Hi, all, ive been lurking over the forums for a while, so i thought id
ask a quick question.

i do have cluster headaches, and also suffer from chronic migraines.

ive tried every conceivable med going, and thankfully, ive now been
given oxygen to use, its being delivered on monday.

any tips, from fellow sufferers, on what to do, and expect, on my first
use of the sbot.

thanx

wasnotwas. :)

Expect complete and total success! ;)

The keys,:
Get on it as soon as you feel the attack starting. A delay of even 2-3 mnutes will substantially increase the abort time for me. Make sure you have a high flow regulator, at least 15 LPM, and a non re breather mask. It's important your lungs get only oxygen, no exhaled air, no outside air. If you haven't already, read the link on the left, "oxygen info." A great How To Guide.

Hoping it works as well for you as it has for me.

Joe

cheers guseppe, ill let you know how it goes,

wsw

Interesting.

Although, i never had a cluster, this am, i had a migraine, which had
started last nite, so i had a bash, on the oxygen, after the guy had
delivered it, and, set it max..15, and whey hey, it went yipppppeeee

thanx to all that have offered advice, and support.

Is there a limit on how much oxygen, you can use in one day??

ash

Hi Ash......read the oxygen info link on the left.

o2 rules.....for many at least!

All the best, Iddy

must be me age ....doh  :D

thanx iddy,

ash

Good news, day 2,and no head pains at all, not had this type of gap,
or no background pain, for a long long time....

long may it continue. :)

Good news, good news.
02 rocks
the bb

wasnotwas wrote on Jun 29^th, 2009 at 7:41am:

Is there a limit on how much oxygen, you can use in one day??

Whether you have one attack per day or 15 attacks per day, if you get on the O2 right away and stay on it for 5 minutes past the time you feel no more pain, you will not have even come close to half of the pure O2 usage that can start to damage your lungs. I'm pretty sure you'd have to be on it at 100% in a non-rebreather situation for around 20 hours for that to happen.

Fighter pilots, like our own Batch, have stayed on it for hours and hours at a time. And I doubt the US military is going to jeopardize pilots in whom they have invested millions and millions of dollars.

cheers brew, thats answered my original question.

ash

just  a quick update.

had to use the oxygen, yesterday, and yep.....its definitly working...

brilliant ;D

That's great news! ;)

Joe

Nice to hear Ash! :)

The less pain the better. ;D

All the best Iddy

thanks guys...........

one word sums it up.................................

"UNBELIEVABLE"

ash ;)

for a while, i thought the o2 had stopped working, it wasnt til i realised
that the non breathing disc had fallen off........doh

pheeeeew, its works .....yipppe :D

Thought id pop by and let you know how its going.

Very successful, the o2 has broken the chronic cycle,
and the headaches, have become a lot less frequent,
and of course, when i do get one, the o2 is still very very effective

happy days

ash

Hi Ash!

I'm so glad to read that the O2 is doing the trick for you.

Many, many of us rely on it as our first line of defense.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.  This place has more info on CH than most docs combined.

Hope you become pain fee forever.

Sandy

Hi Ash, and very glad you found the site

  Another 02 "pusher" here.  I can't use sumatriptans (Imitrex - Imagran in UK), due to some artery blockage and high cholesterol, so 02 is my only abortive, and yes, it's  miracle for most of us.

  You said the disk fell off.  I assume you have the standard non-rebreather mask which usually comes with two exhale ports on the side, one with the little round one-way valve (disk) on it . . . which is very easy to knock off.  If that's the type mask you have . . . alter it . . remove the disk and tape up the holes on both sides . . . when you inhale, hold the mask tight to your face . . . when you exhale (since you've taped up the exhale ports), slightly crack the bottom of the mask, then hold tight for the next inhale . . . this will insure you get 100% 02.  If it came with the little green strap on it . . . DO NOT USE, especially at night . .  If, after you've aborted the hit to the point you can lie down and continue breathing to finish him off, it's very easy to fall asleep.  If you have the strap in place, you will wake strangling for air when your tank runs out (since you've taped both sides of the exhale ports.

  Next, go ahead and order an optimask with the green 3 litre bag . . . made for clusterheads and more effective.

  Will repeat what everyone else has said . . . get on it at the first sign of attack.  It is easy to get overconfident in your ability to abort and sometimes wait a few minutes to see if it's going to be a full-blown attack . . . DON'T!  In the past, my wife has seen me starting to rub my temple/back of neck, wheeled my tank to me, placed the mask in my hand with the admonition, "Idiot".  MUCH better to kill the bastard before he ramps to a nasty attack.

  Identify your triggers.  Triggered attacks (for me) tend to ramp much faster than "regular" attacks.  Alcohol, exhaust fumes, certain chemicals (like carb cleaner) are major triggers for me. 

  SO glad you got the 02 and it's working for you . . . nice to have some control over the beast isn't it.

   Be Safe,

     PFDANs

       Richard

WNW,

Depending on what study you read, the maximum duration for exposure breathing 100% oxygen continuously is 6 or 12 hours.  At that point you'll start to feel the symptoms of pulmonary oxygen toxicity - They will feel a lot like pneumonia where it starts becoming painful to inhale deeply...  These symptoms clear in a matter of minutes of breathing normal room air...

BTW, in order to accomplish this you would need two M-size oxygen cylinders to get to 6 hour limit and four of them to get to 12 hour limit...  I've flow several extended missions lasting well over 7 hours and felt just fine other than a sore back side and full bladder. ::)

None of this is really an issue if you use oxygen therapy at a minimum flow rate of 25 liters/minute. A flow rate of 25 liters/minute is the minimum to support the level of hyperventilation needed to produce shorter abort times (An average of 7 to 9 minutes to abort attacks at Kip-6 to Kip-7).

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Ash,

I don't know if you pay for your prescriptions or not but if you do you may want to consider saving money by using a prescription prepayment certificate. (PPC) Using a PPC allows you to pre-pay for prescription charges for a set period rather than paying charges per item... Just in case Pal, it helps with all those separate oxygen tanks..!


Lefty..!