No CH all day today.  And I am in bed talking with my wife.  Hear some thunder and see flashes of lightning and I say
"Oh cool, looks like we are getting a storm."  So we go to sleep and 10 minutes later I am awakened with a shadow.  5 minutes later I am at a level 7 and climbing.  Probably hit an 8.  This started and hour and a half ago.  It is now finally at a 2-3.  Anyway, I thought to myself "was this caused by that storm?"  Went online and sure enough there is a big old low pressure system smack over the state of Delaware.  Who freaking knows.  I just want to sleep.

I'm fortunate in that weather changes have never been a trigger for me. Many on the board, like you, can almost forecast the weather by their hits!

Joe

I have always wondered if pressure systems in weather caused this to start up. Mine are usually in Spring or Fall. I thought it was stress, but I'm stressed out usually constant all year. So, I wondered if there is a list of amount of sufferers in different states and different climates. Which state has the least and maybe if they have less attacks? I thought maybe moving to a different climate could help, though impossible for me at this time. Just curious.

From reading posts here, pressure changes seems to be a trigger for many.

I was on a flight today and felt shadows on the way up and on the way down. Thankfully it didn't turn into a full blown attack.

Lucidity....that's been discussed a lot. Whether one part of the country/world is better or worse.....pretty much inconclusive. Can you imagine how crowded it would get if you found a part of the world that was impervious to CH? ;D

Joe

I have definitely noticed more frequent and intense attacks when a  storm is coming or has arrived even to the point my wife has noticed it. As far as locations my only experience to that is I have noticed less frequent and less intense attacks while on vacation and it does not seem to matter where I am, I guess that probably goes to stress being a trigger. Just my 2 cents.

David

There is a striking absence of medical literature on this topic (including altitude/flying) as associated with, much less identified as causal, and CH.

There is more literature around migraine but I suspect this reflects the large body of migraine research and how little $ is directed exclusively to CH.

The most recent article I found was a single case of CH induced by flying which responded only to oxygen whereas the usual abortives failed. Can't read much into single case studies.

Mine seem to be triggered by weather/barometric pressure patterns too..  But the weird part is, once the cycle begins, it continues despite the weather, and then eventually ends no matter what the weather is.
In other words, my CH may be triggered by weather/baro pressure, but once it starts, it does it's thing regardless of any weather and then usually stays away for a year. (Hopefully) It's hard to pin down specifics with this condition.

-CHSteve-

CHSteve's last sentence is the key.

The issue is that "correlation is not causation", the old saw which means--just because two things occur one after the other does not mean that the first event caused the second.

Too bad the info is so absent Bob. All I know is I'm not a CH sufferer but I get obnoxious headaches during barometric changes! (Nothing like ya'll experience though I'm sure).

Yeah, a geographical map would be so interesting to see.  Mine also have only occurred in the spring (knock on wood) 

back in september i was out fishin with the pops, catchin some nice walleye, a nine pounder to start the day followed by a tasty 5 pounder, couldnt ask for a better day until about 1130 when dasrk clouds rolled up and the wind changed, imitrex shot would touch the headache

needles to say we came in due to my pain 9-22 was the day, the solstice or sumthin like that the day that the night becomes longer than the day. hypothalamus games so to speak

i too am affected by pressure changes, when the wind picks up  i know they are coming cloudy overcast days is exactly how i feel, but the bright blue sky hot days i get them too, never a happy medium of weather. especially in new york where the weather can change every hour on the hour

My attacks are more reliable than the weather forecast.

we have storms forecast for tonight /tomorrow it been hot to day , for England, and it's humid too . It clouded over late this afternoon and now i feel like i have an elephant siting on my head , sort of pressure and throbbing on my right side ,ch side. Hope this isn't going to be the start of my next cycle.   :-[

Nigel

I believe mine predict the weather also.  Last cycle got mine in winter, which is rare for me because it's usually spring and fall.  Wouldn't you know, we got more snow last winter than I can remember getting for many years.

Just a heads up Billie...if you're as young as you look in your picture! CH can take a while to settle into patterns. Mine had no discernable patterns from my late teens into my early 20's. Then they settled into a 2 cycle a year, spring and fall, 8-12 week pattern you could build a calendar around.

I hit my mid 40's and they went all over the place, 8 month cycles, 2 year remissions. My point being, don't try and get comfy with his patterns, he morphs a lot! ;)

Joe

The rate of the rise or fall of the barometer does affect my CH.   I've noticed that any more than .02 points difference in an hour, more often than not will send me to CH hit hell. 

