its official my "normal" sleeping routine is out of the window ...im questioning why ...is it something to do with the fact i got 2 hits yesterday and it left me drained and all i want to do is sleep after they go ?? do they drain you when you get hits please let me know ..?
does it mess up your routine ??
or maybe im just trying to avoid the morning hit subconsciously ..i dont know anyway woke up at about 1.45am....cant sleep ...

This is one of many reasons it's so critical to get a handle on HOW you treat your CH. Once you have a decent prevent med, an abortive you can have faith in, then you can concentrate on life again, and stop the constant worry about WHEN beasty is gonna wap you again.

It's a dangerous, and suprisingly easy trap, to fall into. Always worrying until the worry itself becomes a bigger issue then the CH. Hoping you can get the upper hand on beasty soon.

Joe

There are people on here that can explain far more than I, but what I can tell you is that my sleep cycle is "jacked"(abnormal). Not on this sight--through social media--I have found other clusterheads with the same problem.  I have had chronic cluster headaches for over a year and suffer from intractable migraines for 2+ years (yes this is possible and sucks royally).

Yes, I get drained from cluster attacks, though the migraines are far more draining--no explanation there. Like the last post, once you find the correct meds you can find a normal routine and I find it crucial as well. I am in college, again, so I have the luxury of staying up most of the night and sleeping in till noon. I am trying to sleep like normal people for I find an abnormal routine can exacerbate the problem. I manage to take 15 credit hours, maintain honors society and study up to 60 hours a week. Like anything you just adapt--hate abruptness but cannot find a better way to describe it.

Best of luck, I'm sure someone on here with far more insight can elaborate on this, hope it helps.

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Medical literature suggests that migraine is more strongly affected by one's stress levels, emotional states, etc. than with Cluster. Would be wise to check on this linkage and direct attention to both medical treatment of you headaches as well as how you are coping with the emotional side effects.

Mr. Anderson

Sleep is a common problem for ClusterHeads. In the worst cases it may help to sleep sitting up. This way you can react quickly. I have stopped attacks by "hyperventilating", breathing as fast and hard as I can.

CH is a mean and rare disease, Doctors know very little about it so learning from this site and others is required. You have to become an expert on CH to know the best treatments.

Losing sleep is one of the worst things. We deal with such pain, then along with the lack of sleep we can become very weak. We are forced to become some of the stongest people on Earth.

When my cycles reach their peak, I can go days with only a couple of hours of sleep. This usually happens when I get hit by like 5 or 6 of them back to back. I always sweat like a dancing mule and know when they are about to ease up because I get really really cold. I am always extremely exhausted after I get hit and if I'm lucky, I'll pass out for a couple hours before the next one comes. It seems the ones that come during the day aren't so intense and don't last as long either.

It seems when the CH eases up with orgasmic levels I pass out involuntarly. Feeling the CH leaves your head, the good feeling is as hard to describe as the pain is. As rough as each hit is for me, I feel that its equally difficult for my supporters to have to witness. I agree that we need to accept our conditions and allow them to control our lives as little as possible. Its hard to stay in good spirits when you are having an exceptionally long or tough cycle. I feel that support communities such as this really help to drive away the negativity that we endure. My last cycle was the longest and most painful to date. I am so glad to have found you guys and gals.

Sleeping while sitting up? Sounds interesting, but how did you manage to get accustom to this? I have to sleep face down, been that way since I can remember.

What are others opinions on here of taking medications that assist with sleep? I am not talking about the obvious, Ambien, et cetera, but benzodiazepines namely Ativan, Xanax or Valium. I use Ativan for panic attacks, honestly, not tried for sleeping.

I slept in a recliner, not fully reclined. It isn't something I got used to but rather was something I turned to as a last resort. I was so tired I fell asleep on my own. Melatonin helps, and is safer than the narcotics you mention. Since I almost always got hit at REM sleep anything that would delay my becoming alert to the pain was a bad thing. Slept when I could, as I could, and got what rest I could. And worked and lived in between hits. Sucks, but it's doable. blessings. lance

Lack of sleep makes the whole process worse,  when I can't get good sleep for a period of time simple tasls become hard and tasks like driving become dangerous.  At that point I use a prednizone regiment which starts at 60mg for 5 days and then each week lower dosage 10mg.  It stops them for me until I reach the 40mg level and they return.  But this allows me several days of good sleep.  At times I have stayed at 60mg longer than I should to get some pain free days.

@Lance, thank you for the input. What you describe makes sense. I started 10mg of melatonin again; this helps to get to sleep early, but I still struggle with sleeping excessively. I need 12 hours for some reason, alarm clocks fail to wake me up, yikes.

@butthurt, I am somewhat familiar with inadequate sleep process and the effects it has on his--primarily from basic research and experience. I find excessive sleep as much a problem as to little or erratic patterns. I struggle to appropriate this and am considering a sleep center to get this mess straightened out.  I suspect its all the medications I am on, the doses I am on are powerful and come with issues.

I'm with wimsey1 with the recliner. My attacks are almost every night between 2am and 2:30am. They last 20 to 30 minutes. If I go back to bed I most surely will have another attack within 1 hour. Sleeping in an almost upright position in the recliner usually keeps the second attack from happening.
Joe mentioned the preventative med. I agree. Can you get a prescription for lithium or verapamil? It is taken with the prednizone for a week or so then the the pred steroid can be stopped (usually). Please talk to your doc about it.