Very strange. My headaches over the years have changed. Originally, they were hardly ever at night (20 yrs ago), now, with this cluster, it's exclusively at night.

Also, to try to help not have them, I am taking 10 mg Melatonin, but I am still waking up about 1 1/2 hours after falling asleep.... with the beast just nudging me, but with my trusty O2 at 15 psi at my side, it stops him and I fall asleep. (Last night I later awakened to find my O2 empty cause I fell asleep with it on....oops!)
Now, what happens the rest of the night is NEW for me, but from what I have read, it is the norm for others.

Every 1 - 1 1/2 hours throughout the night, I awaken the same way as the first time and  go through the same routine and yes, it is aborted. As long as I am able to quickly get the O2 going and hyperventilate, the Beast never tries to explode my brain.  :o
This can happen up to 5 times a night. Now, it's great, of course, that I don't get a full headache, but still, I get hardly any sleep.

Are there any ideas to keep this from continuing throughout the night?

Oh, another different thing with this year's cluster is that the pain meds that I would use sometimes when the O2 didn't work, are not working at all on it. I tried to use them before I was able to get the O2 from my Neurologist. Strange. They always did, for all these years they did. Now it's almost like taking sugar pills. (It's been over a year since I used them) Has this happened before?

Funny how it is easier to get pain meds than O2!   :-?

Thanks all.

Hi Robbie. You wrote:
Quote:

Are there any ideas to keep this from continuing throughout the night?

Short answer: no. Melatonin can sometimes help but you're taking that. O2 at the bedside is the best plan and you're doing that. When I was at the height of my chronic cycle, I'd get hit every 2-3 hours, 24 hours, every day. So...I knew I'd be hit when I went to bed so I'd plan on going to sleep right after my 11PM hit, sleep until the 1:30AM hit, abort, rinse and recycle, etc.

I wish I had better news but the important thing here is to remember to keep fighting it off. The beast does wear down I think, sorta like a gator will after a few minutes of rasslin'. Hang in there, you're in our prayers. blessings. lance

Would be helpful if you gave info about the specific meds/doses are are/have used.

Preventives?; "pain meds"--what?

Two suggestions, consider combining standard release Melatonin, and slow release Melatonin, do 6 mg each. Some have found success getting through the night that way, quick release gets you to sleep, the slow release gets you through the night.

Start this vitamin regimen: START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Cheap, good for you even without CH, and as you can see from the thread, providing relief to a lot of people.

Joe

What I have found through out the years of having these are there is really no normal from cycle to cycle.  In the beginning when I was young (17) my cycle was every May through Sept everyday one hit a day lasting about an hour.  Same time.

When I finally found a Dr. that didn't tell me that I was female so I didn't have clusters and started with DHE 45 injections they would work but I found I would get more hits per day. 

Years later I started to skip years but when they returned they were worse then ever and if I aborted one the beast would find a way to bring another.  I could get hit in the middle of the night and if I aborted that one then my time would change and it would hit me again several hours later. 

What I'm thankful for is I have over the years (33) my cycle has not only shorten (4-6 weeks) but I've also skip years UNLESS I take a med/vitamin that plays with Serotonin like 5http.  I found that this is what triggered my last cycle two years ago.  Once I stopped that my cycle ended about 3 weeks later.  My 2011 cycle was the shortest and the least traumatic cycle that I have ever had.

I was never able to find a med that could be used as a preventive so my whole life has been based on abortive.

Good Luck, and wishing you PFN soon.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I am so glad this website is here. It has been so helpful to me.

I didn't think cluster headaches worked this way but,
what seemed to bring on my headaches after 1 1/2 years is the stress involved with learning my husband has Corticobasal degeneration, beginning to be his caregiver and that I will be his caregiver until he dies. This could be a year or so because he is progressing rather fast. It is a degenerative brain disease. Bummer, huh?

It had been so long, I had almost forgotten about the headaches. I really didn't expect to get them.

Thankfully, they are already diminishing in numbers per night and when I do get them, the O2 works every time.

(Last night I later awakened to find my O2 empty cause I fell asleep with it on....oops!)

I overlooked this in your first post. A good time to remind people if you use a non-re-breather mask, especially for the night time wake up hits, cut the strap off of the mask. That way if you do drift off after aborting the hits, there's no chance of your suffocating when the 02 shuts off!

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. :-/ Sustained stress is a big time trigger for me too. I'll be keeping both of you in my thoughts.

Joe

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGESTART PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

That is what a typical non-rebreather mask looks like with the bag attached. Note the green elastic band which is designed to hold the mask on your head.

Since it is a non-rebreather, it relies on the constant stream of gas from the oxygen cylinder, filling the bag, for you to breathe. If the gas runs out you and you are asleep with the mask fastened over your face then you can choke. Hopefully that will be enough to wake you, prompting you to remove the mask.

This is why we always suggest that people cut the elastic off, so that if you do fall asleep, the mask will drop away from your face, allowing you to breathe normally from room air.

Do read the oxygen info at START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

I also strongly recomend the non-rebreather mask you can get from the store here - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE. I've two of them and find them to work amazingly well, so much better than the standard ones (like in the first picture) as supplied by most oxygen supply companies.

And I'm also sorry to hear about your husband.

Thanks Joe and Mike for your info about the O2.
I do however remember reading about that somewhere on the website, so I already knew not to put the green elastic band around my head. I do keep it on though and just don't use it so that I can use it to have it hang from the metal hook on the E tank roller/carrier.

Glad u guys are out there helping all of us 'cluster heads'.
I wish everyone that fights the Beast would find you.

Also, I wish more people were informed about cluster headaches. Most people don't have a clue about them. "Oh, yea, I get Migraines sometimes." People say. I usually tell them to take their headache and times it by 10 and that is a cluster headache!

I know even doctors fall short sometimes. I know I was misdiagnosed for years with migraines. I knew the nature of the Beast, but still one new doctor just recently, just because I am a woman, wanted to tell me that I have migraines, that along with the fact that since I was using Vicodin, most of the time I did not have the pacing of the hallways of the house; I could actually lay down. (back when vicodin took the edge off)

My husband even used to rub my back to give me something to focus my attention on. I found that if I focused on the pain, that it would get worse, then I WOULD do the rocking dance.   :'(

Thanks again for caring so much.    ;D

Robbie