Hey Richard,

Thanks for the update. According to a number of Integrative physicians and dietitians who recommend vitamin D3 supplements, 5,000 I.U. is a perfectly good target maintenance dose.

Your diet sounds a lot like mine with the exception of my choice of fluids...  OJ and coffee in the morning (I roast my own green coffee beans), lemonade...  or occasionally margarita mix (sometimes with tequila) for lunch, water and a couple cans of diet coke during the day... at least one or two with some Demerara rum any time the sun's over the yardarm, and a glass of wine a couple times a week with dinner.

It sounds like you know your body a lot better than most so my guess is you'll titrate the dose of the other supplements accordingly.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about this regimen... like why it works well for some and not as well for others...  or why CH'ers who don't benefit from taking this regimen appear to have similar comorbidities...  but we're working on ways to connect the dots.

Take care and thanks for the update...

V/R, Batch

Hey Adrienne,

Great feeling isn't it? 

Good on you for giving this regimen a try and reporting the results.

It's going to take a week or two...  but I hope to have an on-line survey tool available on this regimen so that folks who've tried it can report their results. 

This should help us to collectively get our arms around this regimen so we can answer the question of efficacy more accurately and the dosing levels that appear to work best. 

The really important information this survey will provide will come from the folks who don't get the same response as you or me... I suspect the same list of comorbidities will solidify and that will provide the folks researching cluster headache with a new perspective and areas to investigate.

With information in hand from a survey like this, we'll be able to take the next steps towards a study... 

Again, thanks for the feedback...

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Bobb,

Magnesium and zinc both play a significant roll in this regimen.  Magnesium is involved in many of the cluster headache related processes and zinc is essential not only for for our immune systems, it's also a key element in carbonic anhydrases, an enzyme we need for hemoglobin to function effectively in releasing carbon dioxide into exhaled breath.

I've found the Kirkland brand of calcium citrate formulated with additional vitamin D3, magnesium and zinc works best for me.  I get it along with the rest of this regimen at Costco...  In a pinch you can also use Citracal Plus Bone Density Builder™ as it has a similar formulation of the above components.

Most of the CH'ers who have followed this regimen at the doses I take reported an improvement in 24 to 48 hours.

That you haven't responded to this regimen is not surprising.  It could be due to the missing magnesium and zinc, a low arterial pH or both.  It could also be due to an irritant or allergic reaction that's in your environment or food that's resulting in a level of  neurogenic inflammation that will take longer to overcome with this regimen.  Peanuts and gluten are two potential allergens you might want to avoid for a while to see what happens

You'll have to forgive me for laughing at the laundry list of med's you're taking a.m. and p.m.   I'm not making fun of you because many years ago when I was first diagnosed with ECH...  I did the same thing.  I had two pill caddies, an a.m. and p.m. caddy, both loaded for my week's supply laundry list of meds.

It didn't take long for me to discover the preventatives had too many adverse side effects...   Too little relief and too many onerous side effects...  In short the risk:reward ratio sucked...  and I was still getting hit.

I stopped taking all the prevents, accepted the fact that I was going to take hits, but was very confident that oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation could abort my CH very reliably in an average of 3 to 7 minutes depending on the pain level.

I still kept imitrex (sumatriptan succinate) handy for the times I was trapped away from my oxygen therapy kit like during air travel where I would get nailed on every flight.  There were also times in the early years where I was taking the maximum daily dose of imitrex tablets for so long I developed angina.

I also see you're taking statins...  Your cardiologist or PCP must think that's the only way to keep your cholesterol in check... 

I went through a bout of elevated cholesterol and triglycerides during a clinical study for an unrelated condition at NIH.  Part of the study protocol called for sirolimus (rapamune), an immunosuppressant normally given to kidney transplant patients to prevent rejection.  It has a well known side effect of jacking up cholesterol and triglyceride levels...  and it did.  My total cholesterol jumped from 167 to over 250 and my triglycerides climbed well above the normal levels in one week on sirolimus.

The Principal investigator for this study gave me two options...  Go on statins (neither of us wanted to do that), or go on a low cholesterol diet with Omega 3 Fish Oil. I cut out sugars and limited intake of carbohydrates. 

I ate lots of green & yellow veggies lean meat, chicken, and fish.  I also started taking 3600 mg. Omega 3 Fish Oil and a natural plant sterol called Cholestoff.

In two weeks my total cholesterol was below 190 and my triglycerides were back in the normal range.  A month after starting this regimen, my total cholesterol was below 150...  and I was still taking sirolimus...  What I'm saying is there are other ways to reduce cholesterol levels...  you just need to discuss this with your cardiologist or PCP.

All that is history...  Since starting the anti-inflammatory regimen I no longer need to take any of the abortives...  and that includes oxygen. 

The light came on shortly after starting this regimen last October...  For over 16 years I'd been taking very potent and very expensive medications with all kinds of side effects because my neurologists and I though they were needed...  yet I was still getting hit...  What I wasn't doing was giving my body it needed.

The physicians who practice integrative medicine are clearly on to this as well.  They still treat with many of the same pharmaceuticals but only in moderation and only if the more holistic methods of diet, vitamins and mineral therapy are not achieving the desired therapeutic effect.

Accordingly, since last October I've taken only the anti-inflammatory regimen...  My goal was to come off all the invasive med's and control my CH through more holistic methods... 

It's working...  My wife takes it as well and she doesn't have CH.  Both of us feel great, we're loaded with energy and both of us have lost weight.  My guess is the weight loss is due to the increased activity made possible by this regimen.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch