Hello Everyone,

Its back so Im back.  This time Im doing the D3 regiment.  My cycle just started, only feeling the aura and shadows after 2 years of pain free. so I went and got and started taking as of yesterday the following :

D3 :  started with heavy dose of 30,000mg/day
fish oil : 1000mg/day
calcium citrate : 1000mg/day

drinking lots of fresh lemonade.

anything else i should take starting today (day 2)? magnesium (i heard they might assist in bringing on the headaches??)

when should I do the boost of 50,000 D3 ... on 4th day?

I must tell you I feel much better today than I did yesterday and day before.  less shadow and decreased Aura.  I think this may work! Dear GOD I hope it does.

Batch Im sorry, I never did the lab test to check my  levels of 25(OH)D , so I apologise for not for not being to do the survey. 

Should I also take something to protect my stomach from all the vitamins I will taking?

thanks so much for your help!

Hey Rookie,

I'm sure it's just a typo, but the measurement for the D3 should read iu and not mg.

Just check to be sure.

I'm sure Batch will pick up your questions.

Best of luck.

Peter.

Hello Peter,

Yes a typo  :D ... thanks for pointing out.

Hi rookie,
              Its not to late to still get that blood test.
Plus, you need to look at the entire list of vitamins to take, they all compliment each other. Magnesium is a very important one, each works with the other to achieve a result. Plus the vitamin K2 menaquinon m7, this is important to direct the calcium away from the vains etc and to where its suppose to go, bones, teeth etcBatch has recently posted up the entire regime, you would be wise to get all of it and follow his guide.
as a guide, they say you should take the magnesium as a 2 to one ratio to the calcium.
I'm sure Batch will p.m you or post up, but please do take everything as per the regime..
hope this helps
colin

Hi rookie,
Forget the Calcium! It's no longer on the menu! Just  take 1/day Kirkland Mature Multi and you will get all the other cofactors in one go, including all the Calcium you need, but you must take 400-500mg/day of Magnesium to help absorb the vitamin D into your bones. Also, the whole regime must be taken in one go, with your main meal of the day.

rookie wrote,  magnesium (i heard they might assist in bringing on the headaches??)
Just the opposite! They help to alleviate headaches.

Cheers Hoppy

Thank you Hoppy & blacklab,

so I will go ahead and drop the calcium citrate and instead add 1/day kirkland Mature Multi & 400/500 Magnesium.

what about the vitamin K2 menaquinon m7, Vitamin A, Vitamin B 50, and zinc?

also, I have started out with 30,000 D3.  based on this, how long do I continue on this dosage and when do I do the 50,000 Booster?

Just to let everyone know, I have had no attacks whatsoever since starting the regiment.  and I can feel it in the background... if I wasn't on the regiment I know 100% that I would be in agony right now taking prednisone , verapamil and painkillers.
I can not believe this is actually working (for me at least) and I cant thank everyone enough for their efforts to enlighten people.

I will be taking the blood test on Tuesday.

You will find all the cofactors you need in the multi vitamin, except the vitamin B 50, you'll need to purchase that separate. The rule of thumb is 20,000iu/day for one month and one loading dose of 50,000iu once a week for the first two weeks, then after one month, drop back to 10,000iu/day.

Seeing as your getting some relief at the moment, maybe try 10,000iu/day together with the other cofactors and see how you go.

Hoppy.

Thanks Hoppy,

I think Ill drop to 20,000 IU starting today with the loading dose once a week.
without the blood test Im shooting in the dark so Ill get that done and post.

thanks again!

Hi Hoppy,

do I continue to take the 1500mg omega even with the multi vitamin?

Hey Rookie,

You've made a wise decision starting the anti-inflammatory regimen.

