Hey Muddawg,

If your oxygen therapy didn't work, I suspect the flow rate was likely too low...  15 liters/minute is the maximum flow rate most physicians will prescribe and even that's too low...  

A flow rate of 15 liters/minute is not going to be effective against cluster headache attacks over a Kip-6 or it will take so long, the attack will end on its own before you get the abort.  There's a high probability of anxiety and possibly panic attacks at this flow rate when CO2 builds up in your system faster than you can cast it off as a 15 liters/minute flow rate provides insufficient lung ventilation.

For example, if you climbed three flights of stairs at a rapid pace, your respiration rate would equate to a flow rate of over 45 liters/minute breathing normal air just to cast off excess CO2 generated by the physical activity...  I suspect you're a dancer or rocker during your high Kip-level cluster headache attacks just like the rest of us and that level of physical activity will command a respiration rate much higher than a 15 liter/minute flow rate with a non-rebreathing oxygen mask can deliver.  The result is CO2 build-up.  A slight elevation in arterial CO2 will completely negate the abortive effects of oxygen therapy at 15 liters/minute making an abort impossible.

25 liters/minute is the minimum flow rate that supports hyperventilation.  Most of us that use oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation use either a demand valve or a high flow rate regulator with the $27.50 O2PTIMASK™ kit from CH.com or Linde LifeGas.  This mask is very important as it has a 3-liter reservoir bag...  That lets you take a full breath of oxygen instead of the 1-liter bag on your disposable NRB mask from the home oxygen supplier.

Take care,

V/R, Batch