So...for the past two days actually, I thought that things were getting better. 2 basically PFD's back to back. Both days held some shadows, just annoyance of mild pressure behind my right eye, no real pain involved. It's about as annoying as a telemarketer at dinner time.

I'm driving to Annapolis, Maryland to do some shopping and take my wife to a movie and the "telephone" in my head began to ring. Ok...just that mild pressure, no big deal... We swing into a convenience store, pop 3 excedrin and a monster drink. We head back out on the road and it hits. Smartly, I asked my wife to drive the rest of the way. I begin dancing in the seat, bouncing my head off the headrest. 100mg's of Imitrex taken, trip aborted, and another day ruined by this stupid curse.

I don't have any o2 yet for aborting. I have no alternative but this medicine made by the devil, Imitrex. I have said it before...the hangover from Imitrex is awful. I hate it.

I'm making an appointment with PMD tomorrow for script for o2. GOD, I hope it works. Will also be getting referral to neuro.

Anyway...I hope everyone's day was better than mine.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Rant away David. I have canceled going out too many times to count, and curse this monster until it breaks me down to crying. Yes, it is true, men cry.

We will work with you on the o2. If you need anything, or advise on how to use it, you can ask away and we all will be there for you. With o2, I can go out in the evenings now, knowing the o2 is within sight of me in the car and at the ready.

Sorry you got hit and it ruined your evening out, but maybe your cycle is ending as mine go out with quite a bang! ;)

Hang in there and please let us know about the o2.

  Barry :)

I sympathize, man...I, too, thought I had it beat, with 5 days PF (except for the brutal migraines) and then BLAMMO! I get the biggest hit yet.  :P

Hey, if we can't rant here, where CAN we?!?  :D

Sorry to hear he got ya. but it looks like your on the right track with the 02. To make sure  you get the right things. Tell the doctor to make the script for a nonrebreather mask and make sure the script is for a flow rate of at least 12-15 Lpm or you will spend alot of bullshit hours on the phone trying to get them later. and you will start learning to abort alot quicker. You made me laugh with the devils juice name for imitrex, but if you got it?? well... it sure works a hell of alot better than asprin. You can also ask the doctor about 4mg stat dose shots, the rebounds arent as bad at 4mg. I hope you get some more pain free days. Coach Bill

Thanks everyone. Man...I tell ya...Imitrex is in cahoots with the beast I tell ya. Designed by the beast to make you feel like crap without pain...

As far as the o2, I basically have unlimited access to o2 supplies because of my job. I'm a paramedic. It's just hard to "acquire" a bottle and regulator. I've already started storing up on NRB's.

I have to make an appt with my doctor because of an insurance change. I apparently didn't describe my insurance problem well enough over the phone. My insurance company will cover 4 tabs and 4 injections a month. So, I will go to see her and tell her what to write. I will also ask her to write for o2.

I have not been "officially" diagnosed with CH by a doctor. I've explained everything to her and my doc was ok with just keeping Imitrex as an abort. So when I go into see her again, I will be armed with more information for an actual diagnosis by a doctor.

I am a paramedic with almost 2 decades of fire and ems experience. My opinion of my conditions are taken very seriously by her, so I'm sure I won't have a problem getting what I need.

Anyway...wish me luck.  :D

Bummer,

The fake remission.  Hate it.

I hope you can get hooked with the O2 right away.  Don't put it off like I did.

                                PFD's
                                 JPC

I see three problems with your post, at the start of this thread:

1 - No Oxygen

2 - Imitrex pills

3 - Aborting your activities of the evening because of the beast

Now to the corrections:

1 - GET OXYGEN and never go anywhere without it close by!  Many of us have multiple tanks to make sure we don't go without!  When I refill my supply, I get 4 "M" tanks, to use in my house.  Then I get 6 to 8 "E" tanks, to keep in various vehicles and in my office.  If I take a ride in someone else's car (rarely) I just grab a tank to keep with me.  Once you get your prescription, and you get it down pat, to its usage, I bet you will be the same!

Quick abort, cheap price, little to no side effects!  Sounds like a winning proposition to me!

2 - Most of us find that Imitrex pills are about as useful, for cluster headaches, as Bayer Aspirin is.  They take just too damn long to dissolve, and then work their way through your digestive track, and then into your blood stream.  Ask your doctor for some sample injectables, plus a prescription for them.  They come in a very nice injector pen, that is very easy to use.  

You can also use the trick, behind the tab, on the left side of your screen labeled imitrex tip.  By using the trick, you can split each vial into two or three different shots.  This stretches the quantity much further, and also, with the lower dose, it still aborts very quickly, but because it is less medication, the side effects are much less too.