The "Go To" link with the latest updated info on all the anti-inflammatory supplements, their doses, drug interactions and contraindications follows:

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The following table represents the latest list of anti-inflammatory regimen supplements and doses:

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I've found the following supplements shown by brand in the photo below are formulated with most of the supplements we need.  I buy them at Costco, but you should be able to find similar formulations at most Vitamin Shoppes, supermarkets, Wall-Mart or over the Internet:

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If you can’t get to a Costco outlet, a CH’er in the UK has found a source for all the needed supplements at iherb.com.  See his post at the following link for details on how to order them over the Internet:

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The vitamin B 50 is not shown.  You’ll need a 3-month course of vitamin B 50 to handle any deficiencies among the seven B vitamins. 

The Mature Multi contains 220 mg calcium, most of the vitamin D3 cofactors and enough of the seven B vitamins to prevent any further deficiencies after the 3-month course of B 50.  It just needs more magnesium and vitamin K2.

Although the Super K with vitamin K2 complex isn't essential in preventing CH, it is needed to handle the increased serum calcium made available by taking vitamin D3 at the doses we take.

There are a growing number of studies finding the super K2 complex helps direct calcium away from soft tissues and arteries directing it instead to bones and teeth improving overall bone mineral density.  I order Super K with Advanced K2 Complex from Amazon or iHerb.

Hope this helps.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hi Batch,
Isn't the vitamin K 30mcg 38% daily value in the Kirkland Mature Multi, plus all the green vegetable's I eat on a daily basis, enough vitamin K?

Cheers Hoppy

thanks Batch for your input.

fyi, this is my 5th day on regimen . shadows and aura completely gone.  Did a beer test yesterday... passed with flying colours :)

Hoppy,

Great question...  The short answer is while you may be getting sufficient vitamin K1 from dietary sources plus the Mature-Multi, you may not be getting enough vitamin K2 if you're not taking MK-7 or a mix of MK-4 and MK-7 supplements... 

The nutrition experts at the Life Extension Foundation have formulated the Super K with Advanced K2 Complex with what they think is an optimum mix of:
vitamin K1  1000 mcg
vitamin K2 complex
        MK-4  1000 mcg
        MK-7    200 mcg

The history of vitamin K2 is relatively recent.  The first reports of another vitamin K function beyond clotting started in 1979.  In 2007, Schurgers et al show that natural vitamin K2 as Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) is the most bioavailable, bioactive and longest lasting form of vitamin K.

The first study of vitamin K2 registered with clinicaltrials.gov started in 2006.  34 vitamin K2 studies have been registered in clinicaltrials.gov since then with 22 studies in the last 5 years.  The majority of these studies were conducted at the Maastricht University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

Some of the most informative articles on vitamin K2 come from Dr. Mercola, MD and Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, ND...

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"Vitamin K1 exclusively participates in blood clotting — that's its sole purpose. K2 on the other hand comes from a whole different set of food sources, and its biological role is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth."

"Vitamin K2 is needed throughout pregnancy, and later while breastfeeding. It may be particularly important during the third trimester, as most women's levels tend to drop at that time, indicating there's an additional drain on the system toward the end of the pregnancy. Since vitamin K2 has no toxicity issues, it may be prudent to double or even triple — which is what Rheaume-Bleue did during her own recent pregnancy — your intake while pregnant."

Mercola and Rheaume-Bleue tend to favor taking additional vitamin K2 (MK-7) when taking vitamin D3 at 5,000 to 10,000 IU/day.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Batch, thanq for the info, I found it very informative and will look for the K2 tomorrow at Chemist Warehouse here in Perth.

Hoppy.

Batch, I went to look for the vitamin K2, but all I could find were the low dose ones, 45mcg. So, I bought some Swiss (menaquinone 7) 45mcg + D3 1000iu and seeing I only take 5000iu of vitamin D3/day, I'll take 4 of these /day + 1 1000iu vitamin D3.

Cheers Hoppy

Hoppy,

You will get K2 MK7 in 100 mcg (ug) tablets, without D3, on EBay. I know Solgar do them, and a brand called NOW.

Peter.

Peter, I did look at the iherb, Biovea, and Amazon sites, but could only find the 45mcg ones, I'll have another look for those ones you mentioned.

Cheers Hoppy

Hoppy

You can get the K2 directly from the Life Extension website and they are actually cheaper than iherb

Alan

Thanks Alan, I'll have a look now! I didn't know about that website.

Cheers Hoppy

Hoppy, not to hijack your thread here but I have been following it about the K2. I did find K2 (MK7) on Amazon.

Nutrigold Vitamin K2 MK-7, 100 mcg, 120 Liquid caps. I like the brand, no GMO, no ingredients from China etc. Check it out.

Judy

Hi Judy,
Thanks for the info, I'll have a look see. Like you, I steer clear of any vitamins from China, here down under I source my Magnesium and Omega 3 from Blackmore, made here in Australia, and my Kirkland Mature Multi and vitamin D3 from Biovea, in the US.

Hoppy.

Thanq all! for your help,
I found the ones Batch recommends on the LifeExtention website.  [smiley=happy.gif].

Hoppy

Hey Hoppy

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:)

Thanks thierry, that's a better [smiley=deal2.gif] than what I got, will go there next time.

Cheers Hoppy

Hello Hoppy and Batch,

Update : I have been on the Regimen since Dec. 26th  it has worked unbelievably so far and I have been thanking my lucky stars every minute of every day.

but in the past 4-5 days, I have begun to feel the monster coming on  gradually every day increasing in severity.  But nothing that does not get killed off very quickly with mild discomfort. But again the intensity of the pain is gradually increasing daily, like it’s about to blow up into a kip 8 but then disappears very quickly but its gaining momentum. Today it lingered for the longest for about 10minutes . Is this normal? I have tested my NO(OH)D and calcium levels today. Results will be out on Saturday. 

My daily dosage is as follows :
Vitamin D3 :  mostly 30,000 iu ( Ive never taken a 50,000 IU booster – since the effects of the 30,000 provided instant relief)
Omega 3 fish oil : 1400 mg
Magnesium :  500 mg
Multi-vitamin
All SOLGAR brand.

Is there anything I should add? Should I do a boost tomorrow ?  much appreciated guys.

Rookie,

Add one 50 mg Benadryl with your evening meal. You may have some small infection or minor allergy that is interfering with the the Regimen.

It makes you drowsey, so don't drive after taking. That's why I suggest with your evening meal.

If you can't get Benadryl, wherever you are, the generic name is Diphenhydramine. You can get it on-line on EBay and other sites.

Good luck,

Peter.

thanks Peter,

today I woke up with a distinct aura and shadows and mild throbbing for the first time.

they do not have Benadryl were I live. they have instead Amydramine, Claritin, or penadol night with paracetamol.  would any of these be a decent replacement to banadryl?

thanks

Hey Rookie,

I am going to hand you over to the Guru on this.

Go to Batch's thread, "123 days pain free..." In the Medications and treatments section and go to page 92/93 (or thereabouts) and Batch will take you through his logic for Benadryl.

Where do you hail from?

Remember the generic on-line route.

Come back with any questions after you read Batch's piece.

Mind yourself,

Peter.

Rookie,

Sorry, that's page 91.

Peter.

rookie wrote on Jan 8^th, 2016 at 3:38am:

they do not have Benadryl were I live. they have instead Amydramine, Claritin, or penadol night with paracetamol.  would any of these be a decent replacement to banadryl?

Check the ingredients in panadol night. It may be Diphenhydramine hydrochloride which is the generic name for benadryl.

THANKS peter for pointing me to the exact page,

SO it appears all the options I mentioned are 2nd & 3rd generation antihistamines.

after digging around, the only first gen available is Allerfin and sold in 4mg tabs. gona take this and hope the experts batch or hoppy jump in soon.

aura and severity increasing, feeling a monster about to nock me off this gravy train any minute now.

d and calcium results tomw.

wishing everyone a pain free night.

update : my test results for Calcium is 10 mg/dl and vitamin D is 60. 
im guessing my D must have been very low, since its only at 60 with all that Im taking.

