Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        New Message Board Archives >> 2002 Posts >> Question please
        
(Message started by: mustang on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:31pm)

Title: Question please
Post by mustang on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:31pm

Why do our ch's hit mostly at night?
Seems like most people that are episodic cycle at the same time. What makes others like myself chronic?
I have also noticed that the time of night is almost the same in all of us. Know this is more than one question
and some of you may the know some of the answers,
but I am just learning about ch. Also realize there may be no answers. Just wondered. ???

Title: Re: Question please
Post by echo on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:35pm

The majority of mine, that are not altitude related, will hit at night during sleep. REM sleep seems to help cultivate the beast, therefor I try to sleep as lightly as I can.

Title: Re: Question please
Post by jonny2 on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:41pm

The way I understand it (or dont) is that REM sleep is the beast's play ground cause our brains are at rest.

Maybe BobP, Ted, SteveY or Ueli can clear this up a little.

Dannyboy!, sit back down it's not play time yet.

..........................jonny2

Title: Re: Question please
Post by NancyMcFree on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:43pm

Mine hit an hour to an hour and a half after going to bed ... probably about the same time I hit REM sleep. My guess would be that the seratonin (sp ??) level changes as you totally relax .... but that is just my guess. Chronic/episodic I have no idea.

Title: Re: Question please
Post by SFChris on Aug 29^th, 2002, 4:45pm

I often wondered if we get hit when we are the most relaxed. I've noticed that I get hit more on the weekends, and almost always after 7:30pm...but then again, I have also been hit when I've been really stressed.

Title: Re: Question please
Post by oringkid on Aug 29^th, 2002, 5:47pm

Ok... as usual I will be the one to be a bit different. When mine started out I didn't get them at night at all. All were during the day. It wasn't till the last 8 or so years that I started getting them at night.

Now, I used to have a LOT of problems getting to sleep at night. I would on average lay in bed 2 to 3 hours before I could go to sleep. Maybe that had something to do with it. Now that I am older (and I use music at night) I can fall asleep within 1 hour and since that, I have started getting more night time CH's.

Interesting.

Sherry

Title: Re: Question please
Post by NancyMcFree on Aug 29^th, 2002, 6:10pm

Sherry, would bet any money that you are now hitting REM sleep, whereas before you never attained it........ ain't it great to sleep good ????????? NOT !!!!!!!!!!

Title: Re: Question please
Post by Linda T on Aug 29^th, 2002, 6:18pm

Dear Mustang. I'm alot like Sherry. During my first two cycles I only got hit around 7:30/8p. Only got one hit (lasted about 2 hours at a kip 9/10). Slept well. No problem.

Next cycle and this one took 2 or 3 hits each night. First one started at 10:00p then 2a then 6a. Never got them during the day until this cycle.

I think that relaxation is my trigger. It always seemed to me that about 1 hour after I put my feet up to watch tv or read I would get hit.

Chronic/episodic ? I have no idea. Sorry.

Wishing you all PFDAN always, Linda T

Title: Re: Question please
Post by oringkid on Aug 29^th, 2002, 6:20pm

Well Nancy, can't say that is true, though a good theory, cuz I have always been a big time dreamer. I sometimes feel like I dream all night long. Lots and lots of very vivid dreams.

And I have dreamt all my life. I can remember a recurring dream that I had for many years when I was young that was kind of an opposite "Lady and the Tramp". It was 2 kids going to an alley and the Dog restaurant owner gave them spaghetti! I always associated that dream with olives for some unknown reason...LOL

Sherry

Title: Re: Question please
Post by mustang on Aug 29^th, 2002, 6:45pm

OK, if I understand what you are saying, the more sound sleep I get the more I get hit. That's just great cause I am a very sound sleeper, I wouldn't hear a bomb go off in my ear when I sleep. I also fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow. My man says I make alot of noise in my sleep like I have a hard time breathing, also something like snoring sounds but he says it's not like regular snoring sounds. Maybe thats why I wake up every hour on the hour with ch's and they are real hard by the time I do wake.

Title: Re: Question please
Post by jonny on Aug 29^th, 2002, 7:04pm

Try dramamine, it keeps you from REM sleep.

.....................jonny

Title: Re: Question please
Post by mustang on Aug 29^th, 2002, 7:34pm

I'll try dramamine. Is REM sleep when you dream?
I hardly ever dream, used to when I wasn't chronic.

Title: Re: Question please
Post by maria on Aug 29^th, 2002, 8:11pm

hey Mustang, My last cycle was 2 years ago. I too am a deep sleeper and would wake up every 2 hours in the deep throes of a CH attack (in the peak of the cycle). The last cycle I started taking cafergot before bedtime and the night time attacks decreased to one- two hours after bedtime and then another when I woke up the the morning. I hope this may help you too. Maria

Title: Re: Question please
Post by Kilo on Aug 29^th, 2002, 9:11pm

In previous episodes, the beast always came slithering in at 5 or 6 AM. For some reason, during this episode he's always stopped by 1-2 hours after I fall asleep, regardless of what time of day it is. My latest strategy is to always set my alarm for an hour after I lie down to sleep. When it goes off, I'll generally be just in the beginning of the headache and the Imitrex tablet actually has a chance to work.

Strangely, this morning I woke up after my first hour with no beastly companion. ??? He hasn't surfaced all day...just a few minor shadows. And this PF day came while I'm completely out of verapamil! Hell, I'm completely hornswoggled.

As far as the episodic to chronic switch, maybe it's due to that bane of all humanity, aging. I think our brain cells just get tired of fighting. Or something. Hell, I have no remotely viable theory, to tell you the truth.

S'ing TFU now... :-X

Kilo

Title: Re: Question please
Post by Charlie on Aug 29^th, 2002, 10:36pm

Lying down and sleeping always seems to leave us open. Sleeping in my recliner sometimes would mean one less attack. Not sure why.

By the way. Everyone dreams and a lot. We remember almost none of them. Probably a good thing too.

Charlie