Greetings all, I have a question about oxygen losing effectiveness.  I have used oxygen for the last 8 years as a primary abortive for my clusters.  It has saved my life and I shudder to think of life without it.  Recently, I have had a few headaches break through my Verapamil, so far they have all been middle of the night hits.  I immediately started my oxygen but on this last round of clusters it doesnt seem to be working at least not like it has before.  Ususally I hit a cluster immediately with 15lpm and in about 5 min the pain is gone, if I stop, the pain ramps back up in several minutes I'll hit it again 5 min at 15lpm then I usually cut the flow back to about 12lpm and use it for 10 more min.  Most of the time this completely aborts the cluster.  In this last cluster, I've had 3 headaches that 1)the oxygen never really completely takes the pain away even at 25lpm and 2) I could not completely abort even after 1.5 E tanks each, all 3 I had to take a Immitrex shot to abort.  I'm scared to death, I can't imagine what I would do if the oxygen stopped working.  Is it possible that my headaches are getting resistant to the oxygen?  Has anyone else here gone thorugh this?  Is it maybe time to invest in Demand Valve?  Thanks for reading, I feel somewhat better just posting this here, I know from experience if anyone can help they're most likely here.

First off it is worth reading through the oxygen page - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

Some people have had success drinking an energy drink when they use oxygen.

Are you hyperventilating when using oxygen? That seems to work well with most people, although there have been some who reported that it didn't help, so experiment with both to see what works best for you now.

The demand valve option has also helped some people when even 25lpm didn't help, so another option.

Night time CHs seem to be harder to kill off with oxygen since for most people the CH is well developed before they wake up and the delay makes it harder to kill. If your CHs are at regular times some people have set their alarm for a few minutes before the CH arrives so they can be awake to start on the oxygen as soon as it starts.

Another option for preventing night time CHs is using melatonin. Use the search tool at the top left and you'll find lots of posts discussing doses and brands (some are more effective than others).

Have you tried using the vitamin D3 approach? That might help cut down the number of CHs, which is always better than having CHs to abort.

I really hope something works soon as we all know what a difference it makes to having an effective way to abort our CHs.

May be time to increase the Veap dose. Where are you now?

I've read in medical literatre comments about your report, i.e., oyxgen not fully effective in killing an attack and so a recurence immediately after stopping using. BUT, also a recommendation that it not be used for long periods (hour plus).

But you are not at the end of the limb. Still a number of effective abortives, meds which have a long enouch half life to give longer acting effect which you may need.

Thanks for the response Mike!  I do hyperventilate when using oxygen but it did not help these last 3 clusters.  I do use coffee in conjunction with oxygen for night hits, I have trouble keeping Red Bull down in the middle of the night.  I know from experience that you're right about night hits being harder to manage and luckily I haven't had any mid day hits to test this. 

I've been extremely lucky the last 8 years, maybe too lucky because it's made me complacent.  I havent been stockpiling triptans, I haven't been visiting this site and reading about the latest tips and tricks, so I do have some catching up to do.  I have tried Melatonin in the past, it didn't seem to make much difference but I may try it again.  I have not tried the D3 approach.  I'll have to search for the thread discussing it.

I was really most curious if people had heard of oxygen stop working permanently or if this is just something that happens at times.


Thanks for the response Bob!  I'm on a pretty high dose of Verap I think, 240mg x2 per day.

If you don't like the taste of Red Bull, try some of the other drinks, just look for the combination of caffeine and taurine. Or just try drinking it even faster. It was quite some months before I realised that it wasn't red in colour as when I need it I skull it as fast as possible.

For oxygen, try giving Batch a PM, he is the oxygen guru (and vitamin D3 too).

Others have mentioned oxygen stopping working, but often it just needs a tweak to get working again, with a higher flow rate often being what is needed.

With verapamil a dose of 480mg a day is reasonably high, but some people need up to 1000mg, so there is still the potential for it to be increased but make sure you work with your doctors on this as it might not be an option for you.

Quote:

If you don't like the taste of Red Bull, try some of the other drinks

The taste doesn't really bother me.  It's that they really upset my stomach if I try to down them quickly instantly after waking up, combine this with the fact that when I wake up with headaches I already feel nauseous, I've tried before I usually just throw them back up.

PM Batch and ask him to explain the PH diet. 02 stopped working for me about 4 years ago, scared the be-jezuz outta me. Batch started me on the PH altering diet and within about 36 hours it was knocking them dead. I've since moved to the Batch Regimen,,, D-3.....and have been CH free about 3.5 years.

Joe

O2 stopped working for me also.  I used it sucessfully for a few years and then it just quit working.  I had to move on and find something else.  Also I agree that the verapamil has room for increasing the dosage.  I went up to 900mg and it still didn't help my ch just made me light headed, short of breath, low blood pressure, etc.  Work with your dr on this.  The key is slowly go up on it.  Good luck!!

Jason, you are describing my recurring nightmare! So far O2 has worked wonders (over 10 years now) but I have to say it is only a part of my arsenal. I use a ladder method to abort along with an ever changing and adapting preventative method, including D3. The abort ladder starts with simple O2. Then it rises to O2 + an energy drink. If that doesn't work I go to O2 + a second energy drink, and then if that doesn't work, I use either a shot of Imitrex or a snort of Migranal. So far, this method has worked every time. I seldom climb the ladder higher than a second energy drink, but in high chronic cycles, I may use Imitrex or Migranal two or three times a week. Hope this helps. God bless. lance