My husband is the clusterhead.  He has been episodic for 20 years and chronic for 1.5-2 years.  O2 works great, but his headaches hit every 1.25 hours all night.  The oxygen knocks them down, but then he only gets an hour of sleep before the next one hits.  He was finally exhausted enough to see a neurologist, who tried verapamil then lyrica.  Neither helped.  Lyrica made the hits worse.  This week he started lithium and has had two pain-free nights in a row!  Two complete nights sleeping through the night with no O2 at all.  This ispractically unheard of for him.  I am trying not to get my hopes up, but has anyone heard of lithium working this well this fast?

Usually one hears of lithium taking 10-14 days to reach theraputic levels in the body. Could be any number of things, but I wouldn't mess with it. If he does go back to getting hit, he might want to talk to his doc about a short taper of prednisone while the lithium builds up in his system.

My prednisone tapers have been in decreasing amounts, ie 3 days at 60 mg, 3 days at 50 mg, 3 days at 40 mg, 3 days at 20 mg, 3 days at 10 mg.

Currently my neuro has me on a maintenance dose of 10 mg every other days, along with my other meds.

Charlotte

You start out big, sustain that level for a couple of days, then taper down slowly. Your doc will know how to do it for your body weight.

Lithium has been my silver bullet for many years. For some reason there are some it just doesn't work for. Like you, at 1200 mg a day,  I'm damned near bullet proof against the beast. Hope it works for you as long as it has for me.

Guiseppi

"High dosage" is a relative term. People who use lithium for bipolar disorders generally take twice as much or more than we Ch'ers do.

I suffer no ill side effects at 600mg per day. Even at 900mg per day, I only feel a little tired, nothing that an extra cup of coffee or two wont' cure.

For awhile I was at 1200mg per day, and even at that level, I had no hand tremor, which is one of the first indications of lithium toxicity.

Go to Google.com, type in "lithium dosage," and start clickin' and readin'. Here's a little tidbit I found on using lithium to treat depression:

Dosage

Dosages of 600 to 1200 mg/d (or blood levels of 0.4 to 0.8 mmol) have been used to augment antidepressant response. Thase, 1995:1088 (5)

Serum lithium levels do not appear to be correlated with responsiveness of depressive symptoms to lithium augmentation. de Montigny, 1994:32 (5,6)

One study has shown that patients with serum levels of 0.4 mmol had a comparable response to patients with serum levels of 0.8 mmol. de Montigny, 1994:32 (5,6)

Thus, an inadequate response to lithium addition may not be remedied by increased doses, and may increase the risk of adverse events. de Montigny, 1994:32 (5,6)

Adverse effects

In general, lithium augmentation appears to be safe if low doses are used. de Montigny, 1994:33 (2)

Side effects observed with lithium concentrations of 0.5 mM to 1 mM include hand tremor, weight gain, thirst, and increased urine production.

Concentrations >2 mM are characterized by nausea, fine tremors, diarrhea, ataxia, confusion, slurred speech; >4 mM can cause coma or death. Atack, 1995:343 (2,3)

Blood levels, renal status, and thyroid function should be monitored.
Cognitive effects.

They say lithium works better for the chronics. I'm an episodic and I get the same effect he does, almost complete relief at 1200 mg a day. I'm so glad to hear it's working so well for him. It's  nice to not be afraid of going to sleep! (Guess you'll be investing in ear plugs???)

Hoping the relief lasts forever!

Guiseppi

I have been using the Lithium too this week. My doctor put me on a gradually increasing dose and gave me a nerve block (Gee those hurt.. but its better than the BEAST) And she also gave me imitrex injections but the pharmacy forgot to give me the needles. (Duh) So I have to go back but so far the lithium seems to help. I am just super tired and grumpy. My boyfriend is threatening to lock me in the closet. Yea right. Like he can get that close when I am grumpy Tee Hee. Does anyone else have the I dont want to eats with this? Food tastes funny now. Better than the beast however. I am hoping your husband is feeling much much better and I can sympathize with the snoring. My boyfriend rattles windows. Ear plugs are a must around here. Hoping you have all have a pain free weekend. Sophia