Hey AHC,

Welcome to CH.com and the anti-inflammatory regimen.  You've come to the right place and you've already started one of the most effective natural CH preventative regimens going.

A response to this regimen within the first 24 hours is not uncommon.  The following chart illustrates time to respond after starting this regimen for both episodic and chronic CH'ers.

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

As you can see, the majority of CH'ers respond in less than 10 days with an average time to respond with a significant reduction in the frequency, severity and duration of CH around 4 to 5 days.

Roughly 5% of the CH'ers who start this regimen experience a brief improvement in CH symptoms followed by a bumpy road with an increase in the frequency of their CH.  Fortunately, most of them experience a cessation of their CH symptoms once they build their serum 25(OH)D concentration into the green zone, 60 to 110 ng/mL. 

83% of CH'ers who have started this regimen experience a favorable response by the time their 25(OH)D has reached 80 ng/mL.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hey Rob,

Thank you for the outstanding update.  I'm happy to hear your significant other has her migraines boxed and is running pain free.  Being able to prevent migraine headaches with this regimen is a real sleeper capability that will eventually catch fire...

Joyce and I are doing just fine.  Joyce started this regimen over 4 years ago and has been migraine free the entire time.  She's got more energy than I've seen in 20 years... and she just kicked the heck out of 77 at Christmas... Go figure.

Thanks again for the wonderful update.

Take care and cheers.

V/R, Batch

Hey Kurama,

Thanks for the update...  You can take 2, 3, or 4 of the Omega-3 Fish Oil liquid gel capsules a day...  You probably get 2 to 3 times more olive oil in a caesar salad dressing... In short... no biggie taking additional Omega-3 Fish Oil. 

You really can't overdose on Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules...  You'll know long before you've taken to much Omega-3 Fish Oil... You'll get grease stains on your drawers before you run into any real problems...

You're spot on about needing a higher dose of vitamin D3...

Increase your maintenance dose of vitamin D3 to 15,000 IU/day.  On top of that add another 150,000 IU loading dose of vitamin D3.  Do this by taking an additional 50,000 IU/day for three days on top of your maintenance dose.

A loading dose of 150,000 IU over three days should elevate your 25(OH)D by an additional 15 ng/mL serum concentration and in the process, keep you CH pain free.

Just be sure to take all the rest of the cofactors.  Magnesium is the most important.  Take 500 to 750 mg/day when taking loading doses of vitamin D3 and don't forget the vitamin K2. 

Taking this much vitamin D3 increases calcium kinetics...  i.e., more calcium moving around your system than normal.  The vitamin K2 helps make sure any extra calcium goes to the bones and not the arteries or soft tissues.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Kurama,

Your aunt's concerns over vitamin K are not uncommon...  Too many physicians are a little behind the times and not up to speed when it comes to taking vitamin K...  It comes in two basic forms...  Vitamin K1 a phylloquinone that comes from plants, (the Klotting vitamin) and Vitamin K2, a combination complex of two menaquinones, MK-4 and MK-7.

Not much was known about the function of vitamin K2 until recently (last 7 years).  What researchers, nutritionists and some practicing physicians have found is vitamin K2 actually functions like a catalyst in building bone mineral density.  Vitamin K2 also helps prevent a buildup of calcium in soft tissues and arteries so promotes vascular health.

The LEF Super K with advanced K2 complex that I suggest is formulated with both vitamin K1 and the K2 complex of MK-4 and MK-7. 

LEF has an excellent article on how this formulation improves the bodies clotting mechanism and at the same time helps build bone mineral density and arterial health while preventing calcium buildup in soft tissues and arteries...

Send your aunt the following link so she's singing from the same sheet of music...

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

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Gregg,

Good question...   I'll also second Hoppy's suggestion that Rick take Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM...  This combo helps build cartilage and the slippery stuff between bones. It worked great for me.  There are several brands at Costco...

Regarding the Vitamin B 50...  It's a formulation of all seven B vitamins each at 50 mg. There's also 400 mg of Folic acid in the mix.

