My husband is a long time sufferer of CH, and his recent cycle of clusters is now upon us. 

His trigger is alcohol in any form. He will feel great and pain free and thus will TRY to drink something each night... thinking it may be the night he can get away with a beer. But then the beast comes. Always. 

I'm tired of feeling like the nag that warns him (after all it's HIS body and choice.) Is anyone else fighting this battle? I told him the definition of insanity = doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result... so now my lips are sealed.  :-X

It's difficult to watch him on this road. How do I help?

It sounds like he is doing the "beer test" which a lot of people will do when they know alcohol will trigger a CH but they think their current cycle might be over. If it is they get to enjoy a beer, but otherwise they get to abort another CH with oxygen or their other abortive of choice.

However most people do not try this until a couple of weeks after what they think is their last CH.

Doing it each night is a bit different and not something I'd recommend. It could just be a sign that no matter what pain a CH brings he will do what he wants to do and not let CHs rule his life.

Thanks everyone. Yes it's very stressful! He didn't have an attack all night, just a lurking of shadows (which is bad enough on their own!)

Also he can't take melatonin because it gives him wierd thoughts and exhausts him the next day. Thinking of Tylenol PM instead? He was up until 3-4am drinking caffeine to ward off the attack. Yay for no attack... boo for no sleep!

Read vitamin d 3

He's on D3 (5000 i.u.) supplement with flax/fish Omega 3 but only for a few days now. He was just diagnosed on Thursday and the doctor put him on the it. Will that help with the sleeping when he gets enough in his body?

Polarhug wrote on Nov 17^th, 2012 at 3:16pm:

Thinking of Tylenol PM instead?

As a first step I'd look at something without any narcotics.

However tylenol (also known as paracetamol) is not without it's own risks. Be very careful around exceeding the maximum dose due to potential liver damage. And if taking it more than about 8 times a month there is a strong potential that he will be also getting rebound headaches from taking the medication.

CH and pain killers as a combination isn't easy and it's something you need to work with your doctor to resolve. Pharmacists are also good sources of info as they are often more clued up on interactions that doctors.

I find sometime sleeping in a recliner helps me get sleep

MDR wrote on Nov 17^th, 2012 at 4:58pm:

I find sometime sleeping in a recliner helps me get sleep

Never worked for me but several others on the board have posted that sleeping in a more upright position helped avoid night time hits. Certainly worth a shot.

Joe

I'll try anything  that said I've done just about everything  to keep these things away I take no meds just the d3 reg. And when at work 02 the best. I've lived with this thing forever I'm 48 chronic for about I've lost track. This board has been a life saver for me I think I've been a member for over 7 yrs and it saved my life thank you for this site pf days to everyone Mark Roberts.

So when he's slamming caffeine at 2-3am to avoid a CH (until we get that O2) is there any other tips for sleeping? Or just wait that caffeine out? 

I'll mention the recliner to him too  :)

I slam coffee around  11:00 p.m 1:00 a.m 3:00 a.m almost every night that's just the way it is my body is  just use to it I guess sometimes it hard to go back to sleep other times its not. I hope your husband gets some sleep.    Take care pf days. Mark Roberts

I convinced him to take one small 3mg dose of Melatonin last night. Best night's sleep he has had in a week. He is still sleeping, he was so exhausted.  It's the fear of knowing one will come, combined with the caffeine to keep it away.

He was very hesitant to take melatonin again. Last time he tried it was on a night shift job where he was taking large doses daily for 2 weeks straight just so he could sleep a few hours in the day. It was making him depressive and suicidal.