The running all be it not so funny joke in our family is; "Want to know what the weather will be like ?  Just ask one of us we can tell you more accurately than the weather man."   ::)

Continuing to add my two cents, I have been busting for almost a month and I have been down to two mild hits a day easily aborted with 02 till yesterday. We had severe thunder storms all day and I had four attacks with two of them difficult to abort with 02. Again not real scientific but we have the same weather forecast today so we shall see.

Haven't got hit yet ,YAY, but we still have the threat of thunder storms for the next couple of days and my head still feels like I've got an elephant sitting on it .

wonder if it's air pressure or the increase of electrostatic potential that's triggering this, because we've not had much of a change in air pressure and thunder storms are being mentioned allot by others here.

Nigel

me too the only possible trigger i think i can see is weather.with best enviroment very high temperature so nights are hot too,no wind at all,or maybe a bit of south warm wind and minor humidity,and no a/c as the sudden changes from room to  room,or from/to outdoor is a possible trigger.Except if there is a bigger chain of cycles which happens to chronics too and whatever my suspicions are,beast laughs...

i wonder if we have any members here who live nearby.Maybe a few kilometres/miles where weather is the same and tried to see with a diary if crisis are following a weather pattern?

it would be very interesting if it could be done something like this,eliminating other possible triggers
like a drink for istance to see if this theory stands.At least as an experiment. 

Had thunder storm today...also had a visit from the beast. It was a difficult hit to abort had to go for imitrex as nothing else was working.  Now I'm exhausted...    :o

noticed years ago that  I frequently was wearing sunglasses on the way to the o2 shop...thought it was the bright light...but that wasn't consistent...it was the high pressure systems....

Best,

Jon

Even out of cycle bright light feels like a knife in my right eye, sunny or cloudy I nearly always go out side with my sun glasses on , but then I always did find bright light hard work even before CH.

Nigel

Cold fronts moving in , kick my ass!

what if weather has something to do with this


Quote:

Sweating allows the body to regulate its temperature. Sweating is controlled from a center in the preoptic and anterior regions of the hypothalamus, where thermosensitive neurons are located. The heat-regulatory function of the hypothalamus is also affected by inputs from temperature receptors in the skin. High skin temperature reduces the hypothalamic set point for sweating and increases the gain of the hypothalamic feedback system in response to variations in core temperature. Overall, however, the sweating response to a rise in hypothalamic ('core') temperature is much larger than the response to the same increase in average skin temperature. The process of sweating decreases core temperature, whereas the process of evaporation decreases surface temperature. There are two situations in which our nerves will stimulate sweat glands, making us sweat: during physical heat and emotional stress. In general, emotionally induced sweating is restricted to palms, soles, and sometimes the forehead, while physical heat-induced sweating occurs throughout the body. [10] Sweat is not pure water; it always contains a small amount (0.2–1%) of solute. When a person moves from a cold climate to a hot climate, adaptive changes occur in the sweating mechanisms of the person. This process is referred to as acclimatisation: the maximum rate of sweating increases and its solute composition decreases. The volume of water lost in sweat daily is highly variable, ranging from 100 to 8,000 mL/day. The solute loss can be as much as 350 mmol/day (or 90 mmol/day acclimatised) of sodium under the most extreme conditions. In a cool climate and in the absence of exercise, sodium loss can be very low (less than 5 mmols/day). Sodium concentration in sweat is 30-65 mmol/l, depending on the degree of acclimatisation.

source START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE
it's a very interesting article

moreover another article on thermoregulation says
this


Quote:

The skin assists in homeostasis (keeping different aspects of the body constant e.g. temperature). It does this by reacting differently to hot and cold conditions so that the inner body temperature remains more or less constant. Vasodilation and sweating are the primary modes by which humans attempt to lose excess body heat. The brain creates much heat through the countless reactions which occur. Even the process of thought creates heat. The head has a complex system of blood vessels, which keeps the brain from overheating by bringing blood to the thin skin on the head, allowing heat to escape. The effectiveness of these methods is influenced by the character of the climate and the degree to which the individual is acclimatized.

now the only thing i found till now on perspiration and ch is this

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

and now i ve got a tension headache with all these :D

Weather changes, winter to summer and summer to winter absolutely beat the the living hell out of me. If I'm out in the heat to long and walk directly into a cold air conditioned room, I can assure you the beast is coming to investigate. I live in Florida so there's not much of a spring or fall. The beast plans his vacation with me every March and stays anywhere from 1 to 4 months. And he always makes sure to come see me in late October.