3 - Once you have your proven arsenal of weapons to abort, and have them with you, NEVER cancel an activity because you might get hit!  Carry on with your plans and activities, with your weapons close by.  If you feel a hit coming on, step aside, fire your weapons (oxygen or imitrex injection) and in a few minutes, the hit will be gone, and then you can go back to what you were doing!

If you cancel your plans, because of the hits or possibility of a hit, you are letting the beast win!  We NEVER allow the beast to win!  So, GO to the movies, out to dinner, bowling, dancing, camping, on vacation, to the amusement park, or WHERE EVER you want to go!  If the beast tries to come along, look him straight in the eye, and spit on him, and nail him with your abortive!  Then laugh at him, and continue along with your plans for fun!

So hop to it, son, and get these things fixed so that you can get back to living your life!

By the way, until you get your weapons of beast destruction, go right ahead and scream, whine, cry, and complain!  We have all been there.  Then once you have the weapons, grab your boot straps and get to kicking some major beast a$$!!

Good luck!

Chuck

I wish you lots of luck and many, many, many PF days to come! :)

Sanna

Thanks for all the support everyone.

Chuck, as far as the 3 problems you listed go, I don't have o2 yet. Am going to doctor soon for script.

I only have pills of imitrex at the moment because my insurance company sucks and only cover 4 pills and 4 shots each month. The shots are already gone. And they were used up before I read the Imitrex tip.

As far as canceling plans, it's not the headache that's the problem. It's the imitrex. I makes me feel like crap. As I described it in my intro post, it makes me feel like I was run over by a septic tanker truck that was nice enought to dump it's load on me in the process. It makes me feel like my head is on fire, I get a sore throat and have trouble swallowing (it's not an allergic reaction, just an untoward effect of the drug), and my left arm feels like it fills up with lead and it takes effort to move it. It's like working out without weights. I hate it so much that I usually wait until I make a Kip5 or 6 because I'll tough out a lesser attack in lieu of taking the drug.

Nyteguardyan wrote on Dec 17^th, 2008 at 8:14am:

Chuck, as far as the 3 problems you listed go, I don't have o2 yet. Am going to doctor soon for script.

Right!  I saw that, so once you get that, you have corrected THAT problem!


Nyteguardyan wrote on Dec 17^th, 2008 at 8:14am:

I only have pills of imitrex at the moment because my insurance company sucks and only cover 4 pills and 4 shots each month. The shots are already gone. And they were used up before I read the Imitrex tip.

Yup, I saw that too.  But that is why I told you to ask the doctor for samples.  Most have the injectable samples in their office.  You just have to know to ask for them!


Nyteguardyan wrote on Dec 17^th, 2008 at 8:14am:

As far as canceling plans, it's not the headache that's the problem. It's the imitrex. I makes me feel like crap. As I described it in my intro post, it makes me feel like I was run over by a septic tanker truck that was nice enought to dump it's load on me in the process. It makes me feel like my head is on fire, I get a sore throat and have trouble swallowing (it's not an allergic reaction, just an untoward effect of the drug), and my left arm feels like it fills up with lead and it takes effort to move it. It's like working out without weights. I hate it so much that I usually wait until I make a Kip5 or 6 because I'll tough out a lesser attack in lieu of taking the drug.

Ok, that makes sense, but it is still a problem, and what we have to do is to figure out how to solve that problem!  How about trying to cut the pill in half, or even into quarters?  I don't know if it will still do anything, but it is worth a shot!  Also, another trick I heard about, is to grind the pill up into a fine powder (easier to separate into halves/thirds/fourths) and then put the powder under your tongue.  Doing that, it is absorbed into the system faster.  Again, might be worth trying!

Basically what I am trying to do, is help you get through this with as little frustration and interruption of your life, as possible.  Many times it is easier to sit down and list the problems out, and then possible solutions to those problems.  It gets you focused, so to say.

Good luck my friend!

Chuck

I get the same symptoms from imitrex, but not if I cut the dose into quarters. I've never tried the pills but it makes the shots go from not working at all to relieving the pain for a couple of hours at least.  

Then it causes rebounds, but that's just me.

I think there's a generic out now, will your insurance company cover more of that?  Are you SURE it's not simply something your pharmacy says? My pharmacy tried something like that on me when I knew the script had been written for more and I worked for the insurance company so I knew there was no such restriction.

Then they argued that they wouldn't dispense them in that quantity because it was dangerous for your heart to take more than 8 doses a month. I said it's certainly not more dangerous than me committing suicide because of horrible pain, fill the script the way my doctor prescribed or I will find another pharmacy and complain to everyone I can about you practicing medicine without a license!  

That stopped that and then I got the script I needed. It turned out I can rarely take it anyway because it causes such horrible rebounds, but again, that's just me.

I am sure it's the insurance company. I originally was prescribed 15pills a month and was dispensed. Since I changed companies, the pill count has dropped to 4. BUT they will cover 4 shots as well as the 4 pills.