Hi Bill

For the diagnosis of CH this is something that you need a neurologist for, hopefully one who specializes in headaches, especially with your slightly unusual background. Whilst being 71 is a lot older than most people for starting CHs it doesn't mean that they can't be CHs.

From what you've said about changing blood pressure mediciation, are you using verapamil? This is a very effective preventive, with people typically needing 360-480mg a day for an effective dose, however some people need to go as high as 1000mg.

There are other preventives, like lithium and topomax that can also be effective.

For aborting your CHs, pills are not normally the most effective route as they have to be digested before they can start working.

Oxygen can be used to abort a CH in a matter of minutes using a high flow rate (15lpm or higher) and a non-rebreather mask. Read up about it using the oxygen link on the left. I can kill off my CHs in an average of 6 minutes.

Imitrex injections are another way to abort CHs, although they can be expensive unless covered by insurance and they can have side effects too.

Also look at the post "123 days pf" and you'll see how people are getting good results from vitamin D and fish oil (read the posts).

Keep reading and you'll learn a lot more about CHs.

Here's a link to what Bob just mentioned:

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

IF your doc is confident that you have Cluster, print out this abstract for him. This med has been quite useful for some of us and, its main benefit for you, is the per dose cost--much less than what he has given you now.
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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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Since this abstract was first posted Zyprexa has appeared in some lists of recommended meds for CH. [BJ]
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Is he talking about starting a preventive med? The abortive kills an attack quickly but the preventive reduces frequency/severity of attacks for the long haul.