Hi all,
Thanks for some of your help with my previous first post.
After doing a better job of keeping track of headaches and timing adn what-not, and following up with my neurologist he now says (and I believe based on what I'm reading here) that I have CH.
He prescribed me a ten-day run of 60 mg of prednisone, which I'm on day 8 of. Haven't had any of the bad side effects others describe related to prednisone. Doc said we'd see whether this ten-day run kicked the cycle (which I'm already 7 weeks into anyway) and if not, we'll talk about other options.

I guess I'm just checking on based on your experience about whether this seems "normal".  The first few days on the prednisone were great... no headaches at all after 2-4 fairly bad ones per day for the 6 weeks prior. Now these last couple days I'm getting those first signs of headache (shadows?) once or twice... been able to pretty effectively fight those off with energy drinks.. Thanks for the tips on the boards here, especially the Aldi brand hasn't killed my budget as much.

so I guess my question is just: is it "normal" for the prednisone to sort of work and sort of not work?
Also, tiredness: I'm waiting for doctors' results of a sleep study, as a couple docs belive I suffer from sleep apnea. But could this all just be CH related? I fall asleep at my desk sometimes (really got bad during this headache cycle). I feel tired all the time. Could I just be worn out from the headaches? FYI: I don't get them in the middle of the night to wake me as it seems many of you do.

Just looking for perspective.
Thanks a lot!

Prednisone works well usually. It it common for the headaches to return at the end of a taper. It should be used with a preventative.
Read this'
START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE
Keep on the fight, dont be discouraged or let this get you down.
all the best
thebb :)
and this tooSTART PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE 8-)

Try and get oxygen prescribed to you before the prednisone runs out. My experience with pred, it blocks the headaches completely, but when I stop the prednisone, the headaches immediately come back 10X stronger then before the prednisone taper! I'd hate to see you caught without a powerful preventative ready to go when the pred runs out. On the plus side, many can BREAK the cycle witht he pred taper, here's hoping you're one of the lucky ones!

Guiseppi

If the present run of Pred does not stop the cycle the doc can do another series with a higher starting dose: not uncommon to have to do this.

I love Prednisone as well because it does give you some pain free time, but for me I was just putting off the inevitable.  The clusters came back after I got done with the Pred.  However, for some people it does kick the cycle.  I hope that that's the case for you!  

Good luck!

Keep us posted!

Thanks for the perspective.... we'll just see what happens here. Thanks for your thoughts!