hi
im new to the site, but have been suffering with clusters for about 4 years, fairly chronic, with occasional (only very brief) periods of remission.
While I have investigated nearly every aspect of my life in trying to figure out what exactly makes these headaches tick, lately i have begin to notice some strange connections with sleep patterns.
It seems like i get WAY more headaches when i get a lot of sleep (8-12 hours). Regardless, of when i go to bed or how consistent my sleep pattern is. I seem to get the fewest headaches when i get 3-6 hours of sleep. Weekends where i get almost no sleep, i rarely get headaches. Whereas, the past week I have gotten about 8 hours of sleep a night with roughly the same bedtime
Anyone have similar experiences? I have always felt like i needed less sleep that 8 hours to have a full night, but could shifting my sleep to 4-5 hours of sleep help? Could it be healthy to consistently get this amount of sleep?

Thanks for any help or input anyone might have!!

Not a doctor here, so take the info for what it's worth! ;) Just read an article in the  newspaper that said as we get older we still need the 7-8 hours of sleep every night, so I'd be careful with that!

What you're describing is fairly common, often referred to as the "let down" attack. For many CH'ers, as soon as they start to relax, they get slammed. Staying tense and "up" is one way for them to avoid attacks.

More impotantly, what are you using to fight the beast? Do you have oxygen yet? A decent prevent med? A neuro who is working with you?

Welcome to the board, hope we can help you out a bit.

Joe

When I'm in cycle, I sleep far fewer hours per night than when I'm out of cycle--3 to 5 hours, contrasted with 7 or so.

So yes--my sleep patterns are radically altered during a cycle. 

It isn't so much that I sleep less because I get fewer headaches that way, it's more that REM sleep is my primary trigger for individual attacks.  I'd sleep more during a cycle if at all possible--in fact, after a few weeks, I crave it.

But when falling asleep no longer "knits the ravel'd sleeve of care", the body resists.  Any creature learns to avoid the thing that causes pain.  So I stop sleeping until I can no longer stay awake. 

Even after a cycle ends, it takes several weeks for me to quit resisting sleep.  Aversive conditioning is a powerful thing.   ;)

Best,

George

 

Melatonin is a natural hormone which times both sleep and CH patterns; it's usually low in CH folks, hence, the use of 9mg+ dosing at bedtime which affords some benefit for a good many.

I assume, from what you wrote, that this may be your issue and might consider a trial (1-2 weeks) of this high dose and see what happens. An OTC, cheap item in your drugstore.

George wrote on Feb 21^st, 2011 at 11:45am:

When I'm in cycle, I sleep far fewer hours per night than when I'm out of cycle--3 to 5 hours, contrasted with 7 or so. So yes--my sleep patterns are radically altered during a cycle.  It isn't so much that I sleep less because I get fewer headaches that way, it's more that REM sleep is my primary trigger for individual attacks.  I'd sleep more during a cycle if at all possible--in fact, after a few weeks, I crave it. But when falling asleep no longer "knits the ravel'd sleeve of care", the body resists.  Any creature learns to avoid the thing that causes pain.  So I stop sleeping until I can no longer stay awake.  Even after a cycle ends, it takes several weeks for me to quit resisting sleep.  Aversive conditioning is a powerful thing.   ;) Best, George

Exactly what I was going to say, only much more eloquently. Blessings. lance