I was on this site many years ago. I left at the time because I felt the pressure was too high to go with alternative therapy (shrooms) without medical oversight, and because the attitude toward the medication therapy I was undergoing was extremely hostile.

Hopefully, it won't be the same this time.

I've been chronic for 14 years. I've run the gamut of medication therapies, and have finally gotten into to see a well-known neurologist who is using a simple medication regimen to help control the headaches. I'm not headache free, but the frequency and intensity are down to the point I can manage the attacks with Tylenol or Imitrex.

I take 320mg of Verapamil 3X/day to control my headaches, and the times of the year when they decide to flare up they do a nerve block in the greater occipital nerve. Considering 160mg of Verapamil 3X/day is the maximum they give for people with heart/blood pressure issues, I am watched by a cardiologist to make sure my blood pressure doesn't drop too low or I begin to have problems on my EKG (after all, Verapamil is primarily a heart/blood pressure medication).

One of the best things is the low cost of the Verapamil--with my insurance, I pay a little over $4 for a 30 day supply. I do tough through a lot of the lower grade attacks because I will get rebound if I use Imitrex or Tylenol too often, but it's nowhere near as rough as it used to be.

If people need to know who my doctor is and where he practices, let me know.

Gotta ask... have you tried high flow oxygen to abort attacks? You may be able to replace/reduce your need for Tylenol/Imitrex for those breakthrough hits by aborting with O2.

I'm in the SF Bay Area for those who want to know. I see Dr. Goadsby to try and help control my CH, can't find anyone better out there.

I've been through pretty much everything on the list of medications to control the CH, the only luck I had anywhere along the line was a few weeks respite with Nimotop. Goadsby put me on Verapamil at 960/day about three to four years ago, he had just developed the therapy four or five years before that and had moved to states shortly before I got in to see him.

Done the high flow O2, no luck. Did it at 15lpm, non-rebreather mask, 20-30min typical. No luck. Dr. Goadsby had me in as a "case study" when teaching residents and commented that sometimes you can't win them all.

I still get hit, even with the Verapamil. They still won't let me be entirely for any length of time. So I'm not pain free, but life is nowhere near as miserable as it used to be.

GOADSBY

You're a lucky man, you have one of the premier CH Doctors. I'm a bit south of you in the San Diego area. I would second the suggestion on the 02 at a higher flow rate as many who had zero success at 15 LPM suddenly had success at rates like 25 to 45 LPM.

Joe