Rookie,

Sorry to be so slow...  Allerfin (Chlorphenamine) is a first-generation alkylamine antihistamine similar to Diphenhydramine so it should help when taken in conjunction with the anti-inflammatory regimen to prevent your CH.

With a 25(OH)D serum concentration of 60 ng/mL, you're at the lower boundry of the green zone (60 to 110 ng/mL) where most CH'ers experience a therapeutic response to the anti-inflammatory regimen.

You can speed up the process of rebuilding your 25(OH)D serum concentration by taking 50,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 for 3 to 4 days as a loading dose.  You also may want to pop the vitamin D3 gelcaps between your back teeth and swirl the contents under your tongue and keep them there for at least 5 minutes without swallowing. 

This sublingual method allows Vitamin D3 to enter directly into the blood stream through the arteries and capillaries under the tongue.  This also bypasses the GI tract where you may have a vitamin D3 absorption problem.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

thank you Batch for your feedback.

started taking the Allerfin and since then its been smooth sailing. the light shadows and short bouts I was experiencing are completely gone. 

Cant thank you enough.  I could only imagine my situation if I didn't try the regimen. thank you again for all your efforts to help everyone on this board.
anyone who has not tried the Regimen because he doesn't believe it works or for whatever reason. DO NOT WAIT. GET ON IT.

hello everyone,

cycle has ended about a month ago and thanks to the D3 Reg it was the easiest and mostly pain free cycle Ive ever had.

thank you all for your help! PF days ahead to all.

Rookie

Hey Rookie,

It's always great to hear news like this.

Long may it continue.

Peter.

First off, a big thank you to Batch and the rest of the posters here. Im now in month 5 and have recently modified the protocol a bit (after tapering down from higher doses and getting my labs checked, all levels were optimal) - now on Vit D3 4000 IU, K2 45 mcg, DHA 450 mg, EPA 250 mg ,Mg Glycinate 100 mg, B complex etc. This is in addition to verapamil + melatonin 6 mg at night, and sumatriptan when needed. i started with episodic ~twice a year in 2006, then converted to chronic in June 2013. The last 2 months have been by far the best ive had since before 2013...

strangely, im also better able to do intense exercise over the last 1-2 months (in the past my chances for an attack were >75% afterward, but now down to <20%). wonder if anyone else has noticed this?

again, thank you to all.

Hey Rookie,

Thanks for the feedback and kind words.  It's posts like yours that give the wallflowers dancing the cluster two-step on the side line the motivation to start the anti-inflammatory regimen and stop dancing the cluster two-step...

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Rookie,

Your update has brought a ray of sunshine into an otherwise abysmal week.

Thank you.

Peter.

Hey RSI,

Welcome to CH.com and the anti-inflammatory regimen.  Thanks for the kind words and PM.  Hopefully we can discuss the contents of your PM in future posts here at CH.com following the Clusterbuster's Conference in Austin, TX next month.

For starters, it appears you're off to a good start with this regimen.  Off hand, as you're still experiencing CH, I'd suggest a higher maintenance dose of vitamin D3. 

I'd also suggest a week to 10 day course of oral Benadryl (Diphenhydramine HCL) at 25 mg in the am and another 25 mg in the evening.   Just be careful not to drive while taking Benadryl as is will make you drowsy.  If you need to drive during the day, taking 50 mg in the evening is just as effective...

The rationale for Diphenhydramine is you may have an allergic reaction cooking somewhere...  Some of these allergic reactions can be sub-clinical with no outward or obvious symptoms...  but they're still there.

The problem with allergic reactions is they cause a flood of histamine that triggers the release of CGRP from the trigeminal ganglia.  What's even worse is CGRP in turn triggers the release of more histamines.  This results in a self-sustaining perfect storm of CH until the chemical reactants are use up and this ends the CH attack...  During this perfect storm, CHers will be refractory to nearly all forms of CH prophylaxis... 

Fortunately a first-generation antihistamine like Benadryl (Diphenhydramine HCL) crosses the blood brain barrier to block H1 histamine receptors.  Blocking the H1 histamine receptors breaks the histamine-CGRP cycle, stops the histamine perfect storm and this enables vitamin D3 to prevent CH through genetic expression...

