Phew, took awhile to remember my username/password (must be a sign of getting old)  :o It's hard to believe that I've been having episodic CH's for almost 20 years now, but I guess time flies when you're having fun lol.

Anyway, to the meat and potatoes of this post! I've been finding that my cycles have been becoming less frequent and severe with the passage of time. I think the last time I was on the board was around '07 and I was having 2 cycles a year, spring and fall, like clockwork. That pretty much changed in '08 when I only had an episode in the fall, '09 was a completely CH free year for me. Since then I've been having 1 cycle per year that seem to lessen in both duration and the severity of the pain, still have an occasional kip-7/8 but no more of the kip 10's like I used to. Maybe this is a good sign, I have my fingers crossed.....

Looks like I have allot of catching up to do, I've read Batch's posts on vitamin D3 with great interest. Since I seem to just be starting a cycle I will go to Walgreens in the A.M. to pick some up and give it a try and report back.

Your age?  If in middle to late middle age it would no be a surprise to see a tapering of Cluster. But regardless of age, the variability of Cluster signs & symptoms is such that it's not possible to say why these shifts occur.

Congratulations! Please be aware that this may, or may not, be a permanent shift. There was a time when it was believed CHs faded or disappeared after a certain age. I was told 55. I left 55 behind years ago and the beast followed me. Others have had better success, like you. Stay alert, and enjoy the pf times. Blessings. lance

I just finished posting in the "CH's and your age?" thread, noting that my cycles improved, in severity and time between, the older I got (now 62, started in my 20's). However, since using Imitrex, the cycles seem to have gotten closer together and I wonder, what medications if any, have you used?

I've had chronic CH for 23 years, I'm 41 now and like you was beginning to think I was starting to outgrow them. I just ended the longest remission period I've ever experienced, nearly 9 years, and I consider myself VERY lucky for that. That being said, I'm also coming off one of the worst episodes I've ever had. Now that this cluster is finally wrapping up, I have no idea what to expect for this next remission period.

I'ts good to hear the severity of your CH are staying fairly low, that wasn't the case for me. I hope everything keeps decreasing in your clusters for you..except for the length of time between them of course.

Keep your head up and a smile on your face. There are always better days on the horizon.

Thanks for the replies guys, couple familiar old faces and a couple new ones  :)

After reading your responses and doing some thinking I may have some ideas why the beast has been evolving on me. In sept. '10 I was injured pretty bad while training with the FD & ended up with a severely herniated L5/S1. The first discectomy didn't help so I had a second in aug 2011. I was in the midst of a cycle and told the anesthesiologist & neurosurgeon right before surgery that I was having CH's. They looked at each other, nodded & replied "we can take care of that for you". Turns out they gave me a mega dose of steroids IV post-op, that ended that cycle pretty much instantaneously.

The second theory I have is I ended up with severe sciatica due to FBSS/scar tissue/recurrent herniation/blah blah bad back stuff lol. I have been on 600 mg of gabapentin 3x a day for the last 3 years. Gabapentin/neurontin is listed as a CH treatment in quite a bit of medical texts, it does seem to help my sciatic nerves but slows down every other nervous system reaction too (you should see me trying to play video games that require quick reaction times).

Another observation, purely anecdotal is I started Batch's recommended D3 therapy, I haven't had a CH since the 2nd day on it, knock on wood, and my sciatica isn't bothering me as much as my lower back is now. Perhaps there is a strong connection between the D3 & nervous system? IDK, like I said, speculation, but thought I would share....