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new to site, CH sufferer (Read 1997 times)
ripra
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I Love CH.com!


Posts: 7
albany, ny
Gender: female
new to site, CH sufferer
Nov 24th, 2012 at 5:11pm
 
I have been getting cluster headaches since I was 15 years old. I am a 20 yr old female college student and I feel as though these headaches have destroyed a part of me. I currently take a medrol dose pack at the onset of a headache along with 240mg of verapamil and 5mg zomig nasal sprays for breakthrough headaches. Although the steroids have seemed to temporarily ward off a few headaches, I still get severe cluster headaches every day for weeks at a time. I live in constant fear of when the next one will come. 2 nights ago, I had one last lasted over 4 hours which is extremely strange because usually they never last longer than an hour and a half. I threw up multiple times as a reaction to the pain and my parents wanted to take me to the hospital. Not many people understand what I am going through. They do not realize the immensity of the pain that I suffer on a daily basis because I seem healthy and I am young. What are some ways that you can prevent an attack with natural remedies? All of these medications cannot be good for the rest of my body.
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Mike NZ
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Oxygen rocks! D3 too!


Posts: 3785
Auckland, New Zealand
Gender: male
Re: new to site, CH sufferer
Reply #1 - Nov 24th, 2012 at 5:46pm
 
I'm a bit confused by how you're taking your medication (or how I'm reading it).

Medrol is a steroid related to prednisione. Something like this is used at the start of a cluster cycle with a taper dose, starting high and tapering off over about 10 days. It will normally prevent most CHs from happening and it allows time for a longer term preventive to build up.

Verapamil is a good preventive taken during a cluster cycle. A dose of 240mg is fairly low with many needing 360-480mg a day to be effective and some need around 1000mg. It can take 7-10 days for it to become effective.

When you get a CH the zomig will kill off a CH, but also look look at using oxygen (great link on the left) and / or imitrex injections.

For a more natural approach, also look at using vitamin D3 - Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register - it has been getting good results too.

You're right about most people just not having a clue what we go through. However here everyone gets it as we either have CH or they are supporters who see just what we are hit with when a CH hits.

Keep reading and you'll learn more than most neurologists know about CH.
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