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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> sleep patterns and CH and stairs
        
(Message started by: big_guy on Sep 9^th, 2006, 10:18am)

Title: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by big_guy on Sep 9^th, 2006, 10:18am

I have been lurking and reading and not posting much for a while and settling into a pattern. Go to bed at 11:00 pm and get up at 3:00 am and drink coffee to kill the shadows. I was avoiding serious hits, but of course I was exhausted all the time. Last weekend the family and some friends rented a cabin in the Smoky Mtns. Arrived very late friday night and didn't go to bed till after 2 am. Woke up at 4 with a killer hit that I had to end with a Imitrex shot. Managed a great day though, whitewater rafting then watching the TN Vols on the giant screen tv. Only slept about four hours saturdey night and had a good day sunday. Stupid me, I stayed up late again Sunday night and was hit bad again around 4 am. Monday morning Started the coffee brewing, and was pacing around an unfamiliar house in the dark. I was not in very good shape. Almost no sleep in several days, Kip 7 and building, and the coffee was not ready yet. I decided it was time for a shot but my kit was downstairs. Poor mental condition+bare feet+unfamiliar carpeted stairs=busted ass. ROF not LMAO. Actually found that falling down a long flight of stairs can take your mind off a CH for about a minute, but I don't recomend it as a treatment. I managed some sleep after a shot and ended up having a pretty good although very sore day. Nothing broken although some of my toes did turn blue.
Same thing this weekend. Got to bed late last night and tried to sleep in this morning. Woke up at 8 and got hit again. I am going to have to stick to a regular sleep patttern. Sometimes no matter how much I read about how things such as sleep patterns effect others I guess I have to learn for my self.

wishing you PFDAN and safe steps

Big Guy

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by pattik on Sep 9^th, 2006, 10:40am

Hi Big guy,
I'm so sorry to hear about your tumble. CH can be disorienting even in familiar surroundings. In my case, keeping a routine seems to keep the hits to a minimum, unless I'm in a particularly bad cycle peak. I'm still speculating that an unusual summer episode that came on a couple of years ago right after a vacation, was more a result of a change in routine and stress levels rather than anything I did on the trip itself. Even when I'm not in a cycle, I get frequent insomnia at the times I would normally get CH hits, so I have been finding some help with melatonin along with occasional Benedryl. If you haven't tried melatonin yet, you might want to see if it helps you with the nighttime hits.
Hope you bumps and bruises heal quickly.

Patti

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by Charlotte on Sep 9^th, 2006, 3:01pm

Sorry about the tumble, big guy. I'm glad you didn't break anything. How are the toes this week?

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by E-Double on Sep 9^th, 2006, 3:24pm

Same time regardless of day.
Go to bed and let your body regulate.

MELATONIN BIG DUDE!

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by big guy on Sep 9^th, 2006, 10:27pm

The toes are still a little blue, but much better. I take 15 mg of melatonin every night. Took 20mg a few nights and slept great but some suggested that might be too much so I backed off. I will be trying to get a more regular sleep pattern.

Big Guy

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by Guiseppi on Sep 9^th, 2006, 11:43pm

Glad you survived the adventure! If I screw up my sleep patterns while on cycle I get hit hard. I haven't tried the melatonin route cuz lithium is still working so well but I see a lot of people having good luck with it. Wishing you the best!

Guiseppi

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by Chonas on Sep 14^th, 2006, 1:58am

"During a cluster period, it is important to keep to your usual routine, remain calm and avoid changing your sleep pattern. Once a cluster period has started, a change in sleep pattern, particularly taking an afternoon nap, seems to bring on the headaches."

Ref.: http://countrydoctorltd.familydoctors.net/handouts.cfm?action=035.xml

I think this is quite right, but I can only achive those things when I'm not in cycle.

Title: Re: sleep patterns and CH and stairs
Post by wam on Sep 17^th, 2006, 8:17pm

Glad your ok Big Guy!!!!I noticed that if I put on my headphones during an attack it takes my mind off the cluster to a point that I can at least deal with it and not want to kill my self.I always play the same cd.It's Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost Of Tom Joad".Its really mellow folk/acoustic songs about the southwest.I keep the volume low and it works all the time.By no means is this a cure but it helps me ride the storm out.Take care!!