There are a small percentage of CH'ers who suffer from both side attacks or even switch sides from attack to attack or cycle to cycle.

Joe

Hang in there man, we know how you are feeling - keep strong and keep fighting...praying for you..

Higher lpm is required, 15lpm minimum with a good mask like the one sold here...
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
The mask can make all the difference. If you have the option I would go for the 25lpm version like this one...
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
The smaller E tanks use a different valve style than the bigger medical tanks, and all welding tanks. Your E tank is the CGA-870 type, bigger tanks, and welders tanks, use the CGA-540 connection.
You will need both eventually, but get the 870 now, you will always need it for "portable" O2 use (I keep a tank in the car).
Good luck with your quest for relief.

It will help us to direct you to good sources of assistance if you will tell us where you live (city & state, if U.S. or country). At the Home page: Help button-->Edit & Profile --> Location.
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Call your local hospitals and see if they have free/low cost clinics and/or a doc who will discount his fees.
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LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Yellow Pages phone book: look for "Headache Clinics" in the M.D. section and look under "neurologist" where some docs will list speciality areas of practice.

2.  Call your hospital/medical center. They often have an office to assist in finding a physician. You may have to ask for the social worker/patient advocate.

3. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ; On-line screen to find a physician.

4. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or Look for "Physician Finder" search box. They will send a list of M.D.s for your state.I suggest using this source for several reasons: first, we have read several messages from people who, even seeing neurologists, are unhappy with the quality of care and ATTITUDES they have encountered; second, the clinical director of the Jefferson (Philadelphia) Headache Clinic said, in late 1999, that upwards of 40%+ of U.S. doctors have poor training in treating headache and/or hold attitudes about headache ("hysterical female disorder") which block them from sympathetic and effective work with the patient; third, it's necessary to find a doctor who has experience, skill, and a set of attitudes which give hope of success. This is the best method I know of to find such a physician.

5. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or NEW certification program for "Headache Medicine" by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, an independent, non-profit, professional medical organization.
        Since this is a new program, the initial listing is limited and so it should be checked each time you have an interest in locating a headache doctor.

Your doc is in a bind! Let's try and educate her so that she can treat you. MANY of us have had to travel this route and if she is open to getting some medical information--let's try.
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Print the PDF file, below, and give to her.

Print this address. A web site run by one of the best Headache docs in the middle-west.

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

Tell her that this site is full of searchable articles on specifics of headache. And he offers an e-book aimed at docs loaded with guidance/med infro., etc.
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Ask her to consider giving you samples of this med. Acts as an abortive of attacks and it's cheap compared to Imitrex.
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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]

This has been my only abortive since I found this abstract. It's rapid in action. Several other folks on the site have reported the same good results.