Hello, I am new to this. My husband has been diagnosed w/ch.  He has had a headache every night for three weeks now. Neuro. just put him on oxygen. He has taken it three times for about 15 min. at a time time already tonight. How long should he do it for? He keeps going asleep. i take it off and then he ends up needing it again.

It is not intended for the patient to fall asleep while on 100% O2. You should not have to "take it off." Cut that strap off the mask right away. If both of you were to fall asleep and his tank emptied, he could suffocate.

Try to encourage him to sit up and hold the mask to his face while he uses it.

A couple of important things to remember when using oxygen; get on to it as soon as you feel a hit coming on, flow rate at least 12 litres per minute & you must stay on it for the same amount of time after you have killed the hit as it took to kill it, now that may not make a lot of sense but here’s the deal: count the amount of breaths it takes to kill the hit then stay on the oxygen for the same amount of breaths this should stop rebound headaches that you probably wont be able to get rid of.
I can usually abort a hit with about 80 to 100 breaths but I breathe straight from the bag as I have a beard & can’t get a proper seal with the mask.

Cheers
Barry

Barry_T_Coles wrote on Jun 9^th, 2008 at 10:56pm:

I breathe straight from the bag as I have a beard & can’t get a proper seal with the mask.

Great advice Barry.  I have a small beard too and use a mouth tube instead of the mask.

-Dennis-

Do some reading up both here and at o.u.c.h site.  It sounded like a lot of bother when I first started, but it helped me a bunch.

What works for me.   Cut off the strap.   If clustermasx is still around, it works well.   Set yourself up next to a good situp chair or old-fashioned rocker.  Get to it early, and find the flow so your breathing pure o2 - around 10lpm works for me.  Usually 15 minutes or so does the trick for me.  I have not had any serious issues with rebound, but mid-cycle often has a few bad hits per day.

I hope his hits get milder and the cycle is short!

You you guys with beards should just shave them off.  What are you hiding under there anyway.  OK, I admit it.  I'm just jealous that I am 32 and still can't grow a beard or a mustache or a decent looking goatee

kevmd wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 10:04pm:

You you guys with beards should just shave them off.  What are you hiding under there anyway.

Gotta work on growin' those man-feathers, dude...  

You don't have to look as sour as this old fart, though:

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Welcome to CH.com, TRG.  Supporters are the gold standard in human beings, as far as we're concerned.  Thanks for taking care of our cluster-brother.

Best wishes,

George

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Ahhhhhhhh! Ah! Ah! Ahhhhhhhh!

wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 11:01pm:

Ahhhhhhhh! Ah! Ah! Ahhhhhhhh!

Don't be skeered.  It's just a beard.

As others have said. Cut the strap off. Also, it sounds like there is a good chance he doesn't have the right mask. If the O2 folks just gave a mask there is a good chance it is a rebreather. You need a non-rebreather, meaning it isn't mixing with air that is coming in through the vent holes - so he will get pure O2.

If administered quick enough upon feeling a hit coming on I can often abort a hit in less than 5 minutes. If it gets to 15 minutes for me, I personally find the O2 isn't going to get it for me - and then I move to the imitrex.

I do sometimes get multiple hits in a night (usually alcohol induced hits), the O2 will knock it down but it will claw its way back. Bad on me for drinking in cycle.

No sleeping on the O2 though!!!


Scott