The top. and verap. take several days to become effective and then, after the initial trial period, dosing may have to be adjusted. Hope your doc has given some instructions along these lines.

Important to learn. Explore the buttons (left); starting with the OUCH site. Personally, I prefer the organized approach of books and would suggest:

MANAGEMENT OF HEADACHE AND HEADACHE MEDICATIONS, 2nd ed. Lawrence D. Robbins, M.D.; pub. by Springer. $50 at Amazon.Com.  It covers all types of headache and is primarily focused on medications. While the two chapters on CH total 42-pages, the actual relevant material is longer because of multiple references to material in chapters on migraine, reflecting the overlap in drugs used to treat. I'd suggest reading the chapters on migraine for three reasons: he makes references to CH & medications which are not in the index; there are "clinical pearls" about how to approach the treatment of headache; and, you gain better perspective on the nature of headache, in general, and the complexities of treatment (which need to be considered when we create expectations about what is possible). Finally, women will appreciate & benefit from his running information on hormones/menstrual cycles as they affect headache. Chapter on headache following head trauma, also. Obviously, I'm impressed with Robbins' work (even if the book needs the touch of a good editor!) (Somewhat longer review/content statement at 3/22/00, "Good book....")

HEADACHE HELP, Revised edition, 2000; Lawrence Robbins, M.D., Houghton Mifflin, $15. Written for a nonprofessional audience, it contains almost all the material in the preceding volume but it's much easier reading. Highly recommended.
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Re. Oxygen: some folks find that while it may abort an attack the headache may redevelop shortly after you stop using. Only experience will indicate how it works for you. This is the experience for all the meds we use: variable effectiveness between people for reasons which are no understood. Important to sustain you patience as you explore, with the doc, various treatments and NOT get into the self-blaming game. Knowledge is the preventive for fear/anxiety.

Normally a Prednisone taper is perscribed to give some relief
while the Topomax and Verapamil are building up. It usually starts working for me in about 24 hours.