[smiley=headbanger.gif]   HI.  Lithium has worked to decrease the length of the cycles and pain of ch's. I was on 950mg but it was very hard on my stomach so i dropped to 450 mg a day and that helped improve stomach issue. I DON'T like taking 450mg a day though cause i don't feel right, my head is always aching and i have trouble sleeping now.  So i was just curious as to how others who have been taking it a long time have been living with lithium.

I'm episodic so my long time may be relative cuz I go on and off. Over 20 years using it and I LOVE it. 900 mg a day used to block 80-90% of my hits. As I've aged it's lost some effectiveness, now  at 1200 mg a day it blocks 60-70%.

My side effects, a little lethargy, nothing a cup or two of coffee doesn't combat.

Joe

Good to here lithium works well for you too. Being episodic do you start taking lithium when the CH'S start or do you have a certain season you start taking it?

I wait for the cycle to start. Then it's usually a 10 day prednisone taper while I ramp up the lithium. 2 weeks headache free and I start ramping the lithium back down again.


Joe

I'm non commital about it - I haven't experienced any unpleasant side effects from it when I've been on it in the past, but it was also only mildly effective for me (maybe I wasn't taking a high enough dose?)

I loved it when I was on lithium.  It reduced the number of headaches I was having by 50% and lowered the intensity of the ch to a much more tollerable level.  I took 900mg a day.  However, it lost its effectiveness so I quit taking it.

Used to take 900mg in combination with 480mg verapamil. Worked great in this cocktail for several years.

Brew's potion is often called the "chronic cocktail". The combo of Lithium and Verapamil works for some of the tougher cases when neither med by itself was effective. It used to be said lithium was more effective for chronics then episodics....I think that myth is going down in flames! ;)

Joe

The "cocktail" worked fairly effectively for me for years. It did not prevent all headaches from busting through, but life was manageable. It was not until a neurologist told me that I should not have any headaches when using this mix that I switched medication. While a bit of an optimist about the cocktail, he switched me to Topamax which was far and away more successful for me. Topamax has fewer side effects for me; I do not miss the tremors at 900 mg/day or the explosive diarrhea episodes that came with lithium at all.

YMMV.

[smiley=headbanger.gif] Thanks for responding everyone. it's great to here hoW meds work for other CH'S and also to see furure med options should i have to change them.

[smiley=headbanger.gif] Thanks for responding everyone. it's great to here hoW meds work for other CH'S and also to see furure med options should i have to change them.

i use the chronic cocktail with fair success till this last year, it seems to not work like it use too.
i can relate the shakes and explosive runs do suck!!!!!!