How much is too much Imitrex? I get 120-130 headaches per month all year, I take 6-8 mg. per day, and lots of oxygen. I went to the Neurologist. He told me that is too much, and told me one injection per week is all I need, just wondering if anyone else has this problem with these docs. With only one shot per week, I would have to live in the ER. I fired the doc!

Hi Hobo and welcome

Using Imitrex daily you are highly likely to be getting rebound CHs from using it so frequently, which is why your neuro will have been trying to encourage you to reduce your Imitrex usage.

Are you taking anything to prevent your CHs? Something like verapamil, lithium or topomax? A good preventive can reduce the number of CHs you get, so hopefully dropping it down from the 4 or so you get each day.

How are you using your oxygen? Do you have a non-rebreather mask and are you using a high flow rate of at least 15lpm, with higher being better? You can read up about how we use oxygen most effectively at START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

Once you have an effective preventive and are using oxygen optimally you should be able to reduce your Imitrex usage, which with less rebound CHs and many CHs prevented should result in a significant change to your CHs.

Have you read up about how we're using vitamin D as an effective preventive, with a success rate of over 80%? It has resulted in people, including myself, being pain free for over a year.

Tell us more about your CHs and how you deal with them.

Hello Mike. I have tried vitamin d. No help there. I have the non re breather mask. I hit the headache with 25 liters, then back off to 15 when the headache lets up a bit. I have tried different preventive meds. nothing helps. Thanks for the response. Take care.

With the vitamin D, did you also include the other supplements like magnesium, calcium, etc? If it still didn't work, PM Batch and he'll no doubt be able to figure something out if at all possible.

For the other preventive medications, whilst you've tried them and they "didn't work", what dose did you use? Frequently people have said that various things don't work when they haven't had a high enough dose. Verapamil is often one of these when people have been given a dose like 120mg a day when for CH many need 360-480mg a day and some go to over 1000mg a day for relief.

G'day Hobo,
I was wondering, did you check thread by "BATCH".
123 days pain free and i think i know why. checkout
the last thread by JH86, Batch has posted some  good
info there for him to read.

Hoppy.

Hobo,

What prevents have you tried? And how long did you try them?

I'm on zonagran (substitute for Topamax - no side effects) 400mg per day and trazadone and it keeps my headaches pretty much under control.

I still have high cycles which I can control with O2 and imitrex (in a pinch - but I don't use it unless I'm really hitting a high note).

I also take the D3 (10,000) and magnesium. And 10mg of Melatonin at night. (well, I take everything at night)

The fact is - you're probably not going to be pain free if you're chronic (I've been chronic since '97) but you can keep them under control.

I also keep Red Bull handy for those hits in strange places and drink a lot of coffee. Sometimes 3 Excedrin ES and a Red Bull will kill a headache quicker than anything BUT not too often or you'll have rebounds.

Find a neuro who will work with you to find your prevents and keep on till you find the RIGHT cocktail for YOU. All we can do is tell you what works for us.

Keep us up to date on your treatments..  :-*

It would not surprise me to see a decrease in your attacks if you could take a break from Imitrex completely. I've seen a lot of intractable chronics find significant relief when trying that. And...the efficacy of oxygen may increase as well. Look around the site, there are many mainstream and alternative treatments that people find relief using. Good luck and pf wishes.

Same boat as you Hobo.  o2, D3, everything is ineffective when I am in cycle. 

I do the same... 4-6 partial doses of Imitrex per day when in cycle.  I am sure it is not the healthiest thing for us, but is infinitely preferable to sitting through a hit.

When in cycle I use it as a preventative as well... inject when I need 3-4 clear hours when I absolutely cannot be hit, IE on an airliner or such. 

I focus heavily on staying out of cycle... clusterbusters, D3, etc.