Hi All!!

I'm new to this site, but have had CH for about 20 years. I'm just wrapping up a cycle, with 4 PF days. Historically, for me, I know I have at least 2 years before The Beast will knock on my door.

My question is whether I should begin a treatment plan for preventing a cycle, or just wait. Imitrex pills work like a charm for me, and I'll definately be stocking up. I just wonder if a preventative treatment will be worth the money, or does it prolong the inevitable.

Thanks,
Tim

I haven't heard of anybody using prevent meds to prevent a cycle. They're used during a cycle to reduce the frequency and or the intensity of your attacks.

I use lithium as my prevent, normally it will block about 70% of my attacks during a cycle, really reducing my dependance on the oxygen to abort. My cycles were always 8-12 weeks, before and after I started lithium so i can't blame it for anything. The last cycle I had, which was the first cycle I used imitrex injectables, went 8 months. Hardly a scientific study I know but I'm not using the injectables this cycle!

Joe

OK, it seems I had misunderstood the meaning of preventative, which makes sense.

I tried O2 during my last cycle, and it didn't do anything for me, but I may very well have not been using it correctly, so I'll be trying that again, next time. I'll also talk to my doctor about Lithium, to see if that doesn't reduce my attacks.

As I said, Imitrex has been VERY effective as an abortive, but I know I was taking too much. Thankfully, I wasn't suffering from any obvious side effects.

Thanks for the info!! I appreciate it!!

Tim

Since you know you were taking too much imitrex - you likely won't be playing it risky anymore if you follow this imitrex tip (it does require the use of injections though): START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Some people who know that their cycles are very short don't use preventives because from the first attack, when you normally start a preventive, to the end of the cycle is a shorter time than it takes for the preventive to become effective.

Bob Johnson wrote on Jan 25^th, 2010 at 8:12am:

Some people who know that their cycles are very short don't use preventives because from the first attack, when you normally start a preventive, to the end of the cycle is a shorter time than it takes for the preventive to become effective.

Exactly!

My last two cycles were 2 weeks long so a Prevent wasn't worth it.  I do believe these were shorter though due to the use of LSA.

I guess it depends on how often you get hit while in a cycle.  I know for me if I don't take any preventatives (for me it's prednisone and verapamil) I'll get hit anywhere from 1-4 times a day for 1-3 hours at a time.  Last cycle I think I had 1 hit total get through my preventatives, this cycle I've been having 1 hit get through every 2-3 days.  That's reason enough for me to stick with the preventatives.

I was told a long time ago that you shouldn't take Trex more than once every 24 hours (not sure if that's still the norm).  So, like I said, if you only get hit once a day or so it's not a big deal, but any more than that and I'd be weary about taking so much Trex.  But talk to your Dr to get a professional opinion.

Good luck!

Other than a a couple of tries with Kudzu I have relied entirely on abortives. My hits are nearly all responsive to Oxygen, and when that doesn't work an Imitrex injection works 99% of the time. My hits are nearly all triggered when in cycle so I don't have the degree of uncertainty and multiple hits that many people have - so it works for me.

If I was suffering repeated hits every day, untriggered, when in cycle I would reconsider though.