Hi everyone, just began another cycle last week and I normally go to a Prednisone taper around the 2nd week of the cycle (average cycle has been 4-5 weeks for me). During the last cycle I had 2 years ago a day after finishing the Prednisone I had one of the worst headaches I ever had. From reading the message boards it seems as if this is the norm coming off Prednisone. Has anyone had better luck as far as frequency and intensity without using Prednisone? I am strongly considering not using the taper this cycle to see what happens.

The problem is that Pred is not intended to be the only med to use. It's short acting and doesn't provide the long duration prevention which we need.

Standard approach:
1. Pred for about 10-days, tapering off over about 10-days.
2. At the same time, starting a long acting preventive, commonly Veapamil working up to the range of 400-800mg/day.
3.Using a fast acting abortive, one of the triptans, to kill an attack which sneaks by the Verapamil.

Are you working with a doc who has experience with Cluster? Sounds like not.

Print the PDF file, below. Use to discuss your options with your doc.

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