Woke with mild headache on the cluster side, lasted all morning..

Level 3 migraine started around 2pm Blah, blah, blah, blah.. sucks to be me, business as usual.


This is about the story of the last week... no big attacks just lots of tiring pain in the "mild /annoying/level 1" range. A few spikes into the 2-3 range.

I think its safe to say that my cluster cycle is tapering off... but as has become common in the last few years I don't think that means I will be headache free. Merely that the pain in the cluster area will be dull, mild to annoying and last for hours if not days, (have I described my "compressed spring" theory?" The more recent addition of the migraines which have their own schedule will insure that I don't get to have any significant time without "company".

Day of frustration and disipointment

Woke with no headache

Accidentally took 1500 mil of depakote at 7:45 only a few hours after my last dose before bed at 2:45... called the dr. and was told I would feel sedated and to stay at home and have someone check on me.

Decent and productive morning, got a lot of stuff done.

Very spacy/out of it so far all day.

annoying pain in long and low waves on the cluster side mid afternoon.

2:30pm starting to really feel tired and drowsy... also very out of it. mild/annoying pain continues... possibly more constant now.

6pm Katy came home and found me languishing around in one of my "not really able to get up" episodes. I had been crashing repeatedly since around 3pm falling asleep over and over... I guess since I had the extra depakote in my system I was more prone to a fit of extreme sleepiness. The most disappointing aspect of all this is that since sleep seems to be a trigger for my headaches I now have the worst headache I have had in several days... just when I thought I may have been getting to the point where they were tapering off.

Twinges of cluster like pain @ level 1 and steady migraine like pain around 2 with waves/throbs into the 3 range I think this has been going on for a while while I was asleep.

9pm migraine weaker over all level 1 waves on both sides sometimes dipping dow to "annoying" for the rest of the evening.

The last several days have been somewhat uneventful at least in terms of severe pain.

Thursday and Friday were mostly short waves of level 1-ish pain off and on throughout the day sometimes spiking into the 2-ish level. Also I had a pretty constant "Sub 1" level of annoying pain. If I recall I woke with headaches those days but they were mild 1-ish and didn't last more than an hour.


Saturday I started feeling really spacy and "out of it". I sometimes get long periods of "feeling stupid" when I am coming off a long cluster cycle. but this was even more confusion and lack of focus than I am used to. Also I had some short waves of level 2 pain but largely felt better... some short waves of what felt like a migraine on the left side also. but it never got too bad. Mostly I was just spacy, unable to focus and had annoying waves of confusion, mild pain and the classic "cluster that doesn't hurt" feeling"

Sunday I crashed big time... I was tired and moving like a turtle on downers... Very "Swimmy/spacy/out of it" Less pain but very sleepy... more of the "stupid/cluster that doesn't hurt" feeling.


Monday was mostly pain free very short little waves of cluster pain/discomfort as well as some waves in the migraine side... Much more spacy/out of it.

I am getting very bored with keeping up with this day-to-day reporting... I may have to just start doing the highlights again.

Woke with a 1.5-2 headache. Mostly in the cluster spot but I think it is also layered with a mild migraine. I was having nightmares again. an hour and a half later I still have it at the same level.

About 1:30 it became a solid 2 with short waves of level 3 pain.

The pain became a solid 3 for a while at around 2pm then died down to annoying.

from around 5pm on I have waves of 1-ish pain with spikes of level 2 now and then.

Woke with a 1.5-2 headache. I was having bad nightmares that makes me think I may have slept through a long attack in the 2-ish range.

Annoying waves of pain back and forth all day and night.

Woke with 1-ish headache all over bolthsides more like a "normal" headache than a cluster or migrane.

Annoying waves of pain most of the day and evening.

level 1-ish cluster pain starting around 6... ramping up to 2-ish around 8 and lasting for about 2 hours.

the rest of the evening was waves of cluster pain in the 1-ish range

Woke with no headache,

annoying waves of pain bout only off and on though the day and night.

One spike of 1-ish cluster pain around 7pm.

Woke with 1-2 ish headache on the cluster side, lasted for about 2 hours.

reasonably mild waves of annoying pain both sides off and on all day and night.

One short wave of level one pain around 6pm

If I had a nighttime attack I didn't wake from it.

Migrane Morning

Driven awake this morning by bad, slowly throbbing migraine-ish pain around 6am. I kept falling asleep in the lulls for a while but it eventually slowly climbed up to around 4-5 in level which is quite annoying for a migraine. In fact, from my limited experience with them it seems to be about as bad as they get, at least for me. Its hard to really compare them to clusters though because the pain is so different.

Although for me, a cluster attack has a much greater potential for severity of pain, I kinda hate the bad migraines as much due to their long lasting nature and ability to rob me of energy.

Its now 9am and its down to a 1 or so in level.

Annoying waves of pain now and then throughout the day.

At 7:45pm I got a cluster attack while exercising that got up to around a 3 and lasted for 2 hours.

The annoying waves of pain returned after that.

