well i now have my clustermask and recently got a welder regulator for the unlimited flow but im not seeing good results,,is there a wrong way to use o2 to abort?,ive tried the mouth piece and mask with similar results,,shouldnt the attack be aborted within 10 minutes with the high flow?

You have the materials to promote hyperventilation, now you need the technique. I highly suggest you PM Batch. He is our O2 expert and helped me a lot.  Until you do, I can only tell you what works for me.  At the first sign of a hit, I chug a full size monster drink. Then I exhale deeply, several times, until I wheeze and or cough. This tends to open up the lower lung alveolae. Then, at high flow, I breathe fast and deeply, exhaling but not taking in any room air. I do this for about 5 minutes. By now, hyperventilation is kicking in, the pain is abating, and I stay with it breathing more slowly and deeply. I keep on the slow breathing for about 5 minutes after all pain and pressure are gone.

I hope this helps. But I'm not substitute for Pete/Batch. Get a message off to him. Blessings. lance

I use the same technique Lance uses, empty my lungs as empty as i can get them, then cough to get  alittle more out. Then a deep inhale and hold for up to 30 seconds, exhale and repeat.

I also chug the energy drink at the start, I prefer sugar free red bull. It seems to speed the abort time for me and helps prevent the come backers.

Joe

I think the key thing for using oxygen to abort is DO NOT WAIT!

At the very first tiniest inkling of a hit, get on that tank.  Keep your tank hooked up and ready to go in a second's notice - all you gotta do is turn the valve on and slap on the mask and start breathing.

If you wait to see if the pain levels gets higher, it won't as well.

Exhale completely, put the mask on and inhale completely, exhale, inhale, exhale completely each time as fast as you can - hyperventilate.

Once the pain starts to recede you can slow down a little on the breathing, but stay on the O2 even after the pain is completely gone for a few more minutes.

My two cents

Sandy

thanks for the advice,,the thing is 95% of my hits are night time so the whole get on the o2 at the first sign is kinda hard since its pretty intense by the time it wakes me up,,also i tried the energy drink deal long ago and it made me sick to my stomach so im hoping its not absolutely necessary

i think from the sound of it i may not have been breathing right and probably wasnt staying on long enough,,
im sure ill be able to put your advice to work tonight and see if it helps

If the attack has gotten far enough along to wake you it is going to be harder to kill.  It will probably take 10-15 mins at that level.  At least that is my experience.  I'm one of the lucky ones that doesn't get REM hits, so I don't go to bed until I know I'm done for the night.  I learned I can't handle them when they wake me, but if I let one get to a K7 before the O2 I'm in trouble.  At 25lpm I'm huffing hard and sucking the bag flat before it gets a chance to fill, so I can't tell you about higher flow.  I'm with the others.  PM Batch.

Jerry

TarHeel-blues wrote on Jan 26^th, 2011 at 10:58pm:

thanks for the advice,,the thing is 95% of my hits are night time so the whole get on the o2 at the first sign is kinda hard since its pretty intense by the time it wakes me up,,also i tried the energy drink deal long ago and it made me sick to my stomach so im hoping its not absolutely necessary i think from the sound of it i may not have been breathing right and probably wasnt staying on long enough,, im sure ill be able to put your advice to work tonight and see if it helps

The REM hits are the worst. At the height of my cycle I would get them at 11PM, 1AM, 4AM and 7AM. Rinse, lather, repeat.  All I can say is I had to learn some tricks like those already mentioned, including sleeping in a recliner in between hits, or just staying up and sleep during the day.

As to the energy drinks, I failed to mention the little bottles have the same amount of taurine/caffeine as do the larger bottles. If it was the amount that made you sick, you could try that.  I haven't had the same effect from the smaller bottles myself, but others have. Blessings. lance

thanks lance,,i wish i could do the sleep during the day trick but the beast doesnt seem to care what time it is he just likes to visit me while im sleeping whenever it may be,,also just got denied by my new insurance company sigma for my trex refills,,having 3-4 attacks a night but they will only allow 2 cartridges a month,,go figure

i want this o2 deal to work but the thing about the trex is i could take a dose and go back to sleep for 4-6 hrs no problem,,with the o2 im able to kill the hit but as soon as i fall asleep im back up an hour or so later doing it again,,making it hard to go work a 12 hr day after doing that all night

Just a quick thought...at one point I had three doctors: a GP, a neuro, and a headache specialist. Most of us have two, anyway...GP and neuro. Both were sympathetic and my headache specialist had no problem writing a scrip for migranal (which works for me) knowing I also had a scrip for imitrex, and just cautioned me not to mix the two in a 24 hour period. This doubled my arsenal and the insurance had to pay out cuz it was two different scrips, and two different docs. Not saying it's a great idea...you have to be careful...but it did make me more armed than before. Just a thought. Prayin' for ya. Blessings. lance

thanks lance,,just sucks that i have to be the one to bring up ideas like that,,why the heck hasnt my neuro suggested another med

Based on some studies, there is percentage of CHers who don't get relief from O2. The number seems to be around 20%, give or take, depending on the study.

Could this all be based on "poor technique" as has been discussed in this thread? Or are there just some of us that will not experience relief from O2?

I want to think it's because of poor technique and low flow use. I want to think that because I want O2 to be an effective manager for all of us! I also want to retire incredibly rich and happy, and that ain't gonna happen either. I do think Batch's work with O2, and the follow up studies they produce, will go a long way to answering this question. Blessings. lance

poor technique maybe but i doubt its low flow with my set up