My  :question is. Have you identified what triggers your
CH attack. Mine are. All processed foods, alcohol,
chocolate, pizza, eggs. When i'm in a cycle.

Cheers, Hoppy.

It seems to be either breathing air or the ticking of the clock because no matter what I do/dont do I know one is coming.

I'm the same as shoot. I'm sure I must have triggers - some thing must start it off, but I haven't figured out what yet.

#1 Stress
#2 Excertion (including sex)
#3 alcohol ( don't matter I do not drink)
#4 MSG, Foods with any preservatives,chocolate,popcorn, any red dyed foods/sweets/candy, corn, meat,
Probably more, I may edit as I remember.

1- Alcohol
2- Stress (negative or positive)
3- Sleep
4- Hot dogs, chocolate, nuts

Honestly, most of the time I cannot identify the actual trigger but the two that havr been pretty obvious to me are alcohol and when I lay down in bed I feel it coming right away, I do wonder why and it sucks because I do eventually have to lay down to rest. I do however try to keep my head elevated a bit above the normal and it seems to help. I also try to sleep on my side opposite to the side of the pain, that also helps with the stuffed up nostril....

-Andy

Mine are:

- Alcohol
- Some chemical used to treat lawns at parks and golf courses (not sure which chemical, but found this out while coaching my daughter's softball team).  The golf-course chemical only triggers if I'm there the same morning that it's applied, but the parks one affects me any time.
- Extreme heat

Matt

Like Nitrates in processed foods.Most reports of Chocolate as a Headache trigger make reference to the components of chocolate as potential triggers. The most often found alleged culprits were Phenethylamine, Tyramine and Tyrosine. You can check
these out on Wiki.

Hoppy.

Since 1981 I have concluded the following that triggers a CH attack (while in cycle)...the smell of oven cleaning spray, excessive heat, too much sleep, dehydration, skipping a meal, stress, relaxing too much, drinking beer/vodka/rum/whiskey, smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, withdrawals from prescription pain pills, rebound attacks from Imitrex and OTC meds such as tylenol/advil/aleve/aspirin.

If not in cycle, no triggers whatsoever for ANY applicable listed from the above.

-Gregg in Las Vegas

Alcohol has got be #1 for me.
Extreme changes in temperature. This cold snap/polar vortex/whatever really f'd me up. Another one is coming - starting tomorrow, I think - so I'll get to have things like this happen: 1. Have the bad early AM attack; 2. Leave a warm house, get in a freezing-cold car; 3. Get to work, where at least at the start of the day my office is really warm to downright hot; 4. Have a "bonus" CH; 5. Leave a warm workplace, get into a freezing cold car; 6. Get back to a warm home; 7. Have a "bonus" CH attack. So basically I get 2 "bonuses" to my usual 4 per day.

Excessive heat. Like last visit to my neuro's office, which felt like it was 100+ degrees. As I was filling out the paperwork, BAM! I got my insurance card back & told them - probably seeming like a raving lunatic - " I might be back in a while. Heat bad." Went to car, 'trexed that f*cker. Went back in was told they couldn't check my (new) insurance & would have to come back. (Company changed plans effective this year, probably ObamaCare related). So tomorrow I get to go back. Hopefully they will have the f*cking heat fixed (they said it was "the building and management would have to fix it). If they don't, not sure what I will do .... But I'm not sure if that was the rapid temp changes or the excessive heat or both.

OK, I got a little off the point of triggers there .... Sorry!

But the three triggers I have ID'd are: alcohol; extreme temperature changes (although if the exposure is very brief, it doesn't seem to trigger CH (usually) e.g., I'm in a warm house & get something out my car & am back inside in a very few minutes); and excessive heat.

Gregg wrote,
drinking beer/vodka/rum/whiskey

Hi Gregg,
Just curious, how do you go on the vino? especially the
the Red Ned.

Hoppy.

[quote author=496E717178010 link=1390360941/10#10 date=1390799651]Gregg wrote,
drinking beer/vodka/rum/whiskey

Hi Hoppy,
Although I appreciate red wine, I do not recall drinking it while in cycle to determine if it is a personal trigger; nor would I ever risk chancing it.

From what i've learned, most CH'ers who drink red wine while in cycle get attacked almost instantly; hence a common trigger.

-Gregg in Las Vegas

Gregg wrote,
From what i've learned, most CH'ers who drink red wine while in cycle get attacked almost instantly; hence a common trigger.

Definitly a big no no for me when in a cycle.

Hoppy.

I forgot to mention switching to/from Daylight Savings Time. When I was episodic but out-of-cycle, within a few days of that time change a cycle would often start. (Not really a "trigger" for an individual CH attack, but a trigger for a cycle.)