They are NOT done with me yet

I was driven awake this morning around 6:00am by a particularly nasty cluster attack. I was really tired so it reached a higher than normal level before I woke (2-3). While I was still asleep I was having vivid and disturbing nightmares. When I finally got out of bed I was very exhausted so It was like I was being puppeted by the headache... almost like I was sleep walking er, sleep head-aching?

it ramped up quickly and got up to like a 6 with sharp waves of pain in the 7-8 range I think there was a migraine "overlay" that I felt on both sides of my head and was pretty bad. So it was another one of my patented "2 for the price of 1" headache episodes. I got into the bath and that always hurts some as the blood pressure changes I guess, but this time it was excruciating... I thing mainly due to the migraine component reacting very strongly to the change combined with the cluster spike I am more familiar with.

It lasted for over an hour but I cant be sure because I kept fall asleep any time the pain lulled enough. Eventually I crashed while still in the bathtub and after I woke it had only gone down to a solid 2 in level and there it has remained all morning... I have work to do and I am ay a huge disadvantage at the moment for focusing on such detailed tasks. Hopefully it will die down a bit soon.

Woke with 1-2 level pain in the cluster area that lasted for 2 hours or so.

Felt pretty good the rest of the day, some twinges of pain and spacey-ness throughout the day.

3 days with no attacks above a 2-3 is pretty good for me lately. Starting to feel like I could be coming out of the cluster cycle... I have no idea how that will effect the migraines.

No headache when I awoke... nice.

I don't thing I experienced much in the way of pain on this day. one of the best days I have had in a while. I think I fell asleep briefly in the after noon and had a short lived level 1 cluster after and maybe a few short waves of annoying pain and dizziness.

Honestly I don't recall much from sunday.

I think I woke with a mild cluster and I know I was irritable in the evening.

Overall I think it was a decent day with no major attacks.

Maybe Katy remembers more.

Bad Morning Attack

I was driven awake this morning with a cluster attack that got up to a 6-7 and lasted for an well over an hour at that level. When it broke it never dissipated completely as is happening more and more It felt like a 2-3 for several hours and then settled into a 1 or so for the rest of the midday.

Feeling bad in the head and also tired I made the mistake of relaxing and fell asleep around 2pm and woke about an hour later with a 3-4 ramping up. That attack lasted for about 45 min but once again never fully went away it was around a 1 till about 7pm and there after has dropped to the nagging annoying sub 1 range.

Well I was going to put this down as a good day...

I woke around 8am with a pretty bad cluster attack about a 3 or so but it never got much worse and I rode it out and for the feat of the day I felt pretty good. Some nagging pain off and on and a few low lever waves on the cluster side.

But then around 11pm a bad cluster started ramping up It was a solid 7 for a long time so it was pretty bad... I did the pacing moaning thing for about an hour. what sucks is that after it broke, It never went away completely... its now 2:25 and its hovering around a 2 with waves of 3ish pain. I have no reason to believe it will stop... I have "passed out" a few times because I am so tired from lack of sleep but I keep getting woken up by the waves and spikes. I think I am just going to have to lie in bed and hope it dies down enough to sleep through.

Very sucky.

Woke with a 1-2

about an hour after waking I started to feel like I had no pain. I quickly rushed to get as much done as I possibly could and was amazed at how much more productive I was while pain free...

unfortunately Around 5:30pm a cluster started ramping up... I dropped the errands I was out running and headed straight home... It got up to about a 3 before I got to the house, I thought about pulling over and calling Katy to come get me but I was close and just stayed focused and was very careful. The cluster attack lasted for about an hour and a half. I had some mild twinges afterwards but started to feel better again. maybe just annoying waves the rest of the evening.

Here is an odd thing... its 6:16am, I haven't gone to bed. I am not tired in the least. I feel sorta "wooshy" I think from the Depakote that I took around 1am. But overall I feel pretty good and I am doing lots of stuff... I think I dont want to sleep because I feel good if that makes sense. Why wast any time I have without pain by sleeping?

Its not conscious mind you, I just keep thinking of things I want to do and I know that tomorrow these small tasks may seem like giant hurtles through the fog of a constant nagging pain in my head.

Woke with 1-2 level pain in the cluster area that basically lasted all day sometimes spiking to a 3.

I think I had a 4-5 around 6pm but I forget... maybe Katy will remember.

It became a bit lower in the late evening but I had the pain from the time I woke till the time I fell asleep

4am:
I was roused from sleep by a cluster headache I dont remember much about it however I am starting to really run out of energy and the days and attacks are sort of running together for me. I think It was about a level 4-5 I drew a bath and cant tell you how long it lasted I fell asleep in the tub and thats were Katy found me this morning when she got up for work. I went back to bed and got a couple hours of sleep.

When I woke I felt pretty good and was sorta of thinking I would get a break today. I did some shopping and picked up the different brand of headache nasal spray because the other night when our friends asked if it had worked for me I told them it had no effect but since it was a different brand I had tried (same active ingredient) they seemed to think that might make a difference and I am trying to be open minded about homeopathic remedies even though it seems unlikely that a few herbs would have much effect against the terrifying pain that I get. But all morning and afternoon I felt pretty good, deeply tired, but mostly pain free.

5:40pm:
I made the mistake of letting myself fall asleep around 5:00, I dont know if I have expressed this before but I think one of the worst "triggers" I have for cluster headaches is sleep. any time I take a nap during a cycle I am almost guaranteed to get a attack shortly after waking. Today was no exception. It ramped up slowly but maxed out around a 5-6 for about 20min. It started falling off but took a very long time to decrease in strength. actually it has never completely fallen below a 1 or so... Its 9pm now and I expect I will have it for the remainder of the evening.