So I started getting some extreme headaches a few weeks ago and I knew I was screwed.  I have a script for Verapamil there only 100mg ER, 1 pill in the morning and once a night.  Which needless to say did nothing for me.  After reading on here about what MG people were taking I decided to up my dose to 400mg  I take one in the early morning afternoon evening and before bed.  I've been having major success with it since I upped the dose.  I know I'm not a doctor and shouldn't just up my dose like that but I was desperate and can never get in to see the doc right away.  So besides that what is everyone's take on Verapamil?  What MG's are you at and when did you start to notice it was helping or not helping at all?

When I took it during a long chronic cycle, I was taking 480 mgs. a day. Under my doctors supervision. Good luck and pf wishes.

I took 120 mg three times a day. It didn't work for me at all. To quote guip, it was like taking a cement pill for your good ol' digestive system. The side effects (awful) did not outweigh the benefits (nothing) and I switched to oxcarbazpine and gabapentin.
That said, a lot of people had have success with it, so best of luck.

Do work with your doctor on dose changes for verapamil. Whilst a dose of 400mg/day is not that high when used for treating CH, there is a risk of it affecting the PR interval as seen on an ECG, so this is something your doctor should be monitoring with regular ECGs. If it is an issue, stopping the verapamil should sort this out.

1. It's the most widely used and effecive preventive we have, but
2. folks don't understand that it takes several days before becoming effective, hence using prednisone to abort attacks while the V builds up.
3. Low dosing major source of failure, often reflecting docs who don't know how to treat Cluster.
4. Least likely source of failure is that one doesn't have Cluster--diagnosis. (See:
Link to: cluster-LIKE headache:
Section, "Medications, Treatments, Therapies --> "Important Topics" --> "Cluster-LIKE headache")
5. Call to your doc's attention.
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J Headache Pain. 2011 Apr;12(2):173-6. Epub 2011 Jan 22.
Cardiac safety in cluster headache patients using the very high dose of verapamil (=720 mg/day).
Lanteri-Minet M, Silhol F, Piano V, Donnet A.
SourceDépartement d'Evaluation et traitement de la Douleur Médecine palliative, Pôle Neurosciences Cliniques du CHU de Nice, Hôpital Pasteur Avenue de la Voie Romaine, 06002 Nice Cedex, France. lanteri-minet.m@chu-nice.fr

Abstract
Use of high doses of verapamil in preventive treatment of cluster headache (CH) is limited by cardiac toxicity. We systematically assess the cardiac safety of the very high dose of verapamil (verapamil VHD) in CH patients. Our work was a study performed in two French headache centers (Marseilles-Nice) from 12/2005 to 12/2008. CH patients treated with verapamil VHD (=720 mg) were considered with a systematic electrocardiogram (EKG) monitoring. Among 200 CH patients, 29 (14.8%) used verapamil VHD (877±227 mg/day). Incidence of EKG changes was 38% (11/29). Seven (24%) patients presented bradycardia considered as nonserious adverse event (NSAE) and four (14%) patients presented arrhythmia (heart block) considered as serious adverse event (SAE). Patients with EKG changes (1,003±295 mg/day) were taking higher doses than those without EKG changes (800±143 mg/day), but doses were similar in patients with SAE (990±316 mg/day) and those with NSAE (1,011±309 mg/day). Around three-quarters (8/11) of patients presented a delayed-onset cardiac adverse event (delay =2 years). Our work confirms the need for systematic EKG monitoring in CH patients treated with verapamil. Such cardiac safety assessment must be continued even for patients using VHD without any adverse event for a long time.

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

PMID:21258839[PubMed]
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Sounds grim but not a major problem when you doc knows the need for monitoring.

6. See PDF file, below.

7. You're too young to play doctor anymore! <bg>

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