Greetings all, I have a question about oxygen losing effectiveness.  I have used oxygen for the last 8 years as a primary abortive for my clusters.  It has saved my life and I shudder to think of life without it.  Recently, I have had a few headaches break through my Verapamil, so far they have all been middle of the night hits.  I immediately started my oxygen but on this last round of clusters it doesnt seem to be working at least not like it has before.  Ususally I hit a cluster immediately with 15lpm and in about 5 min the pain is gone, if I stop, the pain ramps back up in several minutes I'll hit it again 5 min at 15lpm then I usually cut the flow back to about 12lpm and use it for 10 more min.  Most of the time this completely aborts the cluster.  In this last cluster, I've had 3 headaches that 1)the oxygen never really completely takes the pain away even at 25lpm and 2) I could not completely abort even after 1.5 E tanks each, all 3 I had to take a Immitrex shot to abort.  I'm scared to death, I can't imagine what I would do if the oxygen stopped working.  Is it possible that my headaches are getting resistant to the oxygen?  Has anyone else here gone thorugh this?  Is it maybe time to invest in Demand Valve?  Thanks for reading, I feel somewhat better just posting this here, I know from experience if anyone can help they're most likely here.

May be time to increase the Veap dose. Where are you now?

I've read in medical literatre comments about your report, i.e., oyxgen not fully effective in killing an attack and so a recurence immediately after stopping using. BUT, also a recommendation that it not be used for long periods (hour plus).

But you are not at the end of the limb. Still a number of effective abortives, meds which have a long enouch half life to give longer acting effect which you may need.

If you don't like the taste of Red Bull, try some of the other drinks, just look for the combination of caffeine and taurine. Or just try drinking it even faster. It was quite some months before I realised that it wasn't red in colour as when I need it I skull it as fast as possible.

For oxygen, try giving Batch a PM, he is the oxygen guru (and vitamin D3 too).

Others have mentioned oxygen stopping working, but often it just needs a tweak to get working again, with a higher flow rate often being what is needed.

With verapamil a dose of 480mg a day is reasonably high, but some people need up to 1000mg, so there is still the potential for it to be increased but make sure you work with your doctors on this as it might not be an option for you.

PM Batch and ask him to explain the PH diet. 02 stopped working for me about 4 years ago, scared the be-jezuz outta me. Batch started me on the PH altering diet and within about 36 hours it was knocking them dead. I've since moved to the Batch Regimen,,, D-3.....and have been CH free about 3.5 years.

Joe

Jason, you are describing my recurring nightmare! So far O2 has worked wonders (over 10 years now) but I have to say it is only a part of my arsenal. I use a ladder method to abort along with an ever changing and adapting preventative method, including D3. The abort ladder starts with simple O2. Then it rises to O2 + an energy drink. If that doesn't work I go to O2 + a second energy drink, and then if that doesn't work, I use either a shot of Imitrex or a snort of Migranal. So far, this method has worked every time. I seldom climb the ladder higher than a second energy drink, but in high chronic cycles, I may use Imitrex or Migranal two or three times a week. Hope this helps. God bless. lance