Hey,

Recently I went on Verapamil 160 mg. It's been almost two weeks now and it has reduced my cluster attacks for around 50 %. There are side effects like flatulence and reduced blood pressure, however the one side effect that is really annoying is that I now have a constant headache throughout the day from the neck up. Oxygen and pain killers do nothing to prevent it.

I've read that headaches are a side effect from Verapamil. I am wondering if from your experiences, these tend do go away in time or by increasing the dosage.

Thanks for your answers.

Jure

I'm on much higher doses of verapamil than are you, but I've not experienced constant headache as a side effect. You should mention this to your doctor. I wonder if what you're feeling is a low level cluster? Or a precursor to a full blown cluster? As in the verapamil is keeping the full cluster at bay but not completely overcoming it? Don't know, but keep us informed. God bless. lance

I'm with Lance, I haven't seen that side effect discussed here. Definitely worth a quick e-mail or phone call to the doc. That's a relatively low dose of verapamil, some go as high as 960 a day to get relief, might want to discuss upping the dosing with the doc. Obviously it must be done under a doctors care as you have to keep on eye on blood pressure. Hoping ya catch some pain free time soon.

Joe

I've been on 160 as well for three weeks.doc says he's gonna up it to 240 or so @ my next visit.i too find I have all day headaches, but assumed it was just shadows;imitrex makes it go away.have noticed that when I missed my dose a couple of times the shadows get stronger.going on three months with this cycle.longest yet. Hoping it ends soon.verapamil seems to help.

Joe offers a legit possibility, therefore, worth a trial at higher dose to see if it fixes your problem.

Yep.

I sent my neuro an email on Friday regarding this but she hasn't answered yet. Regardless, I upped my dosage to 240 yesterday (taking 80mg three times per day). I am now at the start of the third week since starting verap. I've been measuring my BP every day and it doesn't go below 120/80 with heart rate at around 70. That's why I took the liberty of upping the dose myself :-) I'll see if there will be any changes in the next few days.

The fact is that I've been getting a lot of these tension headaches lately, even before starting verapamil. They are not migraines, but rather a constant dull ... I don't know headache I guess. [headache - I hate that word, I think I've used it like a thousand times the past year]. Anyway, I knew it was too good to be true. After getting some relief from just about to be a 9 month daily clusters cycle, some other shit starts acting up on me.

Sorry for the rant. Will keep you posted.

Jure

It will take 7-10 days or so for the dose change to become effective, so keep monitoring things for this timeframe at least.

The other thing is that verapamil can affect the PR interval as measured on an ECG, which is why you need to work with your doctor when changing verapamil dose levels.