Posted by Jack Boyd (167.206.58.39) on January 08, 2000 at 18:55:06:
In Reply to: GOOD message Jack - agree w/all but 1 detail posted by gary on January 08, 2000 at 18:16:21:
Hi Gary,
The main reason I never get too excited about a discussion of triggers goes like this:
I believe that I would get 48 cluster attacks during my 6 week cycle if I smoked, ate 3 tons of MSG, slept, had sex, exercised, didn't drink water, had lots of stress, was physically out of shape, etc., etc.
I also believe that I would get 48 cluster attacks during my 6 week cycle if I lived in a hermetically sealed bubble in the Mayo Clinic and was fed perfectly balanced meals via an IV and slept or didn't sleep.
So having said that, the reason sleep is talked about as a precipitating or associative event ( notice no use of the word trigger ) is not for the reason that it can be managed or avoided to ward off clusters but rather an interesting phenomenon that points us in the direction of a root or important cause in a string of lots of causes. What that root or important cause is I do not know. Here are some of the leading candidates:
serotonin levels during sleep
oxygen levels during sleep
both serotonin levels & oxygen levels during sleep
something else
Regards,
Jack