Just throwing this out there.

could bad sleep patterns be a cause of CH ??   :-?

It's just a thought , being as the hypothalamus, if I've got this right , is widely reckoned to be ,er, involved in CH ,if a person had bad sleeping patterns could this upset the body's internal clock in such a way as to cause CH ?

Reason i ask ,and this could go on abit , is that I've had realu bad sleeping habits for the last ten years (and I don't mean farting and snoring etc ,although my wife would probably beg to differ). Ten years ago we were blessed with a son , I wasn't very good at getting up in the middle of the night to do my share of the feeds etc so I opted to stay up till 1 in the morning and then goto bed and from then on it was my wife's turn.

It worked well for us but even after that stage was over I still found my self staying up till 1 every night . 5 years on from that my daughter came along and she was hard work , I couldn't get her to goto sleep after her midnight feed . Not wanting to wake my wife I would stay up till she finally drifted off , usually about 3-4 in the morning .

The thing is now I still stay up till 3-4 in the morning and I can't seem to get out of the habit of doing it , so I seem to survive on 3-4 hours sleep ,although it is some times more than that when I fall asleep on the sofa watching TV.

Any way this has got me wandering if all this could be at least a contributing factor to my CH.

any thoughts , or am I trying to over think this ?

Nigel

I think the harder question would be which is causing which? Since the Hypo-thingy regulates your circadian rhythms.....and it's suspected to play a large part in our CH...is the CH cycle buggering up sleep cycles or is buggering up the sleep cycles causing the CH cycles?

For me, off cycle, I could bounce from days to graves and back again with no problems related to starting cycles. On cycle, I'm very careful to not bugger up my sleep patterns as that's just asking for an attack.

Joe

Thanks Joe , hmmm chicken and egg ??

having had CH for not even a year yet ....quite (not looking forward to the anniversary) I have to say I don't think me sleeping is any worse than it was before , although I do feel tired more during the day, but maybe I'm just getting old and the lack of sleep is finally catching up with me . That said the constant shadows get me down and I'm probably drinking too much red bull too.

just looked at the clock and it's midnight already and I've still got loads to do , I keep trying to get to bed earlier but there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.

Mind you I shouldn't mone having just been reading here about a fellow UK person and his night attacks , not been there yet thank the Lord.

Nigel

Hum! Interesting thread Nigel. I had also wondered about the sleep thing ( lack of it) causing my CH as well. Last Nov. & Dec. I had many nights of no sleep until 3-4 am. My CH symptoms began Dec. 20. And although I do not as of yet have middle of the nighters, my attacks usually peaked around 9:00 pm, my sleep has definitely been affected by CH. I've been taking Melatonin 12mg at bedtime since Feb and it does seem to help some. Still have nights I'm up 3 or 4 times though and always up before the crack of dawn for the day. Hate to think how bad it would be without Melatonin.

Have you tried Melatonin? Just wondering. Many here always recommend it for sleep issues that most of us seem to have especially in cycle. It's that darn whatchamacallit. LOL

Hope we can all sleep better real soon!

Donna Mae   ;)

Just a thought, but you might be someone who would really benefit from some melatonin - helping to 'reset' your nocturnal clock as it were...

As for did it cause your CH?  Uncertain, but doubtful - although one has to wonder if there is a strong association as Joe mentions - i.e. if there is a unifying underlying issue with the hypothalamus...

Nope (not for me) slept fine before CH hit !   :D

I actually sleep better than I ever have, since I've been diagnosed and treated for severe sleep apnea. The nighttime hits are a thing of the past, and with my CPAP I get 6-7 hours of mostly uninterrupted, quality sleep every night.

Brew wrote on Jul 7^th, 2010 at 8:48pm:

I actually sleep better than I ever have, since I've been diagnosed and treated for severe sleep apnea. The nighttime hits are a thing of the past, and with my CPAP I get 6-7 hours of mostly uninterrupted, quality sleep every night.

OK, now I'm just jealous...
;)

Lettucehead wrote on Jul 7^th, 2010 at 8:59pm:

OK, now I'm just jealous... ;)

All things considered, I guess I'd rather not have sleep apnea.

Yeah?
Well, I'd rather not have CH and be a size 6...
;)

That makes two of us, sister.

Except the size 6 part - I don't know how that translates to guy sizes.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a year ago and have been using CPAP since then.  CPAP helps me stay asleep (no snoring or snorting myself awake) unless I get a headache.  Apnea, of course, can cause oxygen levels in the blood to drop, and we all know we love our oxygen.  Looking back to last year, I wish that the issue of clusters had come up at the same time as the sleep study that diagnosed apnea -- I need LOTS of sleep, but the CPAP obviously didn't prevent my current cluster and my recent several weeks of CH has really knocked me out to the point of needed to take some time off workd to sleep when my body wants to  (and get some yard work done, exercise, etc., when a headache is not happening!).  Melatonin gives me bad dreams.  I love ambien, but he current predisone titre is making even that pretty useless.  Jim Lux

I've not tried melatonin as of yet or much els come to that matter , I tried verapamil which even at 40mg per day was making me feel like you do when your about to faint 24/7 although my blood pressure was fine . by the time I got to see a neuro (long story let-alone the wait ) I was out of cycle and for the 5 minuets max that I was in there he didn't listen to a word I said and mumbled something about sunct and said he'd wright a letter to my GP recommending that I try gabapentin if it gets worse again.

so I'm living of red bull to stop the constant shadows I've been having since my cycle stopped...may be that should be high / low cycle

Its not that I cant sleep when I go to bed i just don't seem to be able to get to bed at a reasonable time , I mean here I am writing on this board and it's 1;30 am and I've still got lunch and stuff to do ready for work the morning

Nigel

Gabapentin worked for me, along with cafergot, in the very early stages of my diagnosis....that or I was just episodic and went out of cycle. Anyway, I got to a point where neither was doing me any good, and much harm. Still, I pray it works for you. Gaba is a well known drug for general body pain. Not sure if anyone has had much luck with it? Blessings! lance

Just throwing in my 2c 

I have never been a good sleeper.  Well actually I'm fine once I'm asleep but getting to bed is the hard part... I'll stay up til well after 1am most nights (just gone midnight here in Oz) because I feel like I'll miss out on something if I go to bed.  Always been this way, remember as a kid sitting up in bed reading with my lamp under the covers so I wouldn't get found out  ;)

Kate

I've never had problems with a good nights sleep but that hasn't stopped a cycle from starting up.

Gabapentin did nothing to help my CH or my sleep patterns. I tried it very early in this cycle, back in Jan. 2009. All it did was affect my ability to function, slurred speech, unsteadiness, etc. Not good for me! Melatonin definitely helps me sleep better and no adverse side affects.

Donna Mae

I have chronic CH and am unable to fall asleep until 530 am and get up around 8am or 9 am.  When having clusters I get less sleep than that.  It's no fun, but some of us just live with it.

Thanks all

I posted about gabapentin a few months a go and the general response was " some have had success with it but it just made me stupid / feel drunk "

so I'm a little apprehensive about trying it but I will obviously give it a go .

just to clarify I wasn't moaning about not being able to sleep I was just wondering if my bad sleep patterns may have been a contributing factor in causing my CH , although I guess I all ready new the answer . just wanted to put it out there.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you who can't sleep through fear of and getting hit by the beast.

wishing you pain free days and nights and all other times as well

Nigel