Now that I'm chronic & post 3 radiosurgeries, it seems the DST switch makes the CH's MUCH worse for awhile, but then they get somewhat more tolerable and a Lortab will help. Yes, really. Now, before the procedures, painkillers did very little if anything. Nothing was very good for killing an attack until Imitrex came out. Thank God for Imitrex, it's my "Ace in the Hole."

As for the time change, I think it's March 9th this year, so they will most likely get much much worse for me by the 12th or so. Ugh.

Of course, if the recent uptick in pain levels is due to the nerves healing/regenerating, well they're going to continue to be much worse before the switch anyway. I'm hoping it's just the freakish weather for now, it will cease soon and the CH can get back to "normal." Getting tired from all the "dancing" I've been doing lately ....

Me too on the Daylight Savings time change to Standard Time (whichever time change occurs in Spring).

Matt

Hi Neal,
You fit the pattern of a Spring/Fall Clusterhead, myself
included. Rather than a Daylight Saving Clusterhead.
Sorry to read you are now chronic.

Hoppy.

I'm technically chronic but it's like 1 headache/week. these past two weeks have been hard with the random temp and pressure changes probably.

cigarette smoke as I've mentioned also is a trigger, so is cigar smoke and blunt smoke. I haven't found cannibas smoke to be a trigger but it doesn't exactly help my pain like vaporizer cannibas does.

Also hitting my face, when I trip on the ice and my face slams into the ground I usually get a headache or severe shadows.
Extreme heat quickly or over time can trip them.
Perfume in huge quantities explodes my head. I have a hard time walking through Macy's and other stores of its ilk in malls without getting at least a decent shadow.

The following are theorhetical or I'm not totally sure.

Alcohol is a no-no but I'm not 21 and I don't think Ill drink when I hit legal age anyway.

Acetone based cleaners and other acetone based solvents I've noticed may cause headaches for me.

idorko wrote on Jan 28^th, 2014 at 6:46am:

Perfume in huge quantities explodes my head. I have a hard time walking through Macy's and other stores of its ilk in malls without getting at least a decent shadow. Alcohol is a no-no but I'm not 21 and I don't think Ill drink when I hit legal age anyway. Good for you.

I'm the same as idorko with the perfume plus the detergent/soap aisle in grocery stores. And scented candles. And afternoon naps. And alcohol. And just relaxing. And REM sleep. And changes in weather, mostly big changes in air pressure.

BobG wrote on Jan 28^th, 2014 at 8:13am:

idorko wrote on Jan 28th, 2014 at 6:46am: Perfume in huge quantities explodes my head. I have a hard time walking through Macy's and other stores of its ilk in malls without getting at least a decent shadow. Alcohol is a no-no but I'm not 21 and I don't think Ill drink when I hit legal age anyway. Good for you. I'm the same as idorko with the perfume plus the detergent/soap aisle in grocery stores. And scented candles. And afternoon naps. And alcohol. And just relaxing. And REM sleep. And changes in weather, mostly big changes in air pressure.

and being a live.
being alive is a big trigger.

I forgot scendent candles those are the worst.

For me its when I'm in my REM sleep, relaxing, or laying in bed. its usually at night time.

Since I had to give up alcohol at the suggestion of my oncologist, the only true CH cycle I've had was as a direct result of nitro cream for a circulatory disorder. This apparently dilates the blood vessels all over the body and not just in the hands where I needed it. Sure won't make that mistake again! (oh and PS it didn't work anyway)

A collection of studies, abstracts, articles and links on triggers, suspected triggers and mistakenly identified  triggers in CH, Migraine and some other headache conditions.

-------------------------

Cigarette smoke:

"Can cigarette smoking worsen the clinical course of cluster headache?"

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

"Cluster headache as the result of secondhand cigarette smoke exposure during childhood."

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

--------------------------------

Opioids.

"The “Toll” of Opioid-Induced Glial Activation: Improving the Clinical Efficacy of Opioids by Targeting Glia"

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

"Human in vivo evidence for trigeminovascular activation in cluster headache Neuropeptide changes and effects of acute attacks therapies"

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

"Medication-overuse headache and opioid-induced hyperalgesia: A review of mechanisms, a neuroimmune hypothesis and a novel approach to treatment "

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

------------------------------------

Chocolate (in Migraine):

"Effect of chocolate in migraine: a double-blind study."

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

Study unavailable, except for purchase...


Quote:

NT Mathew - Neurology, 1992 - medlink.com During a cluster period, trigger factors that precipitate headache include alcohol ingestion and nitric oxide ... These should be avoided to prevent cluster headache attacks. Migraine triggers, such as chocolate and cheeses, have no known triggering influence on cluster headache.

