I have just started a new cycle after nearly 2+ years, thought they had vanished. Typical cycle, 4 a day for 4 months. I am unemployed with no insurance. Lost all I had trying to save my wife from cancer. Somewhat disabled, 51 and nearly broke.

So, not looking for sympathy just a difficult situation. I cannot afford the meds, I always had to alternate every other day with (imitrex)then they would not work so I would switch to (relpax) same thing, then (maxalt), (zomig), and finally start the med switch all over again. After a few days the imitrex would work again etc. Now cannot afford, `one benefit about the cancer  she always had oxygen which I was able to take full advantage of, thankfully.

Since I cannot afford doctors and meds or even the chance of O2 from a prescription. I thought about getting the oxygen from a welding store. I am sure I would have to get the acetylene to go with it but does anybody know if this would work if I can find my regulator. I think the O2 is much cheaper this route. Any thoughts?

Desperate as I cannot go through this cycle with nothing, trying to start life over and these #@$%^*()_ come back to torture. Skydiving and forgetting a parachute sounds really appealing. Last time here I read about the mushrooms breaking the cycle? Any news`

Blessings from the gates of hell    :-/

Welcome back but I'm sorry you are dealing with this horror. Others here will give you the welder O2 info. It works fine. For now give my technique a shot. It does work. The price is right too.

Dr. Wright’s Circulatory Technique

What follows is a technique learned from a neurologist:
I am not sure what mechanism is triggered by this but whatever it is, at least indirectly helps kill the pain. I do know that this technique has nothing to do with meditation, relaxation, or psychic ability. It is entirely physical and takes some work. It involves concentrating on trying to redirect a little circulation to the arms, hands, or legs. It can described as a conscious circulatory flexing. Increased circulation will result in a reddening and warming of the hands. Try to think of it as filling your hands with redirected blood. The important and difficult part is that it has to be done without interruption through the pain. Do not give up in frustration. It may not work on the first try. Every now and then it will work almost immediately. I lived for those moments. Try experimenting between attacks. You will find that it gets easier with practice.

I was given less than five minutes instruction in the use of method. The doctor, while placing his arm on his desk, showed me that he could slightly increase his arm and hand circulation. After several attempts, I was able to repeat this procedure and use it successfully. I have had about a 75% success rate shortening these attacks. My 20 minute attacks were often reduced to 10 minutes or less. Once proven that I had a chance to effectively deal with this horror, I always gave it a try as I had nothing to lose but pain.

Perhaps it will help if you think of it as trying to fill the arm as if it is were an empty vessel. I used to try to imagine I was pushing blood away from my head into my arm. Use your imagination. There is one man who wrote that his standing barefoot on a concrete floor shortened his attacks. This may be similar as it draws some circulation away from the head. Cold water, exercise, or anything affecting circulation, seems to be worth a try. My suggestion is to not let up immediately when the pain goes. Waiting a minute is probably a good idea. So long as you do not slack off, this has a chance of working.

This technique is very useful while waiting for medication to take effect or when none is available. It costs nothing, is non-invasive, and can be used just about anywhere. It is not a miracle but it helped me deal with this horror. It can be a bit exhausting but the success rate was good enough for me and a cluster headache sufferer will do just about anything to end the pain. It gives us a fighting chance.
I hope this technique is helpful and I wish you the best of luck

Charlie      

Yes, there are many people that use welding oxygen for clusters - you might not want to tell the welding supply house that, though.

Mushrooms still work. Check out clusterbusters.com.

Other options to consider  -  melatonin, kudzu, antihistamines, magnesium.  

Here's a site that may be of help to you.

Google this

pparx.org

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, I am willing to drink gasoline if someone said it would work.
Does anyone know if the oxygen tanks from the welders supply require a different style regulator than the medical supply types, I would imagine they would. I need to make a visit, has anyone tried the Myorex herbal supplement they are advertising.
Thanks, Mike

Hadn't heard of myorex until now.

The website seems to be long on hype and some things there raise cautionary flags.

The ingredients are:

Pearls Calcined 11.50 mg
Ferrum Calcined 11.50 mg
Nux vomica 11.50 mg
Cinnabar 5.7 mg
Saffron 0.2 mg
Ambergris 24 mg

It doesn't say if this is per tablet, per pound of tablets, or what. That is important, because some of the ingredients there are quite toxic!

Pearls and Ferrum are limestone and Iron - easy to get from a less expensive supplement.

Nux vomica is the plant that contains strychnine - since it is so toxic, I am guessing the dose is homeopathic, and not likely to have any effect.

Cinnabar is mercury ore - again, toxic unless it is diluted to the point of being inactive. The web site says something about homeopathy for that - which is pretty much nonsense as far as I am concerned.

Saffron - a great spice, good for many medical conditions, but cheaper to buy at a food market.  And the dose of saffron is apparently lower than the dose of mercury and strychnine, so probably not doing much.

Ambergris - a secretion from whales that has hormone-like effects in humans (good aphrodisiac). It does have a historic use for headaches, but not sure what type.  I'm not even sure that it is legal to buy and sell ambergris in the US, as it comes from an endangered species.

Bottom line - haven't heard anyone here who benefited from such a combination, there are lots of questions, and I would not be eager to buy this if I was suffering and had a tight budget.  For the price of one bottle of that stuff, you could buy a bottle of melatonin, a few hundred tabs of antihistamine, and a few bottles of kudzu,  and magnesium.  Nothing is surefire for everyone, but melatonin/magnesium/kudzu/antihistamine have some evidence to support their use.