2nd week took 240 in middle of the day
3rd week - took 240 every other day in middle of day
4th week - nada

doc gave me the plan - saw him at 2nd week and at 4th week. Hope this helps

kelly

Thanks to all for the help here... sorry this is old and delayed, but thanks nonetheless.

Ask you doc about start/stop: you'll feel more comfortable.  

But when you start again,

SLOW-RELEASE VERAPAMIL

Dr. Sheftell applauded the protocol for verapamil used by Dr. Goadsby and colleagues, which entailed use of short-acting verapamil in increments of 80 mg. “This method was suggested by Lee Kudrow, MD, 20 years ago as an alternative to slow-release verapamil,” Dr. Sheftell noted.

“I would agree with using short-acting verapamil, rather than the sustained-release formulation, in cluster headache,” he said. “I prefer the short-acting formulation with regard to ability to titrate more accurately and safely. My clinical experience anecdotally demonstrates improved responses when patients are switched from sustained-release verapamil to short-acting verapamil.”

Dr. Goadsby agreed that his clinical experience was similar. “There are no well-controlled, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging studies to direct treatment. This is one of those areas where clinicians who treat cluster headache have to combine what modicum of evidence is available with their own clinical experience,” Dr. Sheftell commented.