So I've had clusters for about 10 years and all the cycles have been the same.  July 4th about to end of September.  This years been quite weird though.  So they started in mid May this year and didn't get really bad till about mid June and most of the way through July.  The last couple of weeks I've had a decent amount of PF days and have actually drank beer a few times with success, no HA's.  I'm still getting hit though mostly during the afternoon evening time.  The pain intensity has dropped off tremendously and instead of the usual 1 or 2 hour attack with me wanting to die, I've been getting like 20 minute to 40 minute attacks. 

Its just weird to me because end of July-mid Sept there always really really bad.  All the times that my cycle ended they just kind of stopped abruptly. 

Does anyone else get signs that there cycle is coming to an end?  Are there signs that a cycle is coming to an end?

No signs of stopping. Be careful, for you can get caught off guard if you stop your preventive med too soon.

I've had cycles which have run for several weeks ranging to one which stopped before I had time to get Rx from the drugstore.

In my 20's and 30's, they were incredibly uniform. 3 month cycles building slowly over a couple of weeks to a crescendo, then fading out the same way. I hit my 40's and they went all over the map! 8 month cycles, 18 month remissions, it's when I learned just how much beasty likes to morph.

Joe

Take each one as it comes. CH is good at changing but hope yours finishes earlier than it usually does.

Mine are always Spring/Fall lasting 3mths then just stop
when the season turns.

Hoppy.

That is too weird.  I came here to see whether anyone else was having an odd year -- in 35 years, I've never had a cluster last this long.  Your pattern is exactly mine -- and I ended up in the ER last night because 3 doses of imitrex wouldn't kill the beast.  Ambulance guys were kind enough to listen to me and put me on high-flow O2 -- before I even got to the hospital I was much better.  Anyway, I wonder whether anyone else has had an "abnormal" year.

As my screen name implies, I'm now 23 years into CH (started in 1990) and in 2008 everything to do with CH began to change. Remissions were much longer, cycles much shorter, individual CHs about 1/4 the norm, and in the last 4-5 years, I may only get 1 CH/day, with the week broken-up by zero CH for a day or two in a row...clusters of a week or two instead of 3-4 months. No RX, procedure or O2 since the initial onset. Thinking I'm on my way out of hell and heading back to the paradise I once knew, and will soon be back to QT with family on demand, instead of the fragmented life I have been living, while being a veg whenever a CH would show-up to crash the party for me, although I could muster enough sanity and strength to finish my work before going home only to collapse from exhaustion.

I do think that CH can change after a long period of time, and whether or not my case is normal is unknown to me, but it does offer some hope at least to me, that it may get better with age. I'm not complaining, as the hell I went through for the better part of 18 years is nothing I'd wish on anyone, and each new cluster is a bit different than the last for me now, but even with a few that are worse than the last, none are as long as what the first 18 years brought my way.

For me it's very simple: most of my hits are nocturnal and they come every night. When a night passes and I don't get hit this means flames are going down. Two nights with no attacks means cycle is ending.

Anyhow, exposure to triggers and especially alcohol during that period is really dangerous and can prolong the cycle. Avoid beer for at list a few weeks.