This is my first posting of anything on the Internet ever and I hope that it proves beneficial to someone out there. After 18 years of suffering with Cluster Headaches I seem to have finally figured out that sleep aids have been the cause of my cluster headache condition. After researching the HYPOTHALAMUS and the TRIGEMINAL NERVES coupled with the fact that my first headache each night hit me an hour after going to sleep, I decided to stop taking sleep aids to see what would happen. After the latest 5 month cycle of suffering 2 or 3 or 4 headaches each and every night, the night I stopped taking sleep aids resulted in no headaches the very first night. I have stayed off of sleep aids for the last 6 weeks and have suffered no headaches at all since that night. The affect was immediate. The very night I took no sleep aids, I did not get any headaches. Hope this helps someone out there.

Hi zeKez,
That's weird, what sleep aids were you taking?


Hoppy.

I've tried a few sleep aids over the years and what a disaster!

G'day, zekez, and it's great to know you're feeling better.

Only good days ahead,

Brian.

Good for you Zeke, what sleep aids were you using during the 18 years that you suffered?

Is Melatonin a sleep aid?  It sure nuff stopped my night hits for the past 15 or so years.. didn't so much for the day hits cause I stayed awake for them, but the night hits .. well, they were just not there after I started taking it.

what have you been taking?  :-*

To all who have responded to my post. In the mid 90s I started taking Tylenol pm and it was during this first 8-9 year period when the headaches were the worst, level 9-10 pain and suicidal. Then I got off of the Tylenol and began taking Equate Sleep Aids which my wife bought at Walmart. The headaches continued for another 8-9 years but were not quite as bad, but it was during this latter 8-9 year period that I began ALSO having these horrible headaches during the day. Sooooo, after about 18 years of taking these sleep aids and hardly ever missing a night of taking them, I just figured that these things had to have something to do with this condition. So again, I just stopped cold turkey (lol) and WOW, the headaches just disappeared immediately. Nothing else in my life changed. I almost feel guilty that my condition seems to have disappeared given that so many other people are still living their personal hell.
I think yes Barbara, melatonin is a sleep aid. I would think that anything that makes you or helps you go to sleep is a sleep aid. Neither of these pills that I took were prescription. Both were over the counter.
I hope that everyone out there who is taking some sort of sleep aid will at least experiment with getting off of them cold turkey (again lol) just to see what might happen. I said to myself when I did, what have a got to lose ? 
Also, all of the old triggers that used to cause my headaches are no longer causing them. These included any kind of alcohol consumption, stress, sitting in a fixed condition for long periods of time (driving long trips) and the like. My head is now 100% pain free.
Hope this helps someone out there. Thanks for the replies.

Zekez

Ok, you were getting "rebound" headaches from those meds. Occasionally they're fine, but daily they CAUSE headaches..

Melatonin is safe and gets you thru the REM sleep (where the headaches hit) and does NOT cause the rebounds.

Also be careful with Excedrin. I take it occasionally (when I'm out and feel a HA coming on - it works great), but know not to take it too often.

Glad you're off those meds and hope you stay pain free..  :-*

I agree with Barbara, Tylenol, (Paracetamol) are taken
for the relief of pain and cold and flu symptoms, but do
zilch when it comes to treating CHs. So yes, you could
have been causing your headaches, but that would
depend on how many pills you were taking. With Excedrin
The first headache and sleeping pill combined product.Contains 500 mg acetaminophen and 38 mg diphenhydramine citrate as a sleep aid, the same active ingredients as Tylenol PM, which was introduced several years later. As in Tylenol, same could apply, causing you
rebound headaches.

Hoppy.