Since about a little more than 3 weeks ago I had my last real hit. Presumably due to the Verap. Else I´d be still in cycle, although at the end of it if I were to compare it to my normal cycles of 7 weeks rollercoaster and 9 weeks if you take in the pre shadows and post ones.

I do however still have the shadows all day long, not too painfull but very annoying as I am constantly aware of their presence.
Could this be that the Verapamil numbs my hits but that they are still present, I´d love to know. My neurologist said to just wait till they leave too.

The coffee I drink in the morning hours quiets them, but the rest of the day they bug me.

Could I take the oxygen to numb them, or should I save that for when another episode starts, which is hopefully not in another two years.
And to my understanding it is unwise to take Imitrex for just shadows, so I haven´t done that.

Any advice on how to get rid of ´em, other than coffee or energy drinks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx.

Sorry the shadow-man is still chasing you. 

I drink two cups of coffee every day.  That helps to keep the caffiene level more consistent and chase the afternoon shadows off.  That's usually when they tend to intensify. 

If the shadows stay real persistent I chase them off with O2.  Don't be afraid to use it.  Just make sure you don't run out.

George that's an interesting combination.  I'll have to give it a go.

-Dennis-

Often times, 400mg of ibuprofen will help me keep the shadows at bay. What we call "shadows" are probably the layman's equivalent to a real tension headache (in terms of pain level).

Perhaps others might benefit from what you replied, Sandra.

Oh, wait. They can't read it.

For those interested, Google Translate gives you:
Quote:

AussieBrian wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2008 at 9:50am:

Others may know it as acetominophen, or Tylenol.

My husband is going thru same thing as you.  The neuro told him to try not to use tylenol/ibuprofen because could cause rebound headaches, so he usually just suffers.  He drinks couple cups of coffee in the morning but doesn't seem to help.  I told him to start using his 02, he's only used it for the bad ones.  He says seems to help, but he can't use the 02 during the day while he's at work.

I find that there are several things to help shadows.  I've taken effervescent pain relievers, ginger, hot (spicy) foods, coffee w/caffeine, that's about all I can think of at the moment.

I've been shadowing myself the past couple days and am craving hot & spicy foods.  Must be a self help thing.

Quote:

Hot & spicy foods work great sometimes, but one thing to really watch out for is any Asian foods as they contain MSG which can also be a trigger (and then you'll be hurting on both ends! ).  Other than that, I tend to lean more towards the foods with lots of hot peppers in them.

4 Way nasal spray helps my shadows.

Red Bull kills shadows for me for 2-3 hours before they start coming back.  Unforunately my hits intensify at night when I don't want the cafeine, so then I hit the O2.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Maxalt is my last resort.

Have you tried going completely caffeine / med free?

A lot of people with clusters have good results from completely detoxing from all kinds of meds / caffeine / etc.

In the book "Heal Your Headache - The 1 2 3 Program", Workman Publishing, 2002, David Buchhold, M.D. advocates detoxing as well. The book is more about migraine than clusters, but I think it has a lot of good stuff. Some excerpts:

"When you have a headache, you just want to get rid of it. If you're like most people, you rely on painkillers. If you use painkillers only infrequently, and they work, that's fine. But by taking certain quick fixes too frequently, you make your headache problem worse and more difficult to control."

"Treating headaches with painkillers is appropriate only if the need arises infrequently, and only if the treatment is safe and effective. This means taking a safe and effective medication at most two days per month for severe headaches and at most two days per week for mild-to-moderate headaches."

"For infrequent severe headaches, triptans are the best acute treatment, but these drugs must be used no more than two days per month or they'll lead to rebound."

"Insidous and cumulative, rebound is the single biggest problem with quick fixes and greatest potential impediment to headache control. Here's how it works. You take a quick fix to relieve a headache. The quick fix helps temporarily. As the quick fix wears off, your headache tendency increases. You bask in the glow of short-term headache relief, but rebound is a dark cloud on the horizon. Thanks to rebound, your headaches keep going - and growing."

"How do quick fixes cause rebound? Most work by constricting the blood vessels around your head that become swollen due to migraine. You can imagine what happens when the formerly swollen blood vessels escape from the temporary, artificial constriction brought on by the drug. They swell with a vengeance in a process known as rebound vasodilation."

"Caffeine - one of the most potent dietary triggers - has a paradoxical effect that makes it appear helpful for headaches in the short run even though it increases headaches in the long run. This is true of caffeine-containing beverages including coffee, tea and certain sodas such as colas, Mountain Dew and Dr Pepper. The reason is that caffeine constricts blood vessels. If blood vessels around your head are painfully swollen because of migraine, and therefore you have a headache, caffeine may provide temporary relief by constricting the vessels. This is why many headache sufferers, recognizing that a strong cup of coffee or a Coke may ward off an impending headache, gravitate toward dietary caffeine....The problem is that as caffeine and its constricting influence wear off, rebound vasodilation - increased blood vessel swelling - occurs. The occurrence of rebound vasodilation when the constricting influence of caffeine wears off is the reason caffeine contributes to headaches long-term. But because you may initially feel relief, you fail to realize that caffeine ultimately worsens your headaches and therefore must be eliminated."

Wishing you pain-free time,
Rosa

sandie99 wrote on Jul 23^rd, 2008 at 4:15am:

Sanna, I PM'd you, but will answer you here too.

I use supplements and also have drank ginger tea.  I think any way you consume ginger will help. 

Of course, everyone is different, it won't work for everybody, but it's worth a try!

Thank you, Mel.

Ginger helps me with shadows. I'm yet to find the perfect way to drink the ginger tea, though. I've made it myself and I've tried one tea bag kind.

Sanna