I was wondering if anyone has any data of how weather might effect the beast?  I asked the neurologist if he had any thoughts and he said, "Maybe, maybe not."  Also, I have only kept a brief diary over the last nine years and tend to see most of my cycles in either the spring or fall--though not excusively.  Just wondering about others' experiences?  I am well aware that the Beast operates on varied terms...Thanks!

Hi,
I've always understood that it tends to be seasonable for many sufferers with exactly the pattern that you are seeing.
Hope this helps, if only a little.
Cheers
JoeKen

im usually spring and autumn but this year has been a doosey. Im so good i can almost predict the weather.

I often tell my wife theres a storm brewing

Mark (wishing you all calm seas)

I've had cycles start after profound temperature drops (30 degrees or so - 2008 was like that, with Jan temps very warm [the 40s', and then within the space of a week, we were below zero), or oscillations in temps. (mainly in early spring, when you may have a couple of days in the 40s and 50s, and then it drops back down into the 20s and 30s for a few days, and then then temps swing repeats).

Cyclical recurrence and regular timing

Cluster headaches are occasionally referred to as "alarm clock headaches", because of its ability to wake a person from sleep, and because of the regularity of its timing in that both the individual attacks and the clusters themselves can have a metronomic regularity; attacks striking at a precise time of day each morning or night is typical, even precisely at the same time a week later. This has prompted researchers to speculate an involvement of the brain's "biological clock" or circadian rhythm.

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The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences
Issue: Volume 29, Number 1 / February 2002
Pages: 33 - 40

Cluster Headache: Evidence for a Disorder of Circadian Rhythm and Hypothalamic Function

Tamara Pringsheim

Abstract:

This article reviews the literature for evidence of a disorder of circadian rhythm and hypothalamic function in cluster headache. Cluster headache exhibits diurnal and seasonal rhythmicity. While cluster headache has traditionally been thought of as a vascular headache disorder, its periodicity suggests involvement of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, the biological clock. Normal circadian function and seasonal changes occurring in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and pineal gland are correlated to the clinical features and abnormalities of circadian rhythm seen in cluster headache. Abnormalities in the secretion of melatonin and cortisol in patients with cluster headache, neuroimaging of cluster headache attacks, and the use of melatonin as preventative therapy in cluster headache are discussed in this review. While the majority of studies exploring the relationship between circadian rhythms and cluster headache are not new, we have entered a new diagnostic and therapeutic era in primary headache disorders. The time has come to use the evidence for a disorder of circadian rhythm in cluster headache to further development of chronobiotics in the treatment of this disorder.

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I have experienced/noticed my CH attacks* are [sometimes] related to changes in barometric pressure and changing weather patterns as ellenjoanne has described [in addition to the above mentioned factors].

:)

Edit to add: *I am a chronic CH sufferer so I don't experience
Spring/Fall CH cycles specifically...the barometric/weather factor
happens with/to me year round [as does CH].

KingOfPain wrote on Oct 18^th, 2009 at 8:03pm:

:) [size=10]Edit to add: *I am a chronic CH sufferer so I don't experience Spring/Fall CH cycles specifically...the barometric/weather factor happens with/to me year round [as does CH].

Ditto.

Many thanks for your replies.  I am celebrating day number 6 of PF--including no phantoms or shadows!!!  It is amazing how much I am able to relate to what I read on this site.  I found the journal citation helpful as it confirms some suspicions I have always had.  I corresponded once with someone who described cycles beginning after international travel when one travels through time zones and one's body must adjust.    I had one of the longest and most difficult cycles when I traveled to China 10 years ago.  And, when I lived in the Midwest (where I grew up) cycles seemed to accompany the abrupt changes in weather.  Thanks, again.