Hi Im new to this and are asking questions for my husband, who is suffering from ch.

He has been prescribed Maxalt but advised not to take more than 3 per week, which is not enough when he is suffering everyday. Have asked doctors for oxygen which as yet they have not agreed to prescibe.

Also have read that injections are better than Maxalt.

Would love some help for hubby

What is needed by us CH'ers are the injections (best) or naisal spray preps (those take a little longer).
And yes demand oxygen, go to the oxygen info section on left menu and print it out for the doctor. The mask sold here is a must, you won't get it from your oxygen supplier... trust me just buy it.

While there is no cure, there are effective ways to manage the beast:

1. Find a good headache specialist-this is imperative. You don't say if you are seeing your GP, a general neuro, or a specialist. In the long run, you want the specialist.

2. Start a prednisone taper (starting around 80mg/day) You don't say you tried this but a bunch of us found good relief this way while waiting for a longer term preventative to kick in.

3. Start a preventative working up to a high enough dose to be effective in treating CHs, like 240mg/day verapamil increasing as directed up to 960mg/day. Other preventatives include Topamax, carbomazapine, oxycarbomazapine, and more. Pay attention to the doses-often we hear I tried that but the dose was too low to be effective.

4. Get an effective oxygen setup: a nonrebreather mask and a regulator that will go up to 25lpm along with a 3 liter bag. See optimask.

5. Get effective abortives, like imitrex injectables-pills are too slow-or Migranal nasal spray, it's an alternative to triptans. I use both.

6. Keep a log or journal of your attacks, and learn to use the KIP scale at left. This may help to identify some triggers for you. Some are fairly common to all of us, like alcohol, but even that isn't universal.

It's a long list, but it returns to you the power needed to manage the beast. Good luck and God bless. lance

cris, regarding getting O2 prescribed, doctors usually trust the opinions of other doctors more than their patients, so printing this article "Rozen and Fishman final r4 CH survey O2 focused abstract IHC 2009.pdf" may be helpful persuasion for your hubby's doctor. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

If the doctor agrees to prescribe it at a lower than recommended flow rate, take it anyway... the important thing for now is to get the O2. Then you can purchase a mask and high flow regulator and use as much as you wish.