Very dangerous as its effects on the body are cumulative.

If insurance won't pay for medical oxygen, why not get your own welder's rig? For a few hundred bucks you could be aborting attacks until the cows come home.

Ironic that insurance won't pay for O2, which is relatively inexpensive, but they will pay for the hip replacement that results from overuse of steroids.

I hear ya Lucy, I once stayed on prednisone for over 6 months, unknown to my doctor,  at the time it was the only thing that worked for me. Back then my only meds were fiorinal, lidocaine nose drops and oral cafergot.

Don't kid yourself, there will be a steep price to pay later in your life with continuing on such a long term course of steroids:

Given below are some of the side effects of prednisone that can have hazardous effect on women's health.
•Prednisone is known to interfere with the menstrual cycle of women. Many women complain of irregular periods after the prolonged use of this drug. Some women also complain of heavy bleeding, upset stomach, and abdominal cramps, etc. while being on this drug.
•This drug also intervenes with the hormonal changes in the body and is also notorious for causing various hormonal imbalance leading to various emotional problems. For example, many women suffer from severe depression, extreme mood swings, and increased anxiety, etc.
•Apart from this, pregnant women are extremely vulnerable to prednisone as it is known to have fatal effects on the mother as well the baby. It is also known to cause hives and rashes in pregnant women. Some pregnant women also complain of excessive stretch marks during and after pregnancy.
These were some of the prednisone side effects that can be experienced by women. Now let's take a look at some of the general side effects that can be faced by both men and women.

Other Prednisone Side Effects
•As mentioned above, being an immunosuppressant, prednisone can cause severe skin infections, such as, hives, rashes, and itching, etc.
•It also causes various respiratory infections that could lead to difficulty in breathing, tightness in the chest, swelling of organs involved in respiratory system, etc.
•This drug is also known to cause weight gain as it increases the appetite and hunger. In some cases it decreases appetite which can lead to excessive weight loss.
•Prednisone is also linked with various stomach and abdomen problems, such as, diarrhea, black and tarry stools, stomach ulcers, nausea, and vomiting, etc. Many people complain of bleeding of the stomach and the intestine as well.
•Some people have also reported to suffer from chronic sleep disturbances, sleep related problems, water retention, and excessive sweating, etc. as prednisone interferes with many bodily systems of an individual.
•Apart from this, it also causes headache, abnormal fat distribution, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, unusual hiccups, excessive hair growth, high blood pressure, fits, abnormal heart rhythm, cataracts, vasculitis, fever, dizziness, prolonged sore throat and cold, and enlarged liver, etc. But these are rare side effects.
•There are few rare psychological side effects that prednisone can have. Personality changes, false sense of well being, and chronic stress accompanied with personality disorder/s are some of the very uncommon side effects of this drug.



Our treatment decisions are some of the most personal and private decisions we make, balancing pain tolerance with potential short and long term side effects. Please make sure you're fully educated as to what these are. Wishing you peace and some pain free time.

Joe

Prednisone was, for me, a wonder drug when I first tried it. Back then I was still episodic, so the one round of pred taper was all I needed to break the cycle. I really didn't care if there were side effects because I was getting hit so often at such a high KiP rate. I must say though that it stopped working for me and the next time around, would only have some effect at really high doses. Quit taking it in favor of the O2/energy drink combo we have discovered. Amazing how something that is really beneficial to our systems also helps abort and mediate the CH.

Brew, I didn't quite get the chocolate reference, but I think it may have been a reference to the munchies some get sometimes using something we do not recommend for CHs if you know what I mean. Anyhoo...blessings. lance

Imitrex4Breakfast wrote on Oct 12^th, 2011 at 7:12pm:


No hope for most politicians then!

My recent 2 week-long Pred taper did not abort cycle, nor provide much relief except for the 1st few days. 

Everybody is different, as some cycles one might get the luck of a cycle being broken and/or very helpful w/ reducing the frequency and intensity of a CH; while other cycles one may experience minimal or no relief.

Side effect I noticed this Pred taper is both of my knees and lower spine (two previous injury areas) are absolutely in chronic pain.

"Risk/Reward"

Hey Tate. You asked:

Quote:


Actually, the O2, while it is hard work to hyperventilate, provided me with immediate pain relief and even at low flow (15lpm) and with a poor mask, I was amazed at how the relief hit. Then it took about 15-20 minutes to abort a hit, which was shorter than my usual hit pattern of 45 minutes.

With better equipment (high flow regulator and clustermask) I found abort times dropping to within 3-5 minutes.

The energy drink tip is sometimes used to abort hits all by itself, but for me, chugging a Monster at the first sign of a hit and then getting on O2, not only reduces abort time but also prevents the recurring or rebound hit that often comes.

The good thing about this is no terrible side effects and fairly universal agreement this is the way to go for aborting the beast's intrusions.

Tell us more about yourself and how you've been trying to prevent the attacks. Blessings. lance

Thank you, Lance and Mark. Exhale...I can rationalize the whole thing now as I am headache (PAIN) free...I just know it will be so difficult to resist taking the prednisone the first time I get that feeling in my eye and I know that the headaches are back.

Also, I am fearful that the oxygen won't work. Lance mentioned some relief even with a regular mask and in 1997 when I tried oxygen I seem to recall my instructions being to stay on the tank for 20 mins and I cannot remember the flow, but I never felt any relief at all. It was hard for me to even sit near the tank with the pain of the headache when I wanted to move around.

That being said I am going back to school in January to become a health counselor and I am really trying to live as healthfully as possible. Prednisone is about as bad as it gets.

I will post more about myself and my headache journey in the getting to know you area. Not so computer savvy, haven't a clue as to how everyone's profiles look as they do with photos and such. Thanks again! Tate

You wrote the keyword Tate...."Exhale"

co2 is the enemy and hyperventilating with o2 is the only way to kill the enemy with o2 therapy.