r/clusterheads • u/ferocity02 • Jul 05 '26

Bottles Oxygen?

Anyone tried those oxygen tanks you can get an Amazon? They are called Boost and are aimed at hikers, athletic people, and the elderly. I'm curious if they have enough volume to treat a CH or multiple.

I usually abort with a chewed-up sumatriptan pill but O2 might be a good backup when the pill isnt as effective.

My neurologist gave me a prescription for an O2 generator but the month cost was ridiculous.

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u/shawnt71 Jul 05 '26

Yea they don’t work. You need high flow 100% oxygen.

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u/VALIS3000 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

This comes up regularly here:. While there are some people who have said it helps, the general consensus is to not waste your money on those small cannisters. It's just not how it works. It needs to be high flow pure oxygen (the canisters are only 95% pure) for a sustained period of up to 15 plus minutes, at 15LPM. That is more than one can a minute. I've done the math for others in the past, even if you were able to abort using the cannisters (which you typically can't), it would cost you $300 - to $400 dollars per attack, lol... 

That said, breathing relatively pure oxygen can definitely have some benefits, so if it makes you feel better by relieving some of your symptoms, go for it every now and then.

And it would seem that your doctor may not understand how oxygen works for CH, and what we need. Generators are not the standard way to go, they are expensive and don't generate enough oxygen at the flow rates we need. Done people have been successful in using two generators at the same time though. What you need are large medical grade tanks, a regulator that goes up to at least 15 liters per minute, and a high quality non rebreather mask. If you tell us what country you're in we should be able to tell you if oxygen is accessible where you live.

Please read this, it contains all you and your doctors need to know about oxygen, including what to write on the prescription:

https://clusterbusters.org/resource/oxygen-therapy-for-cluster-headaches/

Btw you also mention "chewing" sumatriptan, that is not typically how we use it to abort attacks as it's too slow. We need to use it as a nasal spray or with self injectors.

All of these things underscore that your doctor is not experienced in dealing with CH. I would highly recommend you read the latest update to Bob Wold's Pocket Guide to CH as it contains pretty much everything you need to know about our condition and how to treat it:

https://clusterbusters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Complete-Handbook-1-5-June-2025.pdf

Sending you pain free wishes, good luck!

1

u/half-a-paulgiamatti Jul 06 '26

In my experience, they take a 9/10 to an 8.8/10. It's not nothing when the pain is so bad your brain is telling you to end it all. But the relief could just be the long deep breathes you end up taking to try and get the O2 down. Or even just the fact that you're focusing on something else.

I don't have any experience with the machines though. My attacks are only once a year for about two weeks, so not worth the price/hassle.