Hey Hoss,

The anti-inflammatory regimen isn't a 1-week thing...  You need to stay on it...  Most of us are on it for life...  There's a lot more health benefits to this regimen than just preventing CH... 

If you like your prostate, heart, lungs, brain, skin, and a lot of other "essential body parts" that all work a lot better and last a lot longer if your vitamin D3 status is up...  see the following link for results of hundreds of studies on vitamin D3:  Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

You get your vitamin D3 status checked by asking your PCP or neurologist for the lab test for 25(OH)D.  That's the serum level metabolite of vitamin D3 that's used to measure its status.

The normal reference range for 25(OH)D is 30 to 100 ng/mL.  Unfortunately, most physicians will say you're "normal" with 31 ng/mL... That's way off the mark for CH'ers...  We need a target 25(OH)D serum concentration of 85 ng/mL and that will take the average adult 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 over a 4 to 5-month period to attain.

The results of the online survey indicate 68 of 84 CH'ers (81%) using this regimen who completed the online survey experienced a favorable response.  Their response times are indicated in the following chart:

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As you can see... 75% of the CH'ers with a favorable response had it occur within the first 10 days...  On the other hand... some took as long as two months to achieve a pain free response.

Accordingly, if you bail out of this regimen after just a week... you could easily miss out on the benefits of a very effective and inexpensive preventative... with no real side effects.  Stick with this regimen for at least a month then see your PCP for another lab test for 25(OH)D.  When you have the results, please take the anti-inflammatory survey at the following link:  Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

You'll also find the latest update to the list of supplements used in the anti-inflammatory regimen at this link.

The next chart illustrates the time 25(OH)D serum concentration response to various doses of vitamin D3:
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The top exponential line indicates the average response to a vitamin D3 dose of 10,000 IU/day.  The green color band indicates the range of 25(OH)D serum concentrations (60 to 110 ng/mL) reported by CH'ers after going pain free while taking the anti-inflammatory regimen.  The running response total of CH'ers who have gone pain free on this regimen is 240 out of 300 (80%).

Most CH'ers, myself included, get impatient  when the beast is hammering away and want CH medications to work as fast as possible.  We've found that an accelerated vitamin D3 dosing schedule increases the 25(OH)D response so we can go pain free a little faster.

The most popular and well tolerated accelerated vitamin D3 dosing schedule is 20,000 IU/day plus a 50,000 IU loading dose once a week.  You can stay on this schedule for a month or until you go pain free, which ever comes first and then drop back to a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3.

At the end of a month on this schedule, you'll need to see your PCP or neurologist for another 25(OH)D lab test then adjust your vitamin D3 intake down to a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU/day.  You're looking for a target 25(OH)D serum concentration of 85 ng/mL.

The rational for maintaining this serum concentration of 25(OH)D is simple...  It has a half life of a week to 10 days...  Go without any vitamin D3 for that length of time and you'll fall out of the "Green Zone" and the beast will come after you.

In case you're wondering about vitamin D3 intoxication... the dosing schedules used in this regimen are conservative and very safe as illustrated in the following chart.

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Finally, don't forget to take the rest of this regimen.  The vitamin D3 cofactors are very important part of this regimen.  The 2000 mg/day Omega 3 Fish Oil acts as an anti-inflammatory and also aids in vitamin D3 absorption.  500 mg/day calcium helps maintain bone mineral density (BMD). 

The most important vitamin D3 cofactor is magnesium.  It's essential in vitamin D3 metabolism.  Vitamin D3 at the doses used in this regimen also depletes magnesium so you'll need 400 mg/day to 1000 mg/day.

Magnesium glycinate, magnesium malate or magnesium citrate are the preferred magnesium compounds to take.  All three have a high bioavailability.  Magnesium glycinate has the least laxative effect at higher doses... Magnesium oxide has the lowest bioavailability and can also make you loose as a goose.

Vitamin K2 MK-7 helps direct serum calcium away from soft tissues and arteries towards building BMD.  120 mcg/day should be sufficient.

Vitamin A (retinol) is also essential.  It plays a significant role in the autocrine mode of vitamin D3 metabolism that takes place at the cellular level throughout the body. This is the mode of vitamin D3 metabolism we think is responsible for the cluster headache preventative effect...  A little vitamin A goes a long way.  Don't take more than 900 mcg/day (3,000 IU/day).

Hope this helps...

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch