The Pred taper is a well established way of breaking a CH cycle and giving you relief while waiting for a long term preventive med to take effect.

You didn't mention of starting one.
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Headache. 2004 Nov;44(10):1013-8.   

Individualizing treatment with verapamil for cluster headache patients.

Blau JN, Engel HO.


    Background.-Verapamil is currently the best available prophylactic drug for patients experiencing cluster headaches (CHs). Published papers usually state 240 to 480 mg taken in three divided doses give good results, ranging from 50% to 80%; others mention higher doses-720, even 1200 mg per day. In clinical practice we found we needed to adapt dosage to individual's time of attacks, in particular giving higher doses before going to bed to suppress severe nocturnal episodes. A few only required 120 mg daily. We therefore evolved a scheme for steady and progressive drug increase until satisfactory control had been achieved. Objective.-To find the minimum dose of verapamil required to prevent episodic and chronic cluster headaches by supervising each individual and adjusting the dosage accordingly. Methods.-Consecutive patients with episodic or chronic CH (satisfying International Headache Society (IHS) criteria) were started on verapamil 40 mg in the morning, 80 mg early afternoon, and 80 mg before going to bed. Patients kept a diary of all attacks, recording times of onset, duration, and severity. They were advised, verbally and in writing, to add 40 mg verapamil on alternate days, depending on their attack timing: with nocturnal episodes the first increase was the evening dose and next the afternoon one; when attacks occurred on or soon after waking, we advised setting an alarm clock 2 hours before the usual waking time and then taking the medication. Patients were followed-up at weekly intervals until attacks were controlled. They were also reviewed when a cluster period had ended, and advised to continue on the same dose for a further 2 weeks before starting systematic reduction. Chronic cluster patients were reviewed as often as necessary. Results.-Seventy consecutive patients, 52 with episodic CH during cluster periods and 18 with chronic CH, were all treated with verapamil as above. Complete relief from headaches was obtained in 49 (94%) of 52 with episodic, and 10 (55%) of 18 with chronic CH; the majority needed 200 to 480 mg, but 9 in the episodic, and 3 in the chronic group, needed 520 to 960 mg for control. Ten, 2 in the episodic and 8 in the chronic group, with incomplete relief, required additional therapy-lithium, sumatriptan, or sodium valproate. One patient withdrew because verapamil made her too tired, another developed Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and the drug was withdrawn. Conclusions.-Providing the dosage for each individual is adequate, preventing CH with verapamil is highly effective, taken three (occasionally with higher doses, four) times a day. In the majority (94%) with episodic CH steady dose increase under supervision, totally suppressed attacks. However in the chronic variety only 55% were completely relieved, 69% men, but only 20% women. In both groups, for those with partial attack suppression, additional prophylactic drugs or acute treatment was necessary. (Headache 2004;44:1013-1018).

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SLOW-RELEASE VERAPAMIL

Dr. Sheftell applauded the protocol for verapamil used by Dr. Goadsby and colleagues, which entailed use of short-acting verapamil in increments of 80 mg. “This method was suggested by Lee Kudrow, MD, 20 years ago as an alternative to slow-release verapamil,” Dr. Sheftell noted.

“I would agree with using short-acting verapamil, rather than the sustained-release formulation, in cluster headache,” he said. “I prefer the short-acting formulation with regard to ability to titrate more accurately and safely. My clinical experience anecdotally demonstrates improved responses when patients are switched from sustained-release verapamil to short-acting verapamil.”

Dr. Goadsby agreed that his clinical experience was similar. “There are no well-controlled, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging studies to direct treatment. This is one of those areas where clinicians who treat cluster headache have to combine what modicum of evidence is available with their own clinical experience,” Dr. Sheftell commented.

See PDF file below.

How long does it normally last?

I agree with your doc on a preventive. With such a short cycle you would get little benefit.

Cross your fingers, with a small percentage of CH'ers, a short pred burst will halt a cycle. For the rest of us, as Bob mentioned, it's a short break while the prevent kicks in. Hoping you're in the first class and it vanquishes the beast!

Joe

I always count my blessings when I realize how lucky I am to only have one or two clusters a year, and usually they only last a month or so.  I have been to the ER twice in the past decade, and I can only imagine what it must be like for people to live with that kind of pain every day for months or years on end.  They must be made of stronger stuff than I am, or perhaps the constant exposure to pain just raises the limits of what you can tolerate.

Fortunately, I have (finally, after 15 years) found a very good PA who has given me her business card with instructions to call her if I ever need to jump to the head of the appointment line.  (If you just call the office to schedule a visit, sometimes they will tell you it's going to be so many  weeks or months till you can be seen. Not a good thing to tell a clusterhead who is out of Imitrex.)  It's nice to have a practitioner who knows what she is doing and who is dedicated to serving her clients' needs.  And the nurse who gave me my Solu-Medrol drip was the sweetest I have ever met.  So I am in good hands.  Thanks for the well wishes, and the same to all of you. 

Off topic: Can anybody point me toward a discussion of why you need to abstain from triptans for a certain period before attempting "cluster buster" therapy? 

I haven't seen the rationale behind this common wisdom, but I tried the magic treatment (in desperation) about 48 hours after my last Imitrex dose and it only provided one pain-free day.  For two years previously, it completely aborted the cycle.  This is an isolated, anecdotal example, of course, but so far I am finding the common wisdom holds true.  I just don't understand why.  Does anybody?

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This is f'n hysterical, dude.