In this episode, attacks between 8 and 10 PM seem to be popular for me.  At least in the past few days, I haven't had any wake up visitor, and I'm taking 6 mg of melatonin about 7 PM and again 9 mg before bed.

I started adding the 6 mg shortly after sundown, to boost my melatonin level.  It hasn't prevented the evening attacks though.  I'm thinking about upping the later afternoon/early evening melatonin dose.  So far melatonin hasn't been a "sleep aid" for me at all, but it might have contributed to avoiding attacks in my first REM phase.  I don't know for sure.

Some articles I've read indicated that the bedtime melatonin supplementation may even help with daytime attacks, not just attacks in our sleep.  Since there's no established toxicity level of melatonin (so far), if one doesn't get sleepy with it like me, maybe it's worth experimenting with it at sundown, or even during the day?  Thoughts?

I'm a strong believer in melatonin. It's the only med i continued to take after my last cycle. I don't take it all the time, just when i'm having bouts of insomnia.

The stuff never made me sleepy, but it always seems to help me fall asleep better and i believe it helped me have nearly 4 years PF.

Since my first hit in 4 years, i've been taking it every night again and haven't had another hit, just a few random shadows and 3am wake ups with no pain.

I take it about 30 minutes or so before i go to bed and usually fall asleep pretty easily then. If i don't take it, i can lay awake for hours on a bad night.

Anne

I usually take it a half hour before bedtime, and try to set the same bedtime every night if I have some symptoms that I might be going into a cycle. I think it helps me.

I've used Melatonin forever, does seem to help sleep.

This episode, went to my MD, and he cautioned me against it. Logic is that M works by resetting the sleep cycle, thus its use for long travels. It might not be the best thing to do when you are in a CH episode.

Given the cyclic nature of clusters, I'd have to think there is some correlation between natural and enhanced melatonin levels in the body.

I am not aware of any research in this field, curious if anyone else has run across any. Might just be one of those things where we have to rely on anecdotal reports from other CH sufferers.

Very curious how your daytime experiments pan out, please let us know.

Chris

As I understand Melatonin, it is most like a switch, resetting your sleep cycle. With travel, when you get there and it is local sleep time, take 3-6-9-12 mg, and it resets you, unlike sleeping pills which whack you to sleep, it allows you to go to sleep, and is said to reset your body clock.
I use it and it seems to work consistently, so previous episodes I have always used it, although I still would wake up numerous time, it did seem to help a little, ergo, ANYTHING that might promote sleep.
My doc, the MD questioned the idea of resetting the body clock every single day. With a number of studies that suggest the same part of the brain that sets the circadian rhythm is also involved in CH, I decided to drop the melatonin this cycle.
For some reason, this cycle, Zomig pill form seems to be working. 1/4 of a 5 mg pill, 3hours before bedtime, then one quarter just before sleep. 7 nights I've tried this one, I've slept through, this after weeks of 2-3 clusters a night.
I find this odd, because last cycle I tried one Zomig pill, and it shot the headache to a solid ten, the only ten in the whole episode, never touched another one. This Z experiment started after reading some of the posts wrt lowered doses and efficacy of Zomig for some, figured I'd try a 1/4 just to see.
After 36 years of CH, all I've learned is to keep experimenting. Who knows what will end an episode, but my experience is that individual headache remedies usually either work or don't work, and I'm aggressive to drop one and try a new one. I do experiments on myself I wouldn't recommend to anyone, but Zomig and Pelpax have been working this time, oxygen half the time, hot showers work almost 100% for me, sometimes head massages, especially around the ear, a real mish mosh of stuff.
Still, when one doesn't work, and it sounds like melatonin isn't working, time to try something else, hit your doc for some new scripts, go through some old threads and see what has worked for others, just keep fighting the good fight.
A lot of good info on this site, I like the posts where people have actually tried something that worked for them. There's one on chugging a can of Pepsi, sounds bizarre, but between caffeine, CO2, and other ingredients, sounds safe, worked for someone else, and if nothing else is working, certainly don't see a down side.
BTW, if you do drop melatonin, curious what the effect would be. I've had experiences where dropping a drug seemed to help, y'never know.
Best of luck with your headaches,
Chris

fly gas wrote on Dec 10^th, 2008 at 8:11am:

I dropped melatonin already.  No change in my sleep pattern (or no pattern) whatsoever.  Either real low cycle or I'm on the way out, and I've been off Verapamil as well.  I want to stay away from pharmaceuticals as much as I can especially triptans unless I'm in high cycle and desperate.  Fortunately I haven't had suicidal 9-10 at least 10 years.  Since I dropped melatonin and Verapamil shortly thereafter, O2 has been it.  I still get a wake up visit almost daily but very mild and really no big deal.

I was also taking 250 mg magnesium for a while.  I couldn't handle a 250 mg tablet twice a day at all (my diet is already high in magnesium), and I decided not to mess with my normal daily diet.

I try to take melatonin as often as possible since it does seem to help. When I going through a cluster phase my Dr. prescribed Ambiem which seems to really help with night time clusters. At least I am getting some sleep!

Does anyone know if there are any contraindications for taking melatonin?

I believe I'm still chronic (my def'n, not IHS def'n) - verap and lithium combo controls the non-high-cycle, with just rogue hits. Now I seem to be in high cycle.

Doc won't increase the verap (480/day); can't tolerate more lithium (750/day). So I'm thinking maybe melatonin is an option.

Lizzie

I ordered one of the SAD lights to try to help with my crappy moods now that winter is upon us. Hopefully it will help with the CHs as well. I'm using it for half an hour as soon as I wake up in the morning. I've only used it for about a week so far and haven't noticed much of a difference yet.