I'm in a terrible cycle right now for almost 2 months.  I'm on 720 mg verapamil, 900 mg Lithium, 200 mg Topamax.  Self employed, so I have to pay for my own insurance which does not have RX coverage.  Sucks, but it is what I can afford.  When my insurance covered RX, I used Imitrex injections, but can't afford to buy them now.  I also taking 15K mg Vitamin D3 for about a month plus the fish oil.  For abortives, I have Imitrex pills and just got O2 to try again.  Tried it before with no success, but read all the detailed stuff on this site, so decided to try it again.  The only tanks the local supplier had were small, but figured it was enough to try it.  Got the 15LPM valve and non rebreather mask.  First headache I felt coming on after I got it home, I started the O2.  Stayed on it about 15 minutes and felt great afterward.  45 minutes later, it was back.  O2 again for 15 minutes, eased it up some but it got pretty bad.  Took imitrex and finally eased it up.  Same deal this morning.

I don't know where to go from here.  Already out of O2 with the small tank.  They're checking on a bigger tank, but not sure how much that is going to cost.  Where do people get it when they have to pay out of pocket? 

Any other suggestions on meds?  Been on a couple of Prednisone tapers.  Last one was a few weeks ago.  Doc doesn't like to give them.  They help until I drop below 60 mg.  Hate taking all these meds and still feel like crap plus still having the headaches!!!

My last cycle was 15 months ago.

Rick

Rick,

I got my big O2 Tank from Air Gas, I believe it cost around $100 originally and it costs me about $20 each time for a tank exchange. Make sure you don't tell them its for your headaches or they may not sell it to you. You are an at home welder.  :)

Yes, an at home welder aka a metal sculptor. In fact the place where I bought my tank didn't care, and the guy even designed a special rig so I could attach the non re-breather mask.

You'll get a lot more bang for your gas buck if you use the hyperventilation technique that Batch has devised. He's got it posted somewhere and his explanation is much better than anything I could give you here. I suggest you do a search for the word "hyperventilation". It involves expelling all the air from your lungs by forcing up your diaphragm, and then inflating them with as much oxygen as you can possibly breathe. I found it really cut down the time it took to abort an attack, especially if you can grab it early.

Really sorry to read about your bad cycle, Rick. Thoughts with you.
David

A bit off topic, but 200mg Topamax worked great for me all by itself except I had a bad side effect of becoming a bit stupid (loss of focus, blurry memory, etc).

I'm currently on 2000mg Depakote (1xday) and 250mg Verapamil (morning and again at night) and it is working for me.  I also take the combination of Fish oil/Vit D2/VitK/Zinc/Magnesium recommended in other threads here (I don't take the calcium to to blood pressure issues).

Before I found something that worked, I had 3 O2 tanks that cost me $30 each to refill (out of pocket, ouch).  Each would treat about 4 headaches.  The place I got the tanks is basically renting the tanks so I don't really have to pay for the tanks themself.

I really do wish you the best of luck.  It took me almost 4 months to find something that worked (and probably a month before I was actually diagnosed) so I understand your frustration - some meds actually made things worse!  Don't give up, there is something that will work.

By using welding O2, I got my cost down to $20. per refill of a "T" size tank - about 9500 liters of oxygen. I use around 40 liters per minute for about 2-4, then another few minutes at 25 lpm, so that's about 260 liters per abort.

The tank of 9500 liters gives me 35 to 45 aborts, so the cost averages $0.45 to $0.55 per abort.
  Even factoring in the $55.00/year lease, it is not an expensive treatment. Beats a K9 to K10 any day..............

Marc

Thanks for the info.  Should be picking up the bigger tank today.  Thought my cycle was ending, but it seems to be picking back up again. 

O2 question...I have been able to abort the headaches pretty quickly by using the hyperventilation techniques, but then they always return within 45 minutes to an hour.  I have not been able to get one to stay away with only O2.  Am I missing something.  I'm staying on the O2 for about 5 minutes after the headache is gone.

I'm very sorry to read that, K.T. Maybe someone else will weigh in with a better solution. I can only suggest that you be sure you're really forcing all the CO2 out of your lungs by pushing up on your diaphragm hard. I really end up making a "Huhhh!" sound, and indeed end up coughing after a few of those breaths. But then the coughing stops. This is my takeaway from Batch's description of the technique, and I find that by using it I can kill the impending pain in as little as 5 or 6 minutes without recurrence.

That said of course, we're all different. I know that one poster holds the O2 in for 30 seconds or so, so you might try that as well once you've expunged the CO2.

Give it a shot and let us know how you're doing, ok?

Drinking an energy drink...I use sugar free red bull.....while I abort with oxygen, seems to prevent the come backer attack. Several others have had success with this technique. It's tough for the night time hits but works great during the days.

Joe

Fully in agreement with what Joe wrote. I, too, have found that chugging an energy drink (I use Monster doubles) will not only assist in aborting a hit, but help prevent the next hit. Doesn't seem likely, but our experience indicates it does work. blessings. lance