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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> Just Tried  This ....
        
(Message started by: LucyBee210 on Jan 13^th, 2008, 7:41pm)

Title: Just Tried This ....
Post by LucyBee210 on Jan 13^th, 2008, 7:41pm

I have suffered for 3 years now with these headaches and luckily they only surface once a year lasting about 3 weeks. They always attack me at night when I fall into my deep sleep REM pattern and they just started back worse t han ever. Like many of you I don't think I can survive them once they start but last night i did something totally different and by golly I got a full night's sleep with no interruptions. I went to bed around midnight and read for about 30 minutes and knew my eyes were about to close from lack of sleep the previous night, so I got up and took 2 Excedrin Migraine pills and propped myself up in bed with 4 pillows. I quickly fell asleep and slept the entire night. however, when I got up this morning and walked out of the bedroom I felt that old familiar pain starting. I immediately got my ice pack and applied it to the back of my neck and went to lie back down. It was over within 15 minutes and have felt pretty good all day. I'll try it again tonight.
normally when these start the only thing I've ever done for relief is my ice pack and it helps. I sympathize with all of you having to deal with these horrific headaches. I have never been treated or seen by a doctor for them simply because I don't have that type of insurance that would cover anything diagnostic outside of a hospital. I found this website and glad I did .. Thanks for the support and information.. I'll be around quite often.

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by outofcommission on Jan 13^th, 2008, 10:54pm

in my semi truck i prop up my carharts and a few pillows and wrap up in my sleeping bag with my head against the wall of the sleeper. i take 2 tylonols set the idle up so my head doesn't rattle to low rpms of the engine and turn the cold blower about medium. this usually gets me about 4 hours and i wake up to a kip2 or a kip3. i can tame that with 5 to 10 minutes of o2 and get 4 more hours. if i sleep horizontally i get about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours then wake up to a kip 5 or kip7. sometimes these can be a 20 to 30 minute ride to hell.

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by DennisM1045 on Jan 14^th, 2008, 9:26am

Sleeping propped up is something I have heard from several people around here. I know I spend a lot of nights on the couch with pillows trying to get some sleep.

I got so sick of not sleeping with my wife that I added an inch to the height of the headboard using a piece of poplar and some furnature cups. While it did take some negotiation, this simple change has made a world of difference and cut way down on the number of nights we sleep apart.

It doesn't keep the hits from coming but it does allow me to get back into bed and stay there when the hit is over.

-Dennis-

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by monty on Jan 14^th, 2008, 10:40am

Yes, I like my lazy boy recliner when I am in cycle - sleeping upright can reduce apnea somewhat. The heavier you are, the less it helps:

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: Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2004 Jan 15;139(2):215-24.
Oral airway resistance during wakefulness in eucapnic and hypercapnic sleep apnea syndrome.
Lin CC, Wu KM, Chou CS, Liaw SF.

Chest Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, 92, Sec 2, Chung Shan North Road, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. cclin@ms2.mmh.org.tw

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there was an abnormal increase of upper airway resistance in the sitting and supine positions in hypercapnic obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients compared with eucapnic OSAS or normal controls as measured by impulse oscillometry (IOS) while awake. Twenty subjects without OSAS served as controls (group I), and 20 patients with moderate or severe eucapnic OSAS (group II) and another eight hypercapnic severe OSAS patients (group III) were studied. Group II was further divided into two subgroups. Group IIa consisted of 14 subjects whose BMI was less than 35 and group IIb of six subjects whose BMI was greater than 35. All subjects also had an overnight sleep study. Oral airway resistance (AR) (including impedance (Zrs), resistance (R) and reactance (X)) was measured by impulse oscillometry (IOS) (MasterScreen IOS, VIASYS Healthcare GmbH, Germany) in the upright (seated) position and then in the supine position while awake. The results demonstrated that in both group I and group II, Zrs was normal in the sitting position. However, there was a high Zrs in the supine position for group II patients. In contrast, in group III patients, there was a high Zrs in both the sitting and supine positions. In conclusion, upper airway resistance was increased both sitting and supine in the hypercapnic OSAS patients; this would presumably increase the work of breathing and might explain why these subjects were hypercapnic while awake, while eucapnic OSAS patients and normal controls were not. Secondly, the increased upper airway resistance in the supine position in the eucapnic OSAS patients may contribute to their OSAS.

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by Barry_T_Coles on Jan 15^th, 2008, 7:36am

This is a piece I contributed to this subject back in September 2007 about sleeping in the elevated position.

My belief & my opinion only; this has been discussed before but not for some time that if you prop yourself up with as many pillows as you can, almost to the point that you are sleeping in the sit up position you will most likely get a better nights sleep while going through a cycle.

I do this when I am getting hit badly & it always works for me & I discussed this recently with my Doc who said quite plainly that Clusters are not only neurological but are vascular as well; as we are aware the blood vessels in our head swell to a size greater than normal, if you take into account that when you try to go to sleep you usually lay down, by doing this you are allowing you body to have a lateral blood flow in that your blood flow is now more easily pushed through your body and no longer needs to be pushed upwards back to your heart.

The Docs explanation of this was that if you have a badly damaged, broken or bruised foot or lower limb you will be advised to lay down with your foot or limb elevated above the line of the body; what this effectively induces is that the blood flow is reduced to the effected area & therefore reduces the discomfort in the effected area, apply this principle to clusters & do the reverse you will reduce the blood flow to your head & therefore reduce the effect of the cluster.

This made very simple sense to me & I would like to see what others have to say on the subject.

Regards
Barry

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by kcopelin on Jan 15^th, 2008, 9:04am

Been sleeping in a recliner for the past month...elevating broken foot and head. Seems that I get one good nights sleep out of four. On the other hand, if I lay down in bed, not propped up enough, I can be guaranteed a CH as soon as I drift off to sleep, and sometimes sooner.

PFDAN y'all,
kathy

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by outofcommission on Jan 17^th, 2008, 1:39am

on 01/15/08 at 07:36:49, Barry_T_Coles wrote:

i think that is logical. try this on for size.i sleep alot exit on ramps and roadsides. if you notice roads are always slanted so rain water will run off on either side. i sleep as many truck drivers do with my head on the drivers side of the sleeper. if i park on the right side of the ramp my feet are down hill from my head and vice versa if i park on the left. before my cycle started if i parked on the left i would wake up with a dull(non ch) headache. just something to think about.

Title: Re: Just Tried This ....
Post by LarryM on Jan 17^th, 2008, 11:01pm

You can buy a set of four bed lifts from Bed Bath and Beyond for ten dollars, they will raise the bed 5". GERD (acid reflux) patients use them too. I've gotten 4 hours verses two hours sleeping in recliner some nights too. Every Little trick helps. Acutally I sleep outside during the early summer and fall because it's cooler. Cooler air has a higher 02 density. Every time you drive your car the engine is constantly adusting the amount of fuel delivered based on air temperature because of 02 ratios. Thats why we CHers seek out cooler air, more 02.