Hey everyone,
I'm a newbie...and I have a couple questions that I was hoping some of you guys could answer or provide your input. I was CH free for 4 to 5 years  :D Unfortunately, I got hit with a cycle about 2 weeks ago  :'( The one thing that stands out is that for most of the time that I was CH free, I was taking Celexa (for anxiety). Right before my current cycle i weened off of celexa, as I don't have the problems that I did with anxiety before. It can't be that easy, right? Continue taking Celexa and no CHs? Also, I have been taking Cardizem and no Verapamil ,will this work the same? They both are calcium chanel blockers, do they both help with CHs?
Thanks for your responses!

I have been on several antidepressants including celexa and had no luck with it helping ch.  I tried them for mental health reasons and at high doses. 

Verapamil is used by alot of people on the board.  It has a good sucess record but can cause severe constipation and low blood pressure.  I couldn't tollerate the side effects and had to go off the medicine but so many people here    do tollorate the side effects it seems.

Hey Luna,

Causality and coincidence are two different critters.  Causality takes disciplined and rigorous proof to establish...  and then it needs to stand up to repeated challenge to be accepted as being valid...  coincidence is just that.

Question...  Not counting this last summer, how much exposure to direct sunlight were you getting over the previous 5 years.  I'm talking out in the sun for at least 5 to 7 hours a week in a bathing suit or cut-offs without a shirt and frequently without sunblock? 

Now, how much sun did you get like this last summer?

I'll tell you why I asked these two questions.  The first reason is vitamin D3 is the only free vitamin.  Our skin makes 10,000 to 15,000 I.U. in as little as 20 minutes if exposed to the UVB in direct sunlight around mid day clad in a bathing suit w/o sun block.

The second is all the CH'ers who have gone to see their primary care physicians or neurologists and asked for the lab test for 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, a.k.a. 25(OH)D, the serum level metabolite of vitamin D3, have all come back with 25(OH)D concentrations ≤42 ng/mL, (105 nmol/L).

What is even more exciting is 70 out of the 100 CH'ers who tried the anti-inflammatory regimen with 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 have experienced a significant reduction in the frequency and severity of their CH in less than 10 days...  some in as little as 12 hours.

Most of them were pain free of their CH before the end of the third week on this regimen.  The interesting thing here is the all the CH'ers who had a favorable response to this regimen and went to their doctors for the 25(OH)D lab test, all had results come back ≥ 60 ng/ml, (150 nmol/L).

What's the inference here?  At face value, it appears that CH'ers have a vitamin D3 deficiency...  Moreover, 70% of the CH'ers who supplement with vitamin D3 at 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3, respond to this supplement with a significant reduction in the frequency and severity of their CH or go pain free. 

So where does that leave us?  Folks who follow clinical studies conducted in accordance with the gold standard protocol, i.e., a clinical trial protocol structured around a randomized, placebo controlled, double blind, and cross-over study of the effectiveness of a pharmaceutical compared to the same pharmaceutical at a lower dose or an alternative pharmaceutical and a placebo, will say...  The above survey data I've been collecting and results are inconsequential.

It's uncontrolled, informal, and it wasn't conducted by a noted medical institution in accordance with accepted standards for clinical trials or standards.

All of that's true...  However, the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory regimen with 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 is building daily...  With well over 150 CH'ers trying this regimen... the results are no longer anecdotal or a coincidence...  It works.

Take care and please feel free to ask questions.

V/R, Batch