Regarding a reduction in the frequency of your CH following strenuous exercise...  I'm inclined to attribute this reduction in frequency to the vitamin D3.  That said, the real question is why does strenuous exercise trigger CH?

I'm of the opinion that arterial pH plays a major role in both the pathogenesis of CH and in the abort process with oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation.

During my work in developing new methods of oxygen therapy as a CH abortive, I discovered an upward shift in arterial pH played a significant role in affecting the CH abort. 

The two methods I developed involved using oxygen flow rates that support hyperventilation (25 to 50 liters/minute) or hyperventilating with room air for 30 seconds at forced vital capacity tidal volumes then inhaling a lungful of 100% oxygen and holding it for 30 seconds. You keep repeating either method until the CH abort which averages 7 minutes across pain levels 3 though 9.

Both of these methods result in respiratory alkalosis as a result of intentional hyperventilation that pumps more CO2 from the lungs that normal.  As CO2 exists in the bloodstream as carbonic acid, removing more CO2 than normal reduces the concentration of carbonic acid and this in turn elevates arterial pH making it more alkaline...  hence respiratory alkalosis.

Here's where things get interesting...  The control mechanisms that maintain serum pH between 7.35 and 7.45 involve a process of increasing or decreasing the respiration rate, heart beat rate and constricting or dilating arteries, arteriols and capillaries. 

Almost everything in the human body needs to be maintained in a very narrow range for the many chemical processes within it to work properly. This is known as homeostasis. 

For reference, the body uses a number of homeostatic control mechanisms...  Ever wonder why the normal body temp is 98.6º?  The answer is homeostasis.  There's also calcium, sodium, phosphate, and magnesium homeostasis that maintains the serum concentration of these ions in a very narrow range.

The homeostatic processes that maintain arterial pH are controlled by a small cluster of chemoreceptors and baroreceptors in the carotid bodies located in the two carotid arteries and chemoreceptors in the periphery.

When these receptors detect the partial pressure of CO2 is too low or too high, they signal control centers in the hypothalamus which in turn regulate respiration, heart beat vasoconstriction and vasodilation.

In the case of oxygen therapy with hyperventilation where we've pumped out more CO2 than normal by intentionally hyperventilating, pH homeostasis signals a lower respiration rate, a lower heart beat and it signals the arteries, arterioles and capillaries to constrict. 

All this happens very rapidly as we can elevate our arterial pH from 7.35 to 7.45 and higher in a matter of 3 to 5 minutes as we continue intentionally hyperventilating.  The rapid vasoconstriction made possible with these two methods of oxygen therapy play a key role in the CH abort process.

The combined effect of these homeostatic control mechanisms during normal respiration, slows the loss of CO2 from the lungs allowing the arterial CO2 partial pressure to rise back to normal.

The exact opposite occurs if the partial pressure of CO2 is too high...  For CHers, this can be a trigger as excess CO2 triggers a very rapid vasodilation...  part of the CH pathogenesis... 

This also happens during deep sleep where the respiration rate is lowest allowing the partial pressure of CO2 to rise and the partial pressure oxygen to drop.  As CHers in cycle or near the tipping point... we get hit and wake up with the cluster beast jumping ugly...

Getting back to CH triggered by strenuous exercise...  A byproduct of strenuous exercise is lactic acid...  During normal physical activity, there is sufficient oxygen to metabolize glucose to CO2 and water.  This is called aerobic glycolysis.  However, during strenuous exercise muscles cannot get enough oxygen so breakdown glucose to lactic acid in what is called anaerobic glycolysis. 

For CHers near the tipping point for a CH, strenuous exercise can result in a perfect storm with excess CO2 and lactic acid, both of which trigger rapid vasodilation throughout the body... including the trigeminal ganglia...  a CH trigger.

Sorry about the long-winded explanation, but that's my take on why strenuous exercise can trigger CH.

Take care,

V/R, Batch