I've gotten to the point where I consider anything 2 or below on the Kip scale to be pain free. In other words, I can deal with anything 2 or below without having to take action.

I agree with Brew about the lower kip scale CH.  They're very tolerable, but anything higher, it's pain time. 

The cycle i'm currently ending (so I think) had one in the morning usually 6-8am with a PF free (with and without shadows) period till the next one hit usually around 11pm-2am.  The shadow will stick around sometimes all day long, but this cycle was better than most.  Today has been CH free, knock on wood.   I hope the cycle is over, but i'm never sure.

Another thing that worked for me this cycle was to take 50mg of Imitrex before bedtime and I would have a full night of sleep.
Lack of sleep can make you evil

At the height of my cycle I have continuous shadows which are pretty much anything from just pressure to as much as a 2. Hits are usually at least twice a day at a kip 8 or 10.   As my cycle winds down I sometimes feel totally normal but that gets interrupted by hits that range from around a 5 to an 8.   When I have some "normal" time I know  I'm close to turning the corner even if it's still a month or so away. 

PF wishes,

Jeannie

I'm chronic and have been so since my headaches began at the end of September 2007. The beast seems to be morphing a lot, so that sometimes I get days when I have six hits, while sometimes I get just one hit. The hits also vary in how painful they are.

Usually, though, I get around 2-3 hits per day and they are anything from KIP scale 5 to 9. Usually around 7. The pain-free time I have per day is often just a couple of hours, and none during some days. Usually between the hits I'm at least on KIP scale 1-2, occasionally on 3 or even four. Mostly I feel best a bit after an attack, when the "afterburn" stops.

- Best regards,
Rosa

I can have a slight shadow even when I'm out of cycle. Yesterday, I laid down and felt it coming on. It was one of those slow attacks, that come on slowly but full force. It lasted about an hour, and slowly faded out. This time, since the air is so dry, I boiled two big pots of water and got some moisture back in the air. But last night I actually slept all night pain free. Today, I laid down and it was almost instant shadow, so I got up. Then I did something I should've already done and moved my bed back into the bedroom. I had 'moved' into the living room, because it's dimmer in there ( I sleep during the day). But I guess the A/C was the actual trigger, and the air in the living room is kinda different than in the bedroom. That happened at the last place I lived, I had to stay out of the living room. I lived in the bedroom for the two years. I'm about to lay down for a nap before work, here's hoping I'm right. And it's already starting to cool down here in Texas, last night was so comfortable I slept good. But we are under an Orange Level air advisory. I think that may have had something to do with also. This cycle I'm in is actaully the first in about a year and a half. It's been awhile.

It's been 9 days since my last attack, and I feel I can safely say that I am out of cycle.  I didn't realize that I was always feeling something while in cycle until now that I am finally truly pain-free. 

I journaled that I had some pain-free days during my cycle, but compared to now, those were not really pain-free days.  My husband says that my smile disappeared completely for the 4 weeks while I was in cycle.  I guess that was a sign that I wasn't quite "normal" between hits.

I am pretty much like Dennis:

episodic
1-2 hits a day
shadow alot during the day til verap kicked in then usually only shadowed 1x per day -around 4-5 pm
Had one breakthrough of about a 4 or 5 ( could talk thru it , probably could've waited it out, but had the kids in car on way to soccer game- so took an imitrex)

Guiseppi wrote on Aug 13^th, 2008 at 2:25pm:


Guiseppi,

What is cafergot?

Kimmie, cafergot is a caffeine-ergotamine drug prescribed for migraines and CH:  Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Laurie

From my personal experience.....
When I'm in the first month of my cycle, with the not so crazy hits (up to 8) I do enjoy painfree time in general.
If I however go into the second month, which I call lovingly high cycle, and I get the real nasty ones, I get a lot of shadow headaches in between real attacks. But I do not count them to be as pain, as they are merely very annoying.
Having said this, those are just generalisations, as I do get some shadows while in ''low'' cycle, and some real painfree time in high cycle. Who was it again that said, clusters are predictable?
But there is a pattern, yes.

Regards, Pascal.

I am a variable episodic. I have had in the past many extended breaks where I suffer only silent attacks (all the symptoms, no pain)
Therefore not chronic in the pain sense.

When at my worst I have no pain free time between the hits during the days. Though the intensity subsides, I can hardly tell when one hit stops and another starts. I do however usually have a nice recovery break for an hour or two many evenings and then at night I may get up to 20 minutes between hits without pain..

This was before I got some control with CBs.

I am episodice twice a year or was. I have been cluster free for over a year but not migraine free with busting.

It always starts off mimicing a cold, sinus or flu. During the 8 week period I would always feel like shit and get 2-3 hits per day of varying kips. I get a lot of shadows and swelling and general malaise the whole time. Tearing of the eye and nasal congestion really bad.  DHE worked with Prednisone . It never aborted the cycle but made life tolerable along with the O2.

The last kip 10 I had was four years ago. Will never forget it. <<shudder>>> If I had over kip 5's often and chronic I would be on disability no question. I don't know how some of y'all do it.