You know, life is full of irony.

When I was a child, I would wake up in the middle of the night. I dreaded this, because this meant I had to go to the bathroom. I was convinced that the monsters would swoop in and grab me. Sharks would gobble me up, though how they would swim in carpet was never clear.

Oh, how I long for those innocent days, when the nights were filled with nothing more than simple monsters and carpet sharks. Bone-chilling fear isn't found in some Hollywood horror movie. It's found in the quiet hours of the night, when I wake up with a quiet throbbing pain behind my eye. A prophet of what is to come. How I wish I was wrong about the pain. For once, I want the pain to be nothing more than the result of sleeping on the book I was reading when I fell asleep.

Life is truly ironic, since now at the age of 27 - I once again wake up in the middle of the night, and I dread it.
This soul-shattering dread I wake up with is my personal demon, and I'm afraid one day it'll win.

Thanks for helping me fight it - since I'm not about to give up. The rest of the world may not understand what we're going through. You, however, understand what it means, and that gives me strength like you wouldn't imagine. Wait, there's no need to imagine, since it's real.

I truly feel your pain.

I am 25 years old, I too am afraid to go to sleep. I'm in cycle right now I hadn't slept in 2 days. Went to neuro yesterday he gave me all kinds of meds and was fortunate enough to get 6 hours of sleep last night before the beast woke me up. I have normally been an evening sufferer, the HA's would come around 7-8 pm but that all changed last week. Now they come about 1-2 hours after falling asleep. When that one is gone, go back to sleep only to wake up again and again in the same situation.I don't know what to do! It has really affected my life, I have had to call off work for the past 2 days in a row. My work and co-workers don't understand really either, they think if you have a headache take a couple asprin and get back to work.
Hopefully this cycle is over soon, If these meds don't work I'm going to try clusterbusters method. I'm willing to try anything.
Keep fighting, don't give up. your not the only one

Welcome, Vertoel!  Don't ever give up the fight!

Tell us a little more about yourself and what prevents and aborts you have tried.

Beth

Sitting in bed and waiting for the beast to strike sucks, time to get pro active! 31 year episodic here, this is what works best for me! Much tinkering, adjusting and trial and error is involved with each of us to see what works best.

1: A good prevent medicine, a med you take daily, while in cycle, to reduce number and intensity of hits. I use lithium at 1200 mg a day, blocks about 70% of my attacks. Does NOT turn me into a Hollywood Zombie!  ;)Takes 10-14 days to reach a good level, I use a 2 week prednisone taper for relief while I wait for the lithium to kick in.

Verapamil is a common first line prevent to try and has proven effective for many on the board. Topomax is another popular prevent, others to read about and discuss with your doc on the med board.

2: A good abortive, you feel the scratching, tension, droopy eye feeling of here comes the beast, now what? Oxygen should be your first line abortive. I can completely abort an attack in less then 10 minutes using 02. No side effects, cheap and damned effective.

Imitrex injectables and nasal spray are popular abortives, the pill form generally is not effective as CH tends to build faster then your tummy can upload oral meds.

Have you tried energy drinks? Rock Star, Red Bull, any containing caffeine and taurine? Many find they can abort or diminish an atack by chugging one at the first sign of a hit. I tend to get re attacks within 10 minutes of shutting off my oxygen, and have found that drinking a Red Bull as I start the oxygen prevents the come backers.

I'll shut up now.....that's a lot of information but you have so much more you need to learn. Doctors are given very little training on headaches so through no fault of  their own they generally can't help you much. It's incumbent on YOU to educate yourself and work with your doc to form a treatment plan. Sitting down in front of your doc and saying "Fix Me" is a recipe for a lot of pain.

Welcome home, we'll help you any way we can.

Joe

Hey Vertoel,

Many of us have found significant relief through info and advice gained on this site, and have even found the terror and dread receding way back. Count me as one of those.

Stick around and let's see if we can turn this crushing nightmare into more of a story of triumph.  :)

Giuseppi dishes out good advice, you can be assured of that, and while yer at it, maybe you'd like to take a gander at a surprisingly accurate and well written Newsweek article that just came out that covers one of the ClusterBustres type CH treatments:

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Controlling your pain is very possible as is getting at least some sleep while in cycle ! I'm still a bear and I still don't sleep great in peak cycle, but I can control them enough to sleep some and it makes all the difference ! Kudos and best of luck.

Welcome Vert,

I will never outwake him, or outlast him at night, This is when he comes, so this is when i fight. I try to stay awake, I leave on the lights, I sit and drink coffie all hours of the night. but it never works my eye's will close and 10 minutes later the whistle always blows.
This is when he comes.

Coach Bill