-----------------------------

Cluster Headache - Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases 2008,


Quote:

Both CH and migraine can be triggered by alcohol, and relieved by triptans, but CH necessitates parenteral routes of administration. Stress, foods (like chocolate) and menstrual cycle, are not typical triggers for CH.

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

--------------------------------------

Headache and chronic facial pain.

Oxford Journals - Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain.


Quote:

Migraine attacks are triggered by stress, menses, pregnancy, dietary habit (e.g. red wine, cheese, chocolate, and nuts), odours, light, and poor sleep.

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

----------------------------------------

"Relationships Between Food, Wine, and Beer-Precipitated Migrainous Headaches"

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain


Quote:

Five hundred seventy-seven consecutive patients attending the Princess Margaret Migraine Clinic from 1989 to 1991 have been questioned about dietary precipitants of their headaches. Four hundred twenty-nine patients had migraine, of which 16.5% reported that headaches could be precipitated by cheese or chocolate, and nearly always by both. Of the migraine patients, 18.4% reported sensitivity to all alcoholic drinks, while another 11.8% were sensitive to red wine but not to white wine; 28% of the migrainous patients reported that beer would precipitate headaches. There was a definite statistical association between sensitivity to cheese/chocolate and to red wine (P<0.001) and also to beer (P<0.001), but none between diet sensitivity and sensitivity to alcoholic drinks in general. None of 40 patients with tension headache (diagnosed by International Headache Society criteria) reported sensitivity to foods, and only one was sensitive to alcoholic drinks. The prevalence of sensitivity among 46 patients with some migrainous features was intermediate between the migraine and tension headache categories. It is concluded that cheese/chocolate and red wine sensitivity, in particular, have closely related mechanisms, in some way related more to migraine than to more chronic tension-type headache, while quite separate mechanisms play a major role in sensitivity to alcoholic drinks in general.

--------------------------------------

Pediatric Neurology Journal.

The diet factor in pediatric and adolescent migraine.


Quote:

Diet can play an important role in the precipitation of headaches in children and adolescents with migraine. The diet factor in pediatric migraine is frequently neglected in favor of preventive drug therapy. The list of foods, beverages, and additives that trigger migraine includes cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits, hot dogs, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, fatty foods, ice cream, caffeine withdrawal, and alcoholic drinks, especially red wine and beer.

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

-----------------------------------------

The Lancet

A population study of food intolerance


Quote:

There is a discrepancy between perception of food intolerance and the results of the double-blind placebo-controlled food challenges. The consequences of mistaken perception of food intolerance may be considerable in financial, nutritional, and health terms.

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

----------------------------------------

“Neurology” Journal

Migraine Triggers May Not Be So Potent After All

TIME article, based on NEUROLOGY Journal study outcome.


Quote:

Bright lights and too much exercise are well-known migraine launchers, but the latest study hints that sufferers may not be as sensitive to these triggers as previously thought. Researchers report in the journal Neurology that commonly suspected migraine triggers might not be responsible for a hurting head after all. Unlike previous studies of migraine triggers, in which sufferers were asked about what conditions or situations preceded a headache, the scientists exposed 27 migraine patients in a lab to flashing lights, intense exercise or a combination of both to provoke a migraine with aura, a type of headache accompanied by often debilitating visual disturbances. Only a handful of subjects experienced any sort of migraine, and those who did had exercised, suggesting that bright lights may not be to blame. The participants ran or used an exercise bike at maximum effort for an hour, while researchers used a combination of lamps, flashes and other visual stimuli to mimic light disturbances for up to 40 minutes in order to study the combined effect of light and exercise. After these sessions, only 11% of the participants — three patients — experienced migraines with auras, and an additional 11% experienced migraines without auras. “What have generally been reported as sure triggers for migraines are not so sure when you actually expose people to them” says Dr. Jes Olesen, the study’s corresponding author from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. (MORE: Can Brain Freeze Solve the Mystery of Migraines?) Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University and the director of the Jefferson Headache Center who co-wrote an accompanying editorial for the study, suggests that some of what people think are triggers may actually be symptoms of migraines instead. “You eat chocolate and you get a headache. Does that mean chocolate triggers the headache?” Silberstein asks. “What probably happens is the first symptom of your migraine attack is the desire to eat chocolate. Just like when you’re pregnant, you might want pickles or ice cream. That’s one end of the spectrum, where the desire to do something is part of the migraine attack, not the trigger.” Distinguishing between triggers and symptoms is challenging, not just for those who study migraines but for patients as well. Silberstein says there are some known triggers, such as certain odors, hunger, chemicals in alcohol and hormonal changes linked to menstruation, but that other factors may fall somewhere between an actual trigger and a symptom. How can patients tell? “Everybody with a migraine should try to find out what is triggering their attacks,” Olesen says. “When they have a suspicion, it would be a good idea to try and see if it induces an attack. In most cases, it’s probably not going to be true.” Both Olesen and Silberstein say there are a number of factors that determine whether these suspected triggers will actually lead to an attack. Patients likely have individual thresholds that vary from day to day and from environment to environment: some days your brain is less vulnerable to certain triggers, while on other days the conditions might be right for a migraine.

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE
so-potent-after-all/

-----------------------------------------------------

Journal of Headache Pain. 2006.

Trigger factors of Migraine and Tension-type headache: experience and knowledge of the patients.


Quote:

Abstract: The objective was to examine potential trigger factors of migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) in clinic patients and in subjects from the population and to compare the patients’ personal experience with their theoretical knowledge. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a headache centre. There were 120 subjects comprising 66 patients with migraine and 22 with TTH from a headache outpatient clinic and 32 persons with headache (migraine or TTH) from the population. A semistructured interview covering biographic data, lifestyle, medical history, headache characteristics and 25 potential trigger factors differentiating between the patients’ personal experience and their theoretical knowledge was used. The most common trigger factors experienced by the patients were weather (82.5%), stress (66.7%), menstruation (51.4%) and relaxation after stress (50%). The vast majority of triggers occurred occasionally and not consistently. The patients experienced 8.9±4.3 trigger factors (range 0–20) and they knew 13.2±6.0 (range 1–27). The number of experienced triggers was smallest in the population group (p=0.002), whereas the number of triggers known did not differ in the three study groups. Comparing theoretical knowledge with personal experience showed the largest differences for oral contraceptives and cheese. Subjects from the population experience trigger factors less often than clinic patients. The difference between theoretical knowledge and personal experience is largest for oral contraceptives, chocolate and cheese.

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

--------------------------------------

Make of it what you will...

Cheers, Ben.

WOW great post, thanks Ben!

Joe

Low pressure weather
Alcohol
Chocolate
Onions
NOISE!

Hi Cupper,
It's always a good feeling when your one step in front of
the  [smiley=evil.gif]. Your the second person in the past
couple of weeks that has mention onions as a trigger.
I've not heard of that one before.

Hoppy.

15+ years with CH and I can say for sure only alcohol, rebounds from imitrex and sleep/laying down to sleep will trigger a hit. I get hit almost exclusively at night. A stressful day does seem to bring on more hits later that night, but it's not an instant trigger. Also my cycles always start during cold weather (November-Feb.).

The only ones I know for certain are REM sleep and Red Wine.
I have noticed that if I am cooking or looking in a mirror for a few minutes that a CH may be brought on quite quickly.

Out of cycle, nothing that I'm aware of...

Alcohol
High altitude
posture
but mostly the time of day
or time of year
as if there's a "Cluster Calendar"

I hear ya Mary for about 25 years the atomic clock was set by the predictability of my cycles and attacks!!!!

Joe

Credit to the source:

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


Quote:

•Alcohol of any type while in cycle. Red wine and hoppy beers tend to be immediate triggers for many. •Processed food preservatives, especially monosodium glutamate (MSG) and nitrates used to preserve meats. MSG is most noted in Chinese food, but is also used in many soups and other canned foods. Nitrates are used fairly heavily in bacon, sausage, ham and many luncheon meats. It is possible to find these meats with no nitrates. •Carbon monoxide or petroleum fumes. These can trigger strong attacks. •Significant physical exertion, although for many this is a good way to relax and does not introduce an attack. •Inhaling smoke. Although many cluster headache sufferers are smokers, inhaling indirect smoke can be a trigger. It may take a while to determine your specific triggers but over time you will learn what to avoid.

I think mine is triggered by my doctor going on holiday.   

Mine are. When i get to the Chemist and their closed.

That'll do it...

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

Haven't found an exact trigger.  My first almost clueless neuro said no chocolate, nuts, preservatives, wine and cheddar cheese.   I did not think one evening at dinner and ordered chicken in white wine sauce....its a trigger.....I don't drink so alcohol isn't normally an issue.    Talk about being trigger happy....

Haven't found an exact trigger.  My first almost clueless neuro said no chocolate, nuts, preservatives, wine and cheddar cheese.   I did not think one evening at dinner and ordered chicken in white wine sauce....its a trigger.....I don't drink so alcohol isn't normally an issue.    Talk about being trigger happy....

Hi savarge,
Maybe this thread could answer your  :question.

Hoppy.