Sorry couldn't resist the Who line...

I see a lot of advice about caffeine and energy drinks on the one hand, but also sleep aids like melatonin on the other.

For night time attacks do you guys do both?

Any thoughts on alcohol? For me a couple glasses of wine seem to dull the pain, but I've heard it actually makes things worse.

Everybody's body chemistry is different!  So it'll be lots of trial and error for you.

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, so that's good news for us.  I drink coffee all day all night (maybe in my sleep), so caffeine as an abortive never works.  But I drink a big cup anyway when a CH starts.  Some "clean" people get nervous and jittery with half a glass of Pepsi and stay up all night!

Alcohol is a vasodilator.  NOT a good thing.  One sip of wine can trigger an attack for me.  You may be able to handle it now, but as the cycle progresses, I strongly suggest steering clear of alcohol.

It's up to you to try energy drinks....  Be sure to read the labels.  I myself stay away from sugar as general dietary discipline whether I'm in a CH episode or not, let alone aspartame.  If you wish to supplement taurine, it's pretty cheap in convenient capsules.

Melatonin is worth a try.  At least it's not toxic.  Some may get groggy.  It has no noticeable effect on me.

Just remember we ain't fixing engines.  So XYZ that work for me may not work for you.

Hello rar
The easiest way to describe it is that CH is the ultimate "designer" headache. We all have a one-of-a-kind version and what works for one fails miserably for another.

Some can drink alcohol and some can't.

Some of us are episodic and some are chronic.

Some of us are female and some of us are the inferior sex (sorry - the devil made me do it LOL)

It stands to reason no meds or home remedies will work for all of us all of the time. There would be no need for places like this is if it WAS that simple.

All we can do is try what we can and keep going until we find our magic bullet. We need to be pro-active in our own treatment, we need to fight tooth and nail for what we want and we need to support each other and draw support from others when we need it. That much we CAN do!

Helen aka resident evil, witchypoo and she-who-must-be-obeyed!!

Alcohol bad, Melatonin bad. But that is just for me. Melatonin helps many to get past REM sleep and has saved alot of pain for many. It's worth a try.
Alcohol bad. Drink and pay the demon.
the bb
welcome ;) and what Helen said.