i was just wondering what does u are all on??

I'm on zero mg per day.

But I used to be on 480mg per day.

I don't take it anymore. Mr. Verapamil and Little Elvis didn't play well together.

My dose of verapamil was 720mg/day, but it was not having any effect, so after more than a year on it I quit.

My neuro said he had patients who could not tolerate such a high dosage.  Apparently it's supposed to lower your blood pressure quite a bit at that dose.  Mine never changed no matter how much I took.  In fact, I did not percieve any effect at all.  But I'm an alien and that's how I roll.

Was on 720/day.  Got some relief, but her side effects outweighed the benefits.  I get the same relief from Kudzu with no side effects at all.

Jerry

oh im only on 40mg a day???

Marie, my neuro and I worked together to find a prevent that was going to work for me. We slowly increased my Verapamil to 480mg daily, and after it got into my system it kept the beast at bay for the most part.

Hope you find something that will work for you.

is it normal when u first start it for it to make u feel shaky and have palataitions??

One time my doc tried to take me up from 480mg to 720mg, and I started to experience palpatations and slight dizziness. But at 40mg I would think you probably wouldn't feel it - unless you're an infant who weighs like 15 lbs. And I don't think that's the case. ;D

I could be wrong - cuz I'm not a doctor.

My last cycle I went right on the full dosage of 480mg daily and got myself a trip to the ER as my blood pressure dropped off and I was passing out.

I know now to slowly ramp up as well as taper off slowly, under the watch of my neuro of course.

I did a thread titled "Verapamil Taper" up in the "Medications, Treatments and Theropies" section, give it a read as it might help you in some way.

240 to 360 to 480, at which point my digestive system shuts down tight.  Didn't have any effect on my clusters.

Doc Robinson, at the Vancouver OUCH convention, said he had some patients as high as 1200 mg/day.

Hi Marie,

The last few cycles 400mg a day seemed to be my theraputic dose.  Stuff does wonders for me an knocks out 90% of the attacks.

I suffer with IBS so the verapamil nicely offsets this with its binding effects.

Never saw any troubles with little evlis.

I'd be worried about heart palpatations.  Please bring this to your Drs attention.  He'll probably get an EKG done to make sure your heart rythm is ok.

Verapamil's big problem is slowing the resting heart rate and, at higher doses, affecting heart rythm.

My first attempt at using it didn't gain any relief for me.  After reading some info posted by Bob Johnson I switched from the sustained formulation to the regular formulation.  It means you need to take it three times a day instead of once but the smaller doses really let you dial in the amount that works for you.  Pills come as small as 40mg.  I was taking it 120mg/120mg/160mg.

40mg is a very small dose which I don't think will really help with clusters.  But I'm not a Doctor so what do I know?  Nothing  ;)

Here is the article that Bob posted.  Take it to your Dr so you can get the dosage straightened out.

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Quote:

Brief Communication Individualizing Treatment With Verapamil for Cluster Headache Patients Joseph N. Blau, MD, FRCP; Hans O. Engel, FFOM, LRCP&SE Address all correspondence to Joseph N. Blau, MD, FRCP, City of London Migraine Clinic, 22 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6DX, UK. From the City of London Migraine Clinic. Copyright 2004 By the American Headache Society KEYWORDS cluster headache • treatment • verapamil (Headache 2004;44:1013-1018) ABSTRACT Background.—Verapamil is currently the best available prophylactic drug for patients experiencing cluster headaches (CHs). Published papers usually state 240 to 480 mg taken in three divided doses give good results, ranging from 50% to 80%; others mention higher doses—720, even 1200 mg per day. In clinical practice we found we needed to adapt dosage to individual's time of attacks, in particular giving higher doses before going to bed to suppress severe nocturnal episodes. A few only required 120 mg daily. We therefore evolved a scheme for steady and progressive drug increase until satisfactory control had been achieved. Objective.—To find the minimum dose of verapamil required to prevent episodic and chronic cluster headaches by supervising each individual and adjusting the dosage accordingly. Methods.—Consecutive patients with episodic or chronic CH (satisfying International Headache Society (IHS) criteria) were started on verapamil 40 mg in the morning, 80 mg early afternoon, and 80 mg before going to bed. Patients kept a diary of all attacks, recording times of onset, duration, and severity. They were advised, verbally and in writing, to add 40 mg verapamil on alternate days, depending on their attack timing: with nocturnal episodes the first increase was the evening dose and next the afternoon one; when attacks occurred on or soon after waking, we advised setting an alarm clock 2 hours before the usual waking time and then taking the medication. Patients were followed-up at weekly intervals until attacks were controlled. They were also reviewed when a cluster period had ended, and advised to continue on the same dose for a further 2 weeks before starting systematic reduction. Chronic cluster patients were reviewed as often as necessary. Results.—Seventy consecutive patients, 52 with episodic CH during cluster periods and 18 with chronic CH, were all treated with verapamil as above. Complete relief from headaches was obtained in 49 (94%) of 52 with episodic, and 10 (55%) of 18 with chronic CH; the majority needed 200 to 480 mg, but 9 in the episodic, and 3 in the chronic group, needed 520 to 960 mg for control. Ten, 2 in the episodic and 8 in the chronic group, with incomplete relief, required additional therapy—lithium, sumatriptan, or sodium valproate. One patient withdrew because verapamil made her too tired, another developed Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and the drug was withdrawn. Conclusions.—Providing the dosage for each individual is adequate, preventing CH with verapamil is highly effective, taken three (occasionally with higher doses, four) times a day. In the majority (94%) with episodic CH steady dose increase under supervision, totally suppressed attacks. However in the chronic variety only 55% were completely relieved, 69% men, but only 20% women. In both groups, for those with partial attack suppression, additional prophylactic drugs or acute treatment was necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Accepted for publication July 19, 2004. DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI) 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2004.04196.x About DOI

-Dennis-

Hi Marie, I have been on verapamil daily for a year or so (240mg) and from the odd blip when i'm prescribed prednisolone it seems to work for me.
But i'm still not sure, cause everyone is oh so different.
Read and listen to these folks on this site, they certainly know what they're talking about unlike ME.
Keep your pecker up.
Colin

thansk me thinks ill be going to see my dr then:p