The rational for taking the B 50 is interesting.  It came from Dr. Stasha Gominak, MD, a neurologist in Tyler, TX who treats her patients with sleep, chronic pain and headache disorders with a vitamin D3 regimen very similar to the anti-inflammatory regimen except she adds a 3-month course of vitamin B 50.

She and her patients were very satisfied with her regimen.  However roughly two years after starting this regimen and enjoying pain free life, some of her patients started complaining the regimen wasn't working and the pains or sleep disorders returned.

She did all the standard tests and couldn't find any reason why her regimen had stopped working.  Then one of her non-responding patients took one of the B vitamins, and like magic, the regimen started working again.

When this got back to Dr. Gominak, she started testing for vitamin B12 as a marker for the 7 B vitamins, and found it deficient in nearly all of her non-responding patients.  She took the shotgun approach and prescribed the vitamin B 50 to her non-responders and most of them responded favorably.

She explained the reason for vitamin B 50's success, was that this formulation was actually a loading dose that took care of any deficiencies among the 7 B vitamins and in the process, helped build friendly colonies of bacteria in the GI tracts of her patients.

There's more than ample medical evidence to support the fact that most of our immune systems resides in the GI tract, from the mouth to tail pipe, and in the lungs.  Researchers say that in healthy people, these areas are loaded with friendly bacterial colonies... i.e., the little engines that help with digestion and also make our immune system and other body functions work properly. 

When they've been attacked or destroyed by taking a potent broad spectrum antibiotic we tend to feel out of sorts and weak.

There are actual animal analogs when it comes to building a healthy microbiome.  I watched a special on the Koala Bear.  They had a closeup sequence of a baby koala bear instinctively eating its mother's feces.  The narrator commented that this was part of nature's way of building the young koala bear's immune system by taking a starter dose from its mother.

They aggregate term for all these colonies of friendly bacteria is the microbiome.  Most of the really exciting work in this area has been in the last 5 years.  See the following links for more details:

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

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

The GOMBS diet that I suggest to CH'ers slow to respond to the anti-inflammatory regimen helps feed the microbiome what it needs. I've also found that a mixture of fresh pineapple, blueberry or blackberry, avocado, spinach and kale thinned with a little coconut water or cranberry juice and buzzed up in my blender makes a great smoothie to start the day... and feed my microbiome at the same time.  It's loaded with natural nutrients and antioxidants.

I hate to admit it, but I watch the NutriBullet infomercials to see if they have any new recipes...  Their existing recipes at the following link actually taste quite good.

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

Hope this helps and please give Rick my best wishes.

V/R, Batch

Tony,

Thanks for the post... Good questions too.  One of the short answers is 25(OH)D is the best measure of vitamin D3 status. 1,25(OH)2)3, a.k.a. calcitriol can be measured... but it is not a reliable biomarker.  The other is 60 to 80 ng/mL is the optimum range for the 25(OH)D serum concentration for sleep according to Dr. Stasha Gominak, MD. 

She's a neurologist in Tyler, TX who suggests a vitamin D3 regimen very similar to the anti-inflammatory regimen for her patients suffering from sleep, chronic pain and headache disorders. 

The only real difference is she also suggests a 3-month course of vitamin B 50.  Taking vitamin B 50 for more than 3 months starts cutting into the good sleep benefits.  She has some excellent videos on her regimen at the following link:  Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Understanding a little about vitamin D3 pharmacokinetics, what the body does to vitamin D3, might help in understanding the above answers.

No matter how we get vitamin D3, from the UV-B in sunlight generating vitamin D3 in the skin or from supplemental intake, the first thing that happens is vitamin D3 is metabolized by the liver into 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3.  This is an unregulated process that continues until the liver has metabolized the available vitamin D3 to 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3. 

Chemically what happens here is an enzyme in the liver adds a hydroxyl radical, [OH], to the 25th carbon position on the vitamin D3 molecule, hence the name 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 or 25(OH)D, also called calcidiol.

