Hey Ian,

Outstanding news!!!  It is a wonderful feeling...

153 nmol/L (61 ng/mL) appears to be your lower serum 25(OH)D concentration threshold to remain CH PF...  This is consistent with 25(OH)D data provided by other CH'ers who have gone pain free on this regimen.

The task now is to find the maintenance dose of vitamin D3 that keeps you at or above 153 nmol/L.  This shouldn't be too difficult.  Give yourself another week at your present vitamin D3 intake then drop the loading lose for a few weeks to see what happens...  I suspect you'll remain PF.  Stay at that level for a month then test for 25(OH)D again.

If you're close to the average 25(OH)D response curves developed by Dr. Heany, your 25(OH)D serum concentration should be around 250 nmol/L, (100 ng/mL).  This serum concentration of 25(OH)D is still well below the lower threshold for vitamin D3 intoxication at 500 nmol/L, (200 ng/mL), so should be very safe.

At that point you should be able to safely drop back to 15,000 IU/day vitamin D3 without any fear of a CH relapse.

I bounce between 10,000 and 20,000 IU/day vitamin D3 but keep the rest of the regimen stable per the following updates to the basic regimen:

The updated suggested regimen includes:

10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 (Add more as needed)
  2,000 mg/day Omega 3 Fish Oil
     500 mg/day Calcium (calcium citrate preferred)

In order to receive the most health benefit from increased levels of vitamin D, the proper cofactors must be present in the body. Vitamin D has many cofactors, but the ones listed below are the most important. Magnesium should be considered one of the most important cofactors of all, but vitamin A is also a strong contender for that title as long as you don't exceed the RDA.  Too much vitamin A can cause real problems...

   •      Magnesium   400 mg/day  (liquid softgels,
          magnesium citrate or magnesium gluconate
          preferred)

   •      Vitamin K2    125 mcg/day

   •      Vitamin A*     900 mcg (3,000 IU) for men and
                             700 mcg (2,333 IU) for women

   •      Zinc               10 mg/day

   •      Boron              1 mg/day


* Vitamin A can be difficult to find as a single supplement and it's possible to get too much from cod liver oil.  Accordingly, it's prudent to meet your vitamin A needs with a carrot a day, or a serving of spinach or squash as they also contain beta carotene, a vitamin A precursor. 

You can also meet your vitamin A needs with a serving of chicken or beef liver a week.  If all that's too difficult, a single Centrum Silver multivitamin tablet has the RDA for vitamin A at the top of the list.

The rationale for taking vitamin A (retinol), stems from several studies over the last few years that found the final stage of vitamin D3 metabolism from 25(OH)D3 to 1,25(OH)2D3 also takes place in all the body's cells and not just the kidneys...

As this final stage of vitamin D3 metabolism takes place in all cells: heart, skeletal muscles, bone, skin, brain, nerve, and the list goes on, I'm beginning to suspect it's this mode of vitamin D3 metabolism that's responsible for its prophylactic effect on cluster headache..

This mode of vitamin D3 metabolism takes place as long as serum 25(OH)D and vitamin A are present in sufficient concentrations.

You can read about the vitamin D3 cofactors at the following link: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

There's also a fantastic video of Dr. Heaney explaining the "autocrine" mode of vitamin D3 metabolism in a presentation titled "Vitamin D: Nutrient, Not A Drug" at the following link.  If you're not a fan of taking vitamin D3 and the above regimen of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients for a longer life... this video will give you second thoughts...

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Finally, in response to a question about how vitamin D3 can have so many health benefits if serum 25(OH)D is > 30 ng/mL, (75 nmol/L), Dr William Grant has a paper explaining that every cell in the body has vitamin D receptors, and when activated by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, (calcitriol), the active metabolite and hormonal form of vitamin D3 and vitamin A, can affect the expression of about 1000 different genes.

To back that up, a 12 April, 2012 Level-1 RCT by Wagner et all, titled "Double-blind randomized clinical trial of vitamin D3 showing effects on tissue calcitriol levels, gene expression and proliferation immunohistochemistry in prostate cancer," concluded that higher oral vitamin D doses produce higher levels of calcitriol within prostate tissue, and that higher prostate calcitriol relates to lower androgen receptor mRNA, higher miRNA signalling, and diminished expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 in prostate cancer.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ;

Sorry for the long-winded response, but I think this information is starting to connect the dots for us cluster headache sufferers...

Take care and thanks again for the great news.

V/R, Batch

Joshua, Jerry,

Thanks for the feedback...  Make sure you're getting the RDA for vitamin A each day.  We're beginning to think the prophylactic effect vitamin D3 has on cluster headache involves the autocrine mode of vitamin D3 metabolism that takes place outside the kidneys in the body's cells...  brain and nerve cells included... 

In this case, serum 25(OH)D is metabolized into it's active metabolite 1,25(OH)2D3 within the cells as needed.  All that's required is the serum level of 25(OH)D needs to be high enough >60 ng/mL and retinol, (vitamin A), needs to be present at the RDA...  ~ 900 mcg/day, (3500 IU/day).  I take a single Centrum Silver multi-vitamin tablet just to make sure.

Joshua, You'll have a better idea how long it will take to respond to this regimen once you have the results back from your lab test for 25(OH)D.  The lower the serum concentration of 25(OH)D, the longer it takes to go pain free.

Thanks again for the updates...  Hang in there and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hey Zetner,

Welcome aboard.  You can take the entire regimen all at once and any time of the day.  Having said that, it may prove slightly more effective if taken a couple hours prior to your first attack of the day/night. 

The complete regimen, instructions for use and dosing strategy can be found at the following link here at CH.com.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Take care and please keep us posted on your progress with this regimen.  We need the feedback.

V/R, Batch

Hey Richard,

Thank you for the wonderful update.  Thanks also for the lab test data on your 25(OH)D serum concentration as it clearly serves to strengthen our findings that the optimum range for CH'ers to remain CH pain free is 60 to 110 ng/mL, (150 to 275 nmol/L).

Thanks again,

V/R, Batch