Hi All,
just started with Verapamil at 40mg a night.Taking it slow for what it’s worth.Will keep you updated as to what I experience.
Cheers,
Gerhard
Hey!!
Verapamil is a great drug and so easily tolerated!! I am at 240mg SR AM and another 240mg SR at night, and have been for 5 years. Keep us posted!!
Pam
Hey Pam,
How is with your symptoms? I’m on 240 and I know people go higher.Is it controlling things for you?
Thanks!
I was on 80 mg of verapamil for three weeks. Last week, my neurologist increased my dosage to 120 mg. I haven’t noticed any side effects. I thought that the annoying symptoms I have been experiencing since January – pain/pressure behind my left eye and in my left ear, occasional spaciness, occasional low-level vertigo or nausea (hard to tell which sometimes) – had begun to abate over the last week. But then, yesterday, I had an upsetting experience and got hit pretty bad within several hours. I am still sick today, trying to take it easy at work, doing the minimum.
I know it’s necessary to give medication time to work and that 120 mg is still a low dose.
HI,
Dr. Hain in Chicago thinks that there is no benefit to Verapamil above 120mg. I am on 180 for about 5 months now. It did eliminate my headaches and also stopped hard, spinning vertigo attacks with vomiting, I now have 24/7 dizziness and have started nori, along with Paxil and still on 180 Verapamil. I’m afraid to lower it, even if Dr. Hain said I should. hmmm!!
Spinning Lady, Meredith
I am currently on 120mg and don’t have constipation(yet) I do have a low grade headache,but can deal with that.No other side effects that I can pinpoint with confidence.Now the wait starts I suppose.Any suggestions on how long I should continue.Been on it for about 2 weeks only,
Cheers ,
Gerhard
Hi .
Just wanted to wish you good luck with the Verapamil. It is the easiest drug, for me, since all this horror started for me last Nov. I was taking Imetrex for migraine headaches and the verapamil stopped headaches completely. It also helped with vertigo attacks. If I might ask, what are your symptoms, that caused you to go to the dr. and get Verapamil? Are you on anything else? I was on just verapamil for a while, then was put on Paxil and Nori. I do feel much better, and can function WAY better than before. I hope you have a good result. These things take time and patience. Depression is not uncommon with people that have MAV, so talking it through helps, and knowing others understand and have the same problems, can make you feel less alone. Thinking of you… Spinning Lady, Meredith
Verapamil gave me severe constipation and seemed to make me dizzy. 
I was taking 240mg. I stopped it 5 days ago and the dizziness is a bit better.
I know it has been very successful with many on this forum so give it a fair chance. I hope you have great success with it.
Let us know.
MP
Hi Meredith,
I have to date not been diagnosed with MAV…All the doctors that I have seen in South Africa have not been able to tell me what is wrong.Initially I was told it was vestibular neuritis and was given this diagnoses years after that.I have now diagnosed myself :shock:
Current symptoms are:
1)No headache as such.On odd occasion.
2)Have had vertigo and still get on odd occasion when in bed and I turn onto my left side.
3)Permanent diziness and rocking etc when standing.
4)Feels as if some force pulls me to the right when I walk.
5)Nausea comes and goes.
6)Strange feeling in forehead area-very difficult to describe.
7)Tinnitus in both ears.
8)When I move my head and sometimes even my eyes from one postition to another,I feel dizzy for a brief moment.
I have been on Topamax recently,but could not tolerate the SE at all.Made me very ill - depressed and gave me respiratory infection.
Regards,
Gerhard
The Verapamil is definately causing headaches.I hope this is something that will dissapear after a while.
If it helps - the first couple of weeks I was on verapamil, I had a low-grade headache all day, every day. That was the only side-effect I noticed. Fortunately, it did go away… (I’m on 240/day. It takes the edge off things, but hasn’t “fixed” me, unfortunately.)
Sometimes the symptoms we feel after adding in a new med, isn’t the med, but rather the Migraine reacting to the change. Migraine likes daily routine…Migraine hates ANY change. I think because we all feel so med sensative that ANYTHING that we feel that is somewhat negative would be the side effect of that drug, when it most likely isn’t rlated to the drug at all. Just a thought. :mrgreen:
Pam
Ok,day 16 on Verapamil.I feel like sh*t.Headache from Verapamil has abated a bit.But I am very dizzy and feel confused.Stiff neck and head feels too big…
Sounds to me like you need to call your doctor. Side effects usually go away by two weeks. See what your dr has to say.
Good luck. Verapamil did nothing for me but give me severe constipation. :twisted:
Hope your headaches go away.
MP
As promised,some feedback on the Verapamil.
I initially complained about headaches and not feeling well on the 10th of May.From there on I became much better to a point that I wanted to post here and rave about the Verapamil.Since yesterday I am back to feeling the way I was on the 10th but without a noticable headache.I did change the dosage from 120mg to 160mg in that period,so I suppose it could be that.The idea is to get to 240mg.Any ideas/thoughts on the dosage.Is 240mg the target or not :?:
I’d say the target should be whatever makes you feel better and not worse… I started at 40 mg 3/day for the first couple of weeks and didn’t have any problems other than increased headaches. When I upped it to 80 mg 3/day, the headaches came back, but after a couple weeks were gone. I’ve been fine (though not cured) at 80 3/day. I tried several weeks ago to switch to the 240 XR version and WOW - my head was spinning all day. (Needless to say I gave that up and stuck with the 3/day kind.) So, could definitely be that your issue has to do with upping the dosage… It’s possible that you’ll settle into 160 after a couple of days, or it could be that 120 was the best dose for you. The only way to know, unfortunately, is to wait it out and see what happens.
Hang in there!
Thanks Erika,it is interesting to note that you take 80mg in divived doses.I take mine in the morning all at once.Wonder if this could also make a difference.
Ironically, even though Verapamil was supposed to be the easiest to tolerate, I found it harder to deal with than either Nori or Topamax. It gave me a consistent pain in my left upper abdomen which I assume was really bad constipation and didn’t really help my symptoms. It did lower the heck out of my blood pressure though!!
Yeah - I’ve heard some folks have a really difficult time with the constipation side effect. I never got that - though it did “cure” my chronic IBS, which presented as, let’s say, the opposite of constipation. I was concerned about the blood pressure SE, since mine’s generally 117 over whatever (normal). I thought maybe it’d drop too low. On the Verap, I’m more likely to be at 110, but feel fine. Maybe a little tired, but that could be because I don’t sleep well - ever.
Just goes back to the whole - every body responds differently to each med idea… Too bad there’s not just one med that works for everyone without any SEs! 
Some more feedback.Please accept my apologies for starting to sound negative,but I have since Tuesday started having sever neck pain and stiffness.The pain is in the back of the neck and base of skull.The stiffness was so bad that I could not turn my head at all.I also seem to be having the urgency to take a wee .Very irritating!!Any comments?
Regards,
Gerhard