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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Cluster Headache Specific Posts >> daylight
        
(Message started by: prospero on Jul 7^th, 2004, 5:57am)

Title: daylight
Post by prospero on Jul 7^th, 2004, 5:57am

I started a new bout of cluster headaches last week, after being free of them for a remarkable 5 years. I was woken by an excruciating headache a few mornings last week at about 4.30 a.m. I live in London, UK, and in Summertime here the sun rises very early, so I figured something external must be triggering this, or at least, there must be some way my brain senses the early start of daylight, which was coinciding with the headache. The last two nights, I have tried completely blacking out the windows so that there is absolutely no light filtering into my bedroom. Amazingly, I wasn't woken up by a headache! Does anyone else have any experience/information relevant to this possible connection between daylight hours and headaches? (unfortunately, I had another headache yesterday at 12.00 noon, but I still think there's some connection here).

Title: Re: daylight
Post by ave on Jul 7^th, 2004, 7:18am

For some people daylight or the lack of it seems to be the trigger. For some it is too little sleep. For some it is jet lag.

We know that the hypothalamus, that houses/is the body's internal clock, has SOMETHING to do with us getting clusters, but we are very far away from knowing what that something is.

If blacking out the room contunues to works for you, great.
If not, you could try melatonin. an easy and cheap supplement that regulates sleeping/waking that has worked for ome here.

Title: Re: daylight
Post by floridian on Jul 7^th, 2004, 9:14am

on 07/07/04 at 05:57:12, prospero wrote:

Does anyone else have any experience/information relevant to this possible connection between daylight hours and headaches? (unfortunately, I had another headache yesterday at 12.00 noon, but I still think there's some connection here).

For most episodic sufferers, clusters are strongly tied to the calendar and the clock. Clusters are more common as one moves away from the equator (as the difference between summer daylength and winter daylength increases). At higher latitudes, the changing daylength places a greater stress on our biological clocks. The hypothalamus, which is abnormal in clusterheads, is a key part of the body's biological clock. Melatonin, a key sleep hormone, is abnormally low in most cluster heads, and the low levels are seen all year, not just in cycle.

Anything that helps stabilize circadian cycles might help with clusters. Taking a melatonin supplement before bed has been proven to help (but is not permitted in the EU - melatonin is a food supplement in the US, but a controlled hormone in Europe). Trying to keep daylength more even over the year may also help some (using window shades, retiring at a constant hour, etc). Getting strong sunlight for 15 minutes at mid-day may help some. Staying up late or taking drugs that interfere with sleep can initiate a cycle for me (pseudoephedrine is especially bad for me). Taking caffeine in the late afternoon or evening reduces melatonin production for that evening.