Again (5 weeks in to a cycle no sleep at all) just got woken up by the beast i was asleep for 20 minutes so peaceful then BAM . im typing this messaging taking gulps of oxygen and just did a nasal shot... i should pass out again soon... most like i will awaken with the beast on my should chilling relaxing,,,,early morning wake up call!

the beast is such a lurker i hate his GUTS!

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Daniel,do you use Melatonin,in a matter of less than a week I have taken my hits from a K7/8 to a K1/2 and slept like a baby last night.I only get one hit a day at 10:30 pm 1 hour after falling to sleep.I take 10mg 1 hour before bed.

TRY IT..

Good Luck...

If the Melatonin doesn't work, you can try an over the counter allergy pill such as cetirizine (zyrtec) taken 1 hour before sleep can also help keep the night time beast at bay.

Hope you get some sleep soon and some much needed PF time!

The prick can become an unwelcome lurking guest pretty quick! >:(

You haven't mentioned any prevents, do you take a daily med while in cycle to reduce hits? I use lithium at 1200 mg a day, Verapamil is a common first line prevent, Topomax also hekps many. Might be worth a try.

And as others have mentioned, do look into Melatonin, start with 9-12 mg 30 minutes before bed time, helps many avoid those damned wake up calls.

Joe

im only on divalproex! which is garbage and doesnt work! i have my appointment today at 1pm with the neurologist she better give me what i need i printed out several things from the website and ouch site as well!

Good man! The more educated you are, the better off you'll be! Wishing you luck with the neuro.

Joe

Regular use of triptans can cause nasty rebounds. You might want to consider backing off of them - abort with O2 alone if you can. It will be worse at first, but I'd bet money that it will get better eventually.

Brew wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2010 at 11:15am:

Regular use of triptans can cause nasty rebounds. You might want to consider backing off of them - abort with O2 alone if you can. It will be worse at first, but I'd bet money that it will get better eventually.

Indeed.

Trust me i HATE using triptan i know they are causing me worse rebounds however i work in a computer infested env, so no O2 allowed here i already asked and its against policy? odd, anyways i constantly use the o2 when im at home and i notice it is helping but it doesnt usually help during the night when the beast lurks from his shadows....

Yeah the night ones can be a lot tougher....by the time I'd wake up beasty already has a strong toe hold. >:(

Joe

Next best thing: Look into getting some melatonin for night hits. If that doesn't work (and you need to give it a good week or more before you write it off), ask your doc for a longer-acting triptan to take right before bed. Something like Amerge or Frova. Both of them have bought many-a-clusterhead 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Quite ironic that sleep is both the most elusive thing AND the most needed thing for CH'ers.

you mentioned that you can't have o2 at work because of the computers. Not sure the relationship, but can you keep the tank in your car and go outside when you are getting hit? The o2 helps most abort in 10-15 minutes so you wouldn't be away that long.

Just a thought.

If he is working in a computer data centre then it's unlikely they will allow oxygen tanks in the building as places like this try to minimise as far as possible the presence of anything flammable.

However for most places there should be no issues with oxygen tanks.

hi all! just wanted to give you all an update on my status! Well the neurologist was great she was there for more moral support, additionally she upped my meds of divalprorex to 1000MG which is a common treatment for clusters over here? i did bring up other medications but she said this identical to verpamil but  less side effects.

She did give me something finally to help me sleep at nice since i wasn't able to get a good night sleep which is so important when having a cluster cycle and recovering,,,, and now i have gone 2 days completely with no clusters some small tiny headaches which i can deal with easily

I did want to let you guys know something i did which may or may not have contributed to my recovery. My gf is Chinese shes from BF and we have been together for 5 years. Yesterday i figured i had nothing to lose and went to a Chinese doctor paid 20 dollars didn't tell him anything what was wrong with me and he was able to tell me that my head was in constant pain, etc etc... not really cycle related and he wasn't able to pin point that i cluster headaches but he was almost right on it.


He gave me a prescription for chinese medicine, which included kudzu, i even saw dead scorpions in there? it came in 3 bags 1 for each day drink twice a day... im letting you know right now it was the most disgusting thing EVER. But i honestly believe its helping! Last night was the first night i woke up with out a headache and it was awesome...... it wasnt because of the double dose of valporic acid because i started that 4 days before i even saw the neurologist which i researched on another site and she just agreed with me.

Just wanted to share my experiences? its worth a shot? i'm not sure how many people here have the ability to see a chinese herbal docto but it was my last choice as my nerologists alternative was to schedule me off 7 days from work and do oxygen plus dhe for 7 days straight to break my cycle if this didnt fix its self by next saturday.


I still have the prescription, i am more the willing to scan it and you can take it to any chinese herbal store and they will make it for you. it was expensive for 3 days around 80 CDN dollars. but since its herbal anyone can use it...


i am not suggesting it for everyone... i just was exploring all my opportunities out there as was getting extremely frustrated by not getting any results!

Divalproex is a brand name for depakote, and it's not the same as verapamil. The chemical mechanisms are quite different.

Mike NZ wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2010 at 6:29pm:

If he is working in a computer data centre then it's unlikely they will allow oxygen tanks in the building as places like this try to minimise as far as possible the presence of anything flammable.

Just FYI, Oxygen is not flammable.  It's a catalyst, causing already ignited sources to burn faster and stronger.

If O2 was flammable, the air around us would be on fire.

And re Kudzu - lots of people buy it here - you could probably get it by itself in pill form and leave out the dead insects and such.  Just a thought.

We could be low on the dead stuff too who knows?

Kudzu comes in a tablet form also. Check on line. My CH husband was told to take two tabs daily and see if it helped any.  He was on so many meds, he really didn't take them like he should.  So can't tell you anything more.  Can't hurt to try I guess.