This is a stable metabolite of vitamin D3 with a half-life of 2 to 3 weeks depending on the serum concentration.  Roughly 20% of the serum 25(OH)D is further metabolized in the kidneys by another enzyme, 1α-hydroxylase that adds a second hydroxyl radical to the 1st carbon position on the vitamin D3 molecule, hence the chemical name 1,25(OH)2D3. 

1,25(OH)2D3 is the active hormonal form of vitamin D3 also called calcitriol.  The normal serum concentration of calcitriol is one thousand times less than the serum concentration of calcidiol, a.k.a., 25(OH)D. It has a serum concentration half-life of roughly 7 hours...

This path of vitamin D3 metabolism helps maintain serum calcium concentrations, through one of the body's control mechanisms called calcium homeostasis.  Calcium homeostasis is controlled by the parathyroid glands that secrete parathyroid hormone (PTH). 

When the serum calcium concentration is near the low end of its normal reference range, the parathyroids sense this condition and release more PTH.  This signals the kidneys to produce more 1,25(OH)2D3 that pulls dietary and supplemental calcium from the gut to keep serum calcium in an optimum concentration.  This process also helps build bone mineral density... i.e., strong bones.  When the serum calcium concentration is near the upper end of its normal reference range, the parathyroids sense this condition an slow the production of PTH.

The other 80% of the serum 25(OH)D produced by the liver gets hydroxylated to 1,25(OH)2D3, extrarenal, (outside the kidneys) in cells throughout the body by the same 1α-hydroxylase enzyme.  These molecules of vitamin D3 link up with a molecule of vitamin A (retinol) and physically attache to genes as specific sites called vitamin D receptors, (VDR). 

It's this path of vitamin D3 metabolism that's responsible for what is called genetic expression, a process that basically enables the cells to unlock their genetic libraries of instructions to do a number of things, like multiply, differentiate, control the production of special products, or die.

I realize at this point, some of you are convinced I've had a senior moment, gone off the deep end or lost the bubble completely.  Stick with me a bit longer and you'll see where I'm going with all this...

It turns out that nerve cells in the human brain produce the 1α-hydroxylase enzyme and that VDR have been found in nerve cells throughout the brain.  What is particularly curious about all this is...  the highest concentrations of VDR and the 1α-hydroxylase enzyme in the brain are found in the hypothalimus and trigeminal ganglia nerve cells.

For CH'ers new to this disorder, the big dog neurologists and experts on cluster headache all opine the hypothalamus is the head waters for the pathogenesis of cluster headache.  In other words, they think the hypothalamus manages the processes that control cluster headache.  They'll also tell you the trigeminal ganglia are where all the cluster headache pain we suffer originates...

If you've studied human physiology and anatomy, you're also likely familiar with the fact that the hypothalamus is part of the autonomic nervous system that controls sleep and the body's other circadian rhythms.

If you're like a lot of us, at this point you've just connected the dots and experienced an "Ah Ha..." moment of insight... 

Sleep and cluster headache are controlled by the hypothalamus...

The hypothalamus and trigeminal ganglia are loaded with vitamin D3 receptors and the enzyme needed to convert vitamin D3 to it's active hormonal form.

And... vitamin D3 helps control the genetic expression of these nerve cells enabling them to do what they're supposed to do... like help us sleep better and not have headaches...

Now for the conclusion of this little tale...  In order to make a really good soup, you need the right ingredients in the right proportions... 

Magnesium, zinc and boron are needed because they support nearly all the body's enzymatic processes.  Magnesium is also part of the vitamin D binding protein that transports vitamin D3 and its metabolites through the blood stream.  Molecular biologists and genetics experts have found a "zinc finger" in each VDR that helps attract and attach vitamin D3 to a gene.

Omega-3 fatty acids act as potent anti-inflammatory agents and vitamin K2 helps direct the flow of serum calcium away from soft tissues and arteries towards building bone mineral density.

So here are the soup ingredients... a.k.a., the anti-inflammatory regimen supplements...

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

Hope this helps...

Take care,

V/R, Batch