Just started a new cycle after 4 PF years.  Have had cycles for 20 years and up until the last 4 years have been pretty regular.  Daytime/nighttime hits.   6 to 8 weeks per episode.
Have been taking kudzu for the last few cycles with decent success.
This cycle has been very different.   Much weaker headaches and traditional triggers like flying and napping haven't been absolute triggers.
Have been taking kudzu and d3 has limited the pain/frequency.  Feels like cycle might be ending after 2 weeks.   Took melatonin one night, ended up with worst headache of the cycle that lasted 5 hours.  I wonder if melatonin makes things worse for certain folks.

Hi and welcome Jayz

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I've not heard of anyone reporting that melatonin made things worse. It could have been pure chance that you took it and also got a bad CH or not. If you are feeling brave, you could try it again and see what happens, although a 5 hour CH will have been brutal so I understand if you don't.

Do you have anything to abort CHs? Oxygen or imitrex (sumatriptan / imigran)?

Hi Jay,
My experience with Melatonin during cyce is that it is helpful. I use it as intended, a sleep aid.

We all know the overwhelming burden of being woken up by the beast, often at same time as night/day prior.

What I do is take a higher than normal dosage 12mg to 15mg of Melatonin about 45 minutes before I go to bed and found the grogginess effect of the Melatonin makes the attack seem less severe. I then will go straight to my O2 tank ready bedside and hyperventilate at 25 lpm. To each their own.

One thing to warn about taking such high dosage of Melatonin is you might be extra groggy when you awake for the day, which I personally do not like; but the trade-off of grogginess vs a high KIP attack is in my opinion, well worth the trade-off.

Experiment on your own, maybe keep a journal to document and look back on after a week or so and compare, etc to determine what you find most helpful. PF Wishes! ;)
-Gregg

Hi Jay,

I hope your cycle has ended as you had hoped. The d3 you are taking may be responsible for the weaker headaches. It has that effect on me, as well as other changes--like longer lasting, but milder attacks, and even changing sides. I have been a fan of melatonin for a long time. There have been lots of posts about it on this forum going back years if you're interesting in reading about others' experiences.  Melatonin is a hormone which has many therapeutic effects. I have found the delayed release version useful for CH cycles. It makes it easier to get back to sleep after a nighttime hit. Melatonin has also been found to suppress stomach acid production, and I use it for that as a natural approach for nighttime acid reflux. I don't recall anyone posting about Melatonin having a negative effect on CH intensity, but I'm interested to hear if you have found that to be the case. 

Take care,

Patti