I am weaned off of Prednisone after being on it for 2 months.  The higher dose of 50 mgs a day worked wonders for me and staved off the headaches but as the dosage decreased the HA's came back in full force. Doctor gave me Sumatriptan which does absolutely nothing for me.. Take it at the first onset but took a full 40 minutes for the HA to subside.  He also gave me Verapamil which I had not started because he gave me the RX 6 wks into my cycle and from what I've read I should have started on this before the cycle even started.  I suffer from episodic headaches.  Today I had two killer headaches back to back .. nearly did me in.  Tonight I'll try the 10 mgs of Melatonin .. Wish I could stay on the high dose of Prednisone but the side effects are killing me...

That's been my experience with pred. At doses as low as 30 mg a day, it provides 100% relief, but if I go off of it without a prevent, I get creamed.

DO start the verapamil. It's not to prevent the cycle from starting, it's to reduce the number and intensity of your attacks Once the cycle starts. He should have had you start it while you were still on the prednisone, as it takes up to 2 weeks to start helping you.

My guess is your taking an oral sumatriptan and not the injectable or nasal spray. Oral meds generally absorb too slowly to be of any use for CH

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Tried oxygen yet????

Joe

The side effects ARE killing you, and they WILL kill you. Either that or they'll make you wish you were dead.

Prednisone for two months for CH is unconscionable.

You don't say what form of sumatriptan you've been prescribed. Most have great success with the injectable form, a few less with the nasal spray, and far fewer with the tablet form, which just takes too long to work.

You don't say how much verapamil you're taking, but stay the course with it.  It takes 10-14 days to reach therapeutic levels in the blood, and work closely with your doc to start upping the dosage if you're not getting any relief. Most here don't find relief until they're somewhere around 480-600mg per day, a few even higher. You can aggressively up the dosage every 5-7 days with your doc's permission.