Posted by gary g (209.187.112.213) on August 09, 1999 at 15:01:52:
In Reply to: Sleeping patterns posted by John D. on August 08, 1999 at 17:53:13:
definitely a connection between sleep patterns and Ch attack patterns
about 3 clusters ago I discovered that if I abandon the idea that we should sleep 8 hours at night, and get up bright and early I do a lot better
last 2 clusters I found I could "manage" the cluster much better if I sat up most of the night - writing, reading, walking (I live in the country)and went to bed in the wee hours - usually between 3 and 5 AM
one part of the help is that I can jump on each attack the instant it starts - when I sleep, the attacks are well-started before they wake me & it is then MUCH harder to stop or reduce them
also, somehow, I can usually then get 4-5 hpours straight sleep in the morning before another attack
that block of sleep makes all the difference in the world in avoiding the terrible fatigure that I think makes the clusters worse
this may vary depending on people's different attack patterns
when I'm "right into it" I get 5 - 8 attacks in any 24 hour period
first priority is to reduce the severity of each
(which the sleep change absolutely helps with)
second priority is to reduce frequency
(much harder to tell)