I'm from Michigan and the low fronts proceeding storms almost always trigger an attack, not usually bad just annoying, but when I'm in Florida or Louisiana during a storm I have ended up in the ER just about every time I go down there. The spring of 2010 was the worst as it was storming daily and ended up with a massively horrible one the lasted four days. Also being in a pressurized plane has caused them almost everytime I have flown.
I should note that I noticed the barometric link after I flew to Louisiana for my uncles funeral, It was storming every other day the week i was there and just before each storm I was suffering one, the days without storms I was fine.

I KNOW the weather effects me. We have been having severe Kansas weather all week. My head has constant pressure. I also have SADD. I think it's a factor, we had a long dark winter and my clusters are back after 5 years! I was crushed to see them again. Anyone else see a SADD connection?

hey guys,

I know this might sound strange, but if you have barometric "trigger"s.. have you ever gone scuba diving? The one thing my neuro in the states could never get over was how going 60ft below the ocean completely broke the headache all together. 

Now just for those who never scuba dived.. the oxygen concentration in the tank is basically the same as the air you breathe on land... the only difference is the pressure it is put in and on you.

I have had headaches since I was 15, and I guess you guys call them shadows, they tend to rise and fall throughout the day but I still get bad hits too. 

One day I got a hit right when I was about to dive.  I was so excited to do it again (vacationing time) that I didn't want the beast to win the battle.  I bit the preverbal bullet and took a dive.  As I sank into the deep I noticed that the pain from the headache was slightly less than on the surface.  When my pressure gauge hit 60ft I realized I had no pain at all.  I was curious so I slowly went up about 5-6 feet or so and actually felt it coming back. 

Since then I have done this same test multiple times and the result is always the same - at 60ft I am pain free,  any less and the pain comes back.

What do you think?

Zen

Oh and another thing.. I get bad hits when storms come around too.  I can tell you if a storm is near sometimes to 30 miles away... its very strange, but its common for people with arthritis so I know its possible.

Hi Zenica & the Rest o You Guys

I can't agree enough, I'm damned sure that the pressure is a big trigger. My episodes have had a regular pattern over recent years, autumn and spring, just when weather and pressure are on their biggest changes.
Besides this, and I get this might sound extreme, I have to drive over the pennines to get to work most days (between Yorkshire and Lancashire). On my return journey each day I go up what is known as 'Windy Hill' on the M62. its very exposed and a pretty steep road. Interestingly, early in my episodes, when I've still been fit to get to work, I can always guarantee that from being PF at the bottom, I'll be up to between kip 2 & 4, by the top of the hill.
And I thought it was just me.
Well Guiseppi, you dont need a map of cluster heads, you just need to tell us all where there are no changes in pressure, and I'll look forward to seeing you all there soon.

All the best, stay PF

Andrew

I thought that it was like that here in NZ.  I do have to admit that the severity of the pressure is a lot better here.  I still get hits though and I also get them when Im at the Britomart Train Station.  You can bet that if there are 2 or 3 trains waiting when I come calling I'm gonna have a 4-6 kip before Im off at my stop and sometimes 7 or 8 when I finally reach home.

Zen

I can attest that barometric pressure is an issue, though for some reason, as much as I fly, it has never bothered me. We had a storm coming the other day, it passed us, never rained, but the change in pressure nearly killed me. Was a solid 7 or 8 for about an hour, to the point where I sat on the back porch panting like I see my old dog doing. I couldn't sit still, keeping back the tears. It never rained, which could explain why it was so bad, as the weather didn't "break".

This article has some info mostly on migraines and barometric pressure...(& a little bit about a weird tree that can give you a cluster)

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE   

but the thing that really stuck out to me was this weird tidbit--

It has been observed that dust originating from larger deserts can be transported to other continents by atmospheric air, resulting in an adverse effect on public health. Up to 5 billion tons of desert dust travels around the globe each year and 50-75 % of the dust originates from Africa.17 Dust originating from the Sahara Desert contains microorganisms that could initiate a series of reactions upon contact with cloud water and efficient UV light from sun. This may result in the formation of reduced iron (Fe2+), oxalate and various basic amino acids. A recent study shed light on mechanisms related to headache. The simulated conditions of Saharan dustladen air induced a c-fos response in the nociceptive superficial lamina (I and II) in trigeminal nucleus caudalis.18 The nociceptive effect was not mediated by dust itself or living microorganisms, but rather by nanoparticles (smaller than 450nm) probably released during a multiplication of microorganisms.

huh.

I am positive that changes i barometric pressure are a trigger. The pressure here in Charleston changes like/with the wind, thus increasing the likelihood and sometimes intensity of my hits.

Pfunk 8-)

I live in sunny so-cal, since it only rains once a year I've never been able to establish a pattern with pressure changes! ;D

Joe