Pure Oxygen

For the past week or so my husband's cluster migraines have been back and it has been hell for all of us because they are terrible pain- I honestly can't bear to even watch when he gets them plus when he starts getting them they come twice a day every day for an undetermined amount of time.
So a week ago he went to doc about them and got some imitrex injections as well as a daily med to try to prevent them.. got 1 or 2 every day since then and had used all the injections so today he was having a terrible one... was on the bed with his one eye all droopy, tears running down his face, rocking back and forth and he had me call the doc for him because he couldn't talk.. so I made him an appt. (oh we couldn't refill his shots yet because insurance wouldn't cover them again yet and without it it would have been a couple grand... with it it's $5 for all. so yea...) and he went into doctor an hour later-still with a migraine.
And he spent 40 mins back there attached to pure oxygen-which we knew was a treatment for them but he'd never had before. It made them go away but they told him there are no other migraine meds that'll work for clusters... so he's still got 2 more days til insurance will cover his shots... so now he's off to work and hopefully won't get another one. they did put him on a corticosteroid, -the same one I was on for bronchitis before but they have him on it for 2 wks and at very high doses to try to "break the cycle" so i'm hoping they work. and i'm also hoping his doc was joking and not HALF JOKING when he told D to "warn his wife that he might become emotional, cranky, etc"

 

Yeah, stuff like prednisone can make you moody.

I feel for both of you.

Keeping my fingers crossed he is headache free until it's time for his refills.

 

Just wondering... has he had a CT scan or MRI?

 

He has another doc apt next week and if they aren't gone or all symptoms aren't gone then he's gonna be sent to a neurologist.
I think D minimalized the other symptoms he's been having today at the doc.- he's also been VERY VERY tired, weak and DIZZY even when he doesn't have migraines. I'm thinking he needs to go to neurologist.

 

I'm just wondering because of the sudden onset of this, especially if the migraines are that severe.

 

oh and aerianne... I checked and it is prednisone exactly that he's taking.
Only when I was on it for bronchitis it was for 5 days at a low dose and I didn't get side effects. He's gonna be on it for 2 wks at about 3 times the dose I was. He took 8 pills today.

 

Well, yea... thanks. Yeah, it's sudden and severe but I think those things are normal w clusters... however, the other things... him walking around all the time and then just saying "I need to go lay down for 20 mins cause I feel like I'm gonna faint" (every day over the weekend that would happen every cpl hours)...THAT combined w the migraines has me kinda worried. I think I'm gonna push him more about the neurologist.
I'm not sure why he downplayed that stuff to the doctor today.

 

I was referring to the sudden onset of these being a regular occurrence.

 

Yeah, I got you and I agree. Was just saying that I think cluster migraines typically come all at once though... like people get them all the time for a while and then not at all. Shrugs.
Anyways, yea, just hoping it's not anything abnormal w them though.

 

They will make him feel flushed and sweaty, too; but it's better than being in pain. Prednisone gives me lots of energy.

 

Well, haha yea I just read him over the phone all the side effects Wikipedia listed under it and he said "well, as long as these migraines stop I'll take all of that"
When I took it (at a much lower dose then him), I felt good the first day. As able to breathe and stop wheezing almost immediately. I actually think I felt great the whole time I took it .. kinda wish I could take it all the time Of course apparently side effects get bad after a week and it's addictive... otherwise I think docs would be rx'ing it all the time. It's crazy just to look at the list ... the pure volume... of the things it can help it. (even heart failure and cancer- everything from them to poison oak.)

 

It's amazing. It just will cause your Adrenal Glands to stop producing or something...too tired to remember exactly...but that's why you taper off it when you're done.

 

Yeah.

"Adrenal suppression will begin to occur if prednisone is taken for longer than seven days. Eventually, this may cause the body to temporarily lose the ability to manufacture natural corticosteroids (especially cortisol), which results in dependence on prednisone. "

 

Well, there you go. lol

 

you may want to check this out

"Curing Headaches Naturally with Chinese Medicine" by bob flaws

"Most people suffer from headaches upon occasion, but for some people they are a recurrent and debilitating health problem. This book teaches the Chinese medical theories about headaches, their cause, diagnosis, and prevention. Emphasis is on a variety of self-help preventive techniques and home-care remedies for sufferers of headaches."

 

Thanks a lot. I will look it up.

You know...makes me wonder sometimes... my mom's cats have all kinds of health probs and the reg vet couldn't do anything else for them so my mom takes them to a lady who gives her diff Asian meds and they work... anyways, I know my husband's not a cat... but I am thinking I'll look into that book because sometimes I think western medicine isn't the best way to deal w health issues.


(looked it up- think I may order it for him as a father's day gift as I was looking to buy him one more thing)

 

Seems like I would buy an oxygen tank

 

The thing is, if it gets to be bad enough and the imitrex shots stop working THAT IS THE TREATMENT.

However....oxygen=expensive. And if you're not using it to breathe (emphysema) then insurance is not gonna wanna pay.

 

you might be able to get it from the library to have a look, but you'd probably have to request it through ILB since the library will likely not have it on the shelves

 

What's ILB? Like the inter library loan thing? In any case, yea, maybe I'll check the library first, not sure but will def check it out one way or another...