and badder than ever. I was abruptly awoken from my state of sleep with an all too familiar feeling (but only stronger). I'm a week in and if history is my guide about 3 weeks away from the end of another cycle.

After going at a frequency of every 18 months, they took 4.5 years off and I thought maybe, just maybe they weren't coming back. I was wrong.

Oh well, I got my O2 and that seems to work like a charm for me.

I had a 4 year vacation interupted early this year.  It turned out to be the worse cycle ever.  But it did end like all cycles in the past.  And yours will too

Yeah, optimists is right...unless of course I'm in a cluster. I'm having a time of it, especially since my life has changed immeasurably in the last 4 years, so much more responsibility now, so many more people counting on me.

Oh well, the 02 is working and besides being grumpy and irritable on some occasions life still ain't that bad.

I mean they're just headaches right...

Sorry the beast decided to visit you again!  Like many others, this episode has caught me off-guard too after many years of remission (well, I stock piled meds tho).  My beast was alternating 24-month and 18-month vacations previously.

What I've learned this time is to treat each episode cautiously.  My usual 10-12 week cycle seems to be the thing of the past; this one has been dragging on for over 5 months up & down.  We episodics can have a lot of changes during remission (especially long ones).

Glad to hear O2 is working.  Hang in there!

So, everything's been going fine with the O2, well everything up until today.

Last night the beast tried to visit 3 times, each time I knocked it down with O2. Well it came back at about 7:00 a.m. and I decided it was time to wake up. In the hours between 7 and 12 I did everything I could, I 02'd at least 6 times, I drank a ton of water, a red bull, took a hot shower, drank coffee, and just tried to do normal stuff to take my mind off of it.

The Beast was just not going to be denied, the pain was high 7-9 Kip and it lasted forever, seemingly coming and going as it pleased. I honestly think it was playing with me by the end, going away only to come back shortly therafter and come back with a vengance.

I finally got a couple hours of sleep and now I've been up since about 3:00 with heavy, heavy shadows.

Not a good day,  but like we all know this too shall pass.

Hi Chollowa

Good advice from Barbara about staying on the 02 for a while after the pain stops, it really can stop rebounds sometimes. Do be careful not to fall asleep with it on though, a very bad habit of mine so I NEVER lie down at this point. Also make sure there is no elastic on your mask just in case you do!

There does seem to be an awful lot if us this is happening to this year and especially recently. Loads of new people, and lots of episodics getting hit after long remissions. I wonder why this is as we are not all in the same country so I can't see a connection???  

I was nearly 3 years clear and got slammed with a bad cycle in Aug/September which is early for me (seasonal Spring/Autumn normally) We had a very bad summer with lots of rain and no sun though so I attributed it to low light levels fooling the hypothalamus that it was autumn.

If it helps at all, even though I ALWAYS believe I am clear for ever when out of cycle, and even though it was quite a bad one, the 02 mostly worked and I had an armoury of various triptans for when it didn't.

Just when you think it can't go on any longer, hopefully that is when the cycle will "break", that is how it works for me anyway. I get desperately tired and start being unable to cope with everyday life, kids etc. I book the appointment to get the steroid course to give me a break from the pain and LO! the beast starts to withdraw.

I truly hope your cycle is not too long, and the peak not too long. For many, the peak means it REALLY is about to get better.

Hang in there and arm yourself with the weapons to fight with. You KNOW you can do this!

and then we all hope another long and lovely remission will come

Wendy