Bob Johnson
CH.com Alumnus
 
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"Only the educated are free." -Epictetus
Posts: 5965
Kennett Square, PA (USA)
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If you are old enough, you know that Seymour Diamond, the founder of the clinic, was a big name in early CH research and treatment. His daughter, I believe, is/was top dog now.
Reports here have been generally favorable but I assume that overall ratings reflects how good/bad the oucome of the treatment was rather than any capacity to evaluate the quality ot the MEDICINE being practiced. If this is a serious question, I'd ask your doc to nose around for reports. Doctor-to-doctor evaluations are going to be more candid and dependable. ======== Your Verap dose is low compared to what is common used. Upwards toward 900 is not uncommon.
Imitrex spray is regarded as less effective than the injection and may be worth exploring. See buttons, left, for lower dose regime which has gained medical aproval.
Zyprexa has a good following here. Re. travel: the pill form has obvious advantages and, on a per dose basis, less expensive cf. triptans. ---
Headache 2001 Sep;41(8):813-6
Olanzapine as an Abortive Agent for Cluster Headache.
Rozen TD.
Department of Neurology, Jefferson Headache Center/Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate olanzapine as a cluster headache abortive agent in an open-label trial. BACKGROUND: Cluster headache is the most painful headache syndrome known. There are very few recognized abortive therapies for cluster headache and fewer for patients who have contraindications to vasoconstrictive drugs. METHODS: Olanzapine was given as an abortive agent to five patients with cluster headache in an open-label trial. THE INITIAL OLANZAPINE DOSE WAS 5 MG, AND THE DOSE WAS INCREASED TO 10 MG IF THERE WAS NO PAIN RELIEF. THE DOSAGE WAS DECREASED TO 2.5 MG IF THE 5-MG DOSE WAS EFFECTIVE BUT CAUSED ADVERSE EFFECTS. To be included in the study, each patient had to treat at least two attacks with either an effective dose or the highest tolerated dose. RESULTS: Five patients completed the investigation (four men, one woman; four with chronic cluster, one with episodic cluster). Olanzapine reduced cluster pain by at least 80% in four of five patients, and TWO PATIENTS BECAME HEADACHE-FREE AFTER TAKING THE DRUG. Olanzapine typically alleviated pain within 20 minutes after oral dosing and treatment response was consistent across multiple treated attacks. The only adverse event was sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS: Olanzapine appears to be a good abortive agent for cluster headache. IT ALLEVIATES PAIN QUICKLY AND HAS A CONSISTENT RESPONSE ACROSS MULTIPLE TREATED ATTACKS. IT APPEARS TO WORK IN BOTH EPISODIC AND CHRONIC CLUSTER HEADACHE.
PMID 11576207 PubMed
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Olanzapine has a brand name of "Zyprexa" and is a antipsychotic. Don't be put off by this primary usage. Several of the drugs used to treat CH are cross over applications, that is, drugs approved by the FDA for one purpose which are found to be effective with unrelated conditions--BJ.
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