Anyone here with cluster headaches?
 

What do you use for them? I just saw a neurologist who recommended oxygen and something called cafergot (until now I've only been taking verapamil) - anyone with any experience on this?

verapamil is a calcium blocker you need to get on a beta blocker !

I used to have them for a while, but not so much these days, fortunately. Now I just take about 800mg ibuprofen and it works ok. Used to take Excedrin a lot but it was killing my stomach. I tried a number of prescription drugs when they were bad, but was never able to find anything that worked.

Good luck finding something that works. Cluster headaches are awful.

thanks but verapamil is one of the universally prescribed meds for cluster headaches...after i started taking it, i went from six headaches a day down to one a day during my clusters.

Yeah, they are :Oh crap
The regular "headache" meds usually don't work on clusters - even though I don't want to try the oxygen (only "old and sick people" use oxygen lol) - the numbers say that it usually ends the headache within 7 minutes...and the other med he prescribed supposedly can even prevent the ones that come about 1 1/2 hours after you fall asleep. Glad the ibuprofin is working for you.

Sounds promising. Nothing worked for me back in the day unfortunately, but they didn't have nearly as many meds 10 years ago. :/

very true - i was put on the verapamil about 8 or 9 years ago so that's why i went today, to see if there was anything else that might work.

bump 8 char

I have migraines and have since I reached puberty. Based on the experiences of other female members of my family, they will go away once I reach menopause. I've never been so desirous to get old ;)

I've used cafergot and verapamil. Verapamil actually helped lesson the migraines but only by about 5% and it seriously sapped me of my energy. Cafergot made them worse :(

They treat migraines and cluster headaches with triptans and TBH, after all these years, that's the only thing that works for me. I've tried all of them, I think, and the original Imitrex still works the best for me.

Best of luck - I wouldn't wish these things on my worse enemy :(

thanks - i HOPE i'm not your worst enemy :winkwink:
i've had them for years, but never heard of cafergot before so i was looking for feedback/experience - thanks for the input :-)

(kelly has had horrible migraines for years - Imitrex doesn't do a thing for her, if they get really bad, Migranol works wonders - the downside is that you can only use it twice a week, max.)

wow those headaches - though i dont have it - sound just aweful.

Here I thought this was a tech thread about computer clusters lol

lol, trust me, computer cluster problems would be a lot less painful :winkwink:

Oh, don't listen to those silly limits :winkwink: I tried Migranal and it did nothing. It's really weird how Imitrex is my savior but none of the other, supposedly better and longer lasting, triptans have done anything.

Before Imitrex I used to get someone to drive me to the ER for a demerol shot. It wouldn't get rid of the headache but I could sleep for a few hours. Usually by the time I'd come to the point of the ER it had been a day or two with no sleep.

And you will NEVER, EVER be anything but one of my bestest and oldest (as in how LONG we've known each other, not age, of course :thumbsup) buddies in the biz :) :) :) :) :)

(even if you smoke, hehehehehehehe)