Click this link to read a post I like on the clusterheadaches.com message board...

willwill

CH.com Newbie

Offline

I Love CH.com!

Posts: 23

lithium love or hate
Dec 21^st, 2010 at 10:14am

HI. Lithium has worked to decrease the length of the cycles and pain of ch's. I was on 950mg but it was very hard on my stomach so i dropped to 450 mg a day and that helped improve stomach issue. I DON'T like taking 450mg a day though cause i don't feel right, my head is always aching and i have trouble sleeping now. So i was just curious as to how others who have been taking it a long time have been living with lithium.

Back to top

IP Logged

Click Here to visit the CH.com Facebook page!

Guiseppi CH.com Moderator CH.com Alumnus Offline San Diego to Florida 05-16-2011 Posts: 12063 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USA Gender:	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #1 - Dec 21^st, 2010 at 10:21am I'm episodic so my long time may be relative cuz I go on and off. Over 20 years using it and I LOVE it. 900 mg a day used to block 80-90% of my hits. As I've aged it's lost some effectiveness, now at 1200 mg a day it blocks 60-70%. My side effects, a little lethargy, nothing a cup or two of coffee doesn't combat. Joe
Back to top	"Somebody had to say it" is usually a piss poor excuse to be mean. IP Logged

willwill CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 23	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #2 - Dec 21^st, 2010 at 3:17pm Good to here lithium works well for you too. Being episodic do you start taking lithium when the CH'S start or do you have a certain season you start taking it?
Back to top	IP Logged

Guiseppi CH.com Moderator CH.com Alumnus Offline San Diego to Florida 05-16-2011 Posts: 12063 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USA Gender:	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #3 - Dec 21^st, 2010 at 7:21pm I wait for the cycle to start. Then it's usually a 10 day prednisone taper while I ramp up the lithium. 2 weeks headache free and I start ramping the lithium back down again. Joe
Back to top	"Somebody had to say it" is usually a piss poor excuse to be mean. IP Logged

bejeeber

CH.com Hall of Famer

Offline

Posts: 1359
Gnashville
Gender: male

Re: lithium love or hate
Reply #4 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 12:31am

I'm non commital about it - I haven't experienced any unpleasant side effects from it when I've been on it in the past, but it was also only mildly effective for me (maybe I wasn't taking a high enough dose?)

Back to top

CH according to Bejeeber:

Strictly relying on doctors for CH treatment is often a prescription that will keep you in a whole lot of PAIN. Doctors are WAY behind in many respects, and they are usually completely unaware of the benefits of high flow 100% O2.

There are lots of effective treatments documented at this site. Take matters into your own hands, learn as much as you can here and at clusterbusters.com, put it into practice, then tell this CH beast Jeebs said hello right before you bash him so hard with a swift uppercut knockout punch that his stupid horns go flinging right off.

IP Logged

Karla CH.com Alumnus Offline One of Many and Never Alone - Join OUCH Posts: 3837 x1\|Madison WI USA Gender:	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #5 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 6:03am I loved it when I was on lithium. It reduced the number of headaches I was having by 50% and lowered the intensity of the ch to a much more tollerable level. I took 900mg a day. However, it lost its effectiveness so I quit taking it.
Back to top	Karla&&suffer chronic ch &&ch.com groupie since 1999&&Proud Mom of Chris USMC Semper Fi IP Logged

Brew CH.com Sponsor CH.com Alumnus Offline Posts: 14163	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #6 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 7:52am Used to take 900mg in combination with 480mg verapamil. Worked great in this cocktail for several years.
Back to top	"I have been asked if I have changed in these past 25 years. No, I am the same. Only more so." --Ayn Rand IP Logged

Guiseppi CH.com Moderator CH.com Alumnus Offline San Diego to Florida 05-16-2011 Posts: 12063 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA USA Gender:	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #7 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 8:45am Brew's potion is often called the "chronic cocktail". The combo of Lithium and Verapamil works for some of the tougher cases when neither med by itself was effective. It used to be said lithium was more effective for chronics then episodics....I think that myth is going down in flames! Joe
Back to top	"Somebody had to say it" is usually a piss poor excuse to be mean. IP Logged

Miklos

CH.com Hall of Famer

Offline

Posts: 644
Plano|USA|TX
Gender: male

Re: lithium love or hate
Reply #8 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 9:01am

The "cocktail" worked fairly effectively for me for years. It did not prevent all headaches from busting through, but life was manageable. It was not until a neurologist told me that I should not have any headaches when using this mix that I switched medication. While a bit of an optimist about the cocktail, he switched me to Topamax which was far and away more successful for me. Topamax has fewer side effects for me; I do not miss the tremors at 900 mg/day or the explosive diarrhea episodes that came with lithium at all.

YMMV.

Back to top

« Last Edit: Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 9:04am by Miklos »

Don't be offended by my frank analysis. Think of it as personality dialysis.

IP Logged

Click Here to visit the CH.com Facebook page!

willwill CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 23	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #9 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 12:24pm Thanks for responding everyone. it's great to here hoW meds work for other CH'S and also to see furure med options should i have to change them.
Back to top	IP Logged

willwill CH.com Newbie Offline I Love CH.com! Posts: 23	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #10 - Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 12:25pm Thanks for responding everyone. it's great to here hoW meds work for other CH'S and also to see furure med options should i have to change them.
Back to top	IP Logged

monster CH.com Alumnus Offline I feel like a monster Posts: 32 Boise,Idaho Gender:	Re: lithium love or hate Reply #11 - Dec 23^rd, 2010 at 7:34pm i use the chronic cocktail with fair success till this last year, it seems to not work like it use too. i can relate the shakes and explosive runs do suck!!!!!!
Back to top	"God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick." IP Logged

	Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
	Search box updated Dec 3, 2011... Search ch.com with Google!