Hi zeKez,
That's weird, what sleep aids were you taking?


Hoppy.

Good for you Zeke, what sleep aids were you using during the 18 years that you suffered?

To all who have responded to my post. In the mid 90s I started taking Tylenol pm and it was during this first 8-9 year period when the headaches were the worst, level 9-10 pain and suicidal. Then I got off of the Tylenol and began taking Equate Sleep Aids which my wife bought at Walmart. The headaches continued for another 8-9 years but were not quite as bad, but it was during this latter 8-9 year period that I began ALSO having these horrible headaches during the day. Sooooo, after about 18 years of taking these sleep aids and hardly ever missing a night of taking them, I just figured that these things had to have something to do with this condition. So again, I just stopped cold turkey (lol) and WOW, the headaches just disappeared immediately. Nothing else in my life changed. I almost feel guilty that my condition seems to have disappeared given that so many other people are still living their personal hell.
I think yes Barbara, melatonin is a sleep aid. I would think that anything that makes you or helps you go to sleep is a sleep aid. Neither of these pills that I took were prescription. Both were over the counter.
I hope that everyone out there who is taking some sort of sleep aid will at least experiment with getting off of them cold turkey (again lol) just to see what might happen. I said to myself when I did, what have a got to lose ? 
Also, all of the old triggers that used to cause my headaches are no longer causing them. These included any kind of alcohol consumption, stress, sitting in a fixed condition for long periods of time (driving long trips) and the like. My head is now 100% pain free.
Hope this helps someone out there. Thanks for the replies.

Zekez

I agree with Barbara, Tylenol, (Paracetamol) are taken
for the relief of pain and cold and flu symptoms, but do
zilch when it comes to treating CHs. So yes, you could
have been causing your headaches, but that would
depend on how many pills you were taking. With Excedrin
The first headache and sleeping pill combined product.Contains 500 mg acetaminophen and 38 mg diphenhydramine citrate as a sleep aid, the same active ingredients as Tylenol PM, which was introduced several years later. As in Tylenol, same could apply, causing you
rebound headaches.

Hoppy.