hi everyone   had a 4 year break and headaches have re-started
have been on verapamil 480 mg most of the time, but 1 year ago asked the doctor to reduce it to 240mg, now its back and still hitting 1 sometimes twice a day and lasting 45 minutes.
Now back to 480mg and hoping the verapamil kicks in soon

That really sucks, man. If you've let your supply of abortives diminish, and your O2 is out of scrip, get on those things right away. Preventatives seem to not really prevent but "tone down" the hits in a cycle. Keep us informed of your progress. God bless. lance

Welcome back Mikee, go to the meds section and check out the post "123 pain free days and I think I know why" It's the latest and greatest in helping out CHG'ers. You'll see from all the responses it's helping way too many people to ignore it!

Joe

hi everyone  took a look at the d3 therapy but most of the articles i read say not to take calcium supplements with verapamil because it reduce the effects of the verapamil
the verapamil has been my savior for 4 years and dont want to reduce its effects while i am trying to increase its levels  240mg to 480 mg
it still hasnt helped yet,  my doctor last time had me on prednisone as well for a week.  But he didnt this time because  i had cataract surgury nov 15.
Presently i am taking 240mg twice a day and the doctor gave me relpax 20mg twice a day as needed,i have only taken a few relpax but must take them at the first sign of a headache to be effective. 
hoping the increased verapamil will kick in soon.

miikkee wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2012 at 12:31pm:

hoping the increased verapamil will kick in soon.

It typically takes 7 to 10 days for a verapamil dose change to become effective. If it is longer than this and still not giving you the preventitive action you got before it is possible that you need to go to a higher level. It isn't uncommon for people to find one dose works great one cycle and for another to need a higher or lower dose the next.

Do work with your doctor on this.

Mikee,

The anti-inflammatory regimen can be taken without calcium as long as you take the other vitamin D3 cofactors including magnesium, zinc, boron, vitamin A and vitamin K2... and your dietary intake of food types high in calcium are eaten daily...

See your doc about a lab test for 25(OH)D and ask about taking calcium supplements with verapamil.  There are a lot of folks with heart problems on verapamil who still take calcium supplements because both are indicated.  The basic rule for these folks is to take the calcium supplements and verapamil 12 hours apart.

A lot of CH'ers who have taken the anti-inflammatory regimen survey have also reported taking verapamil...  So far, no complaints...  Many found this regimen far more effective than verapamil in preventing their CH and have now stopped taking verapamil.

Bottom line... How would you rate the effectiveness of verapamil in preventing your CH? 

Is it better than the empirical evidence reported in posts here at CH.com of 76% effectiveness for the anti-inflammatory regimen with 10,000 IU/day or more vitamin D3?

Take care,

V/R, Batch

hi everyone -just a update
have been taking 480 mg verapamil since these started
taking 15200iud3 3000mg omega3 1multi 300mgcalcium 150mg magnesium 5mgzinc since nov 24
the kip levels have definitely gone down to 5-6 from 7-8
and have had 2 headache free days this week with a minor headache today
definitely heading in right direction,these are the first headache free days since nov.5

dont know if its the verapamil or vitamins reducing the intensity of the headaches but there is improvement so im staying with this regimen for a while

thx

That's great news! [smiley=thumbsup.gif] Crossing our fingers that it just keeps getting better.

JOe