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Hi Everyone Does anyone experience sleep paralysis upon waking when in cycle. I find that trying to pass from sleep to awake can be really hard work sometimes. Sometimes when I am conscious I can’t speak/respond for a while even though I’m trying to. I haven’t had any of the more sinister symptoms (I’ve had those when I was a teenager) just generally cant pull myself out. Sometimes I feel nervous to come out of sleep too quickly as that’s when the cluster can kick in. Can anyone relate? **Details of my cluster headaches: Currently in cycle. CH usually come at night or upon waking. Have been using Oxygen for the last few years but recently added Zolmitriptan nasal sprays to options (use about one a day and the cluster seems to stay away for longer) The attacks aren’t as intense as they have been in the past but if I happen to run out of oxygen or nasal spray they last a lot longer than they would have and do get more intense. I get up to 3 a night and have just been given Verapamil to try (it’s worked in the past but due to pregnancies I haven’t tried it in a few years. Diagnosed around 10 years ago.

Having suffered from Episodic cycles for the past 10 years. During my cycles I have noticed that whenever I have sex (ejaculate), I get more attacks per 24hrs for the next few days. To be particular, my attacks usually occur only once in the morning, but when I have sex the night before, I'll get a painful attack during my night's sleep, and then again in the morning, and the severity of pain is also relatively much higher than it was usually, before sex. So both frequency and intensity of the attacks increase for me and its not a single occurrence. I'm curious to know if anyone else has experienced this and if anyone knows why it is like that. Is it something related to the concentration of some libido hormones in the blood? I feel like I can better cope with the headache with the 'drive for sex' gets higher. Also, I'm busting today so wish me luck!

Hey Everyone, Brief preface: Episodic sufferer diagnosed earlier this year, only had one cycle that was aborted by a Prednisone taper. Haven't had a second cycle yet. I've done some very brief research on on the impact of poor sleep & clusters. In general, there appears to be some sort of correlation, not to be confused with cycling in and out of REM triggering an attack. I'll define "poor sleep" as being tired, laying in bed, wanting to sleep, but simply cannot fall asleep, ultimately getting only 2-3 hours per night for several consecutive nights, which is exactly my situation for the past 3 nights. I've had some bad nights of sleep here and there throughout my life, but this week is an exception. There have been no recent major changes or life events to look back at and say, "Yep - THAT'S why I can't sleep". I would say my stress and anxiety levels are no greater than the many months preceding my inability to sleep. Anecdotally, this may fall under the category of episodic insomnia..? As a result, I'm noticing an increased frequency of low-level headaches or possibly shadows, however, I can't distinguish if the pain is from the cluster realm or just an "I need sleep" headache. The pain is not unilateral, nor am I exhibiting the other telltale signs of a cluster. Anyhow, I've read a lot of your posts regarding lack of sleep or poor sleep quality being a trigger. I'm curious to know that, if you're impacted by this type of trigger: Does it start a single, standalone attack for you or does it start a full on multi-day/week cycle? Have you noticed lack of sleep serve as an indicator of an impending cycle? I don't have much personal cluster-history to pull from, so ANY input or personal experiences on the topic would be appreciated, thanks in advance! PFW All!

So my attacks occur almost exclusively during sleep and I wake up at about kip 7. Does oxygen still work as an abortive in this situation when the attack has already been ramped up this high.