Once again I woke up briefly when Katy left for work and was cognitive enough to realise I had a bretty nasty headache that I was sleeping through. It was at least a level one. By the time I got up about an hour later it had faded to the dull annoying pain I am still feeling. this dull pain seems to be switching sides in waves and is somewhat constant.

I am now convinced I am sleeping through level 1-2 headaches every night.

level .25 pain for stretches on the migraine side.

I briefly woke up around 8:45 and realized I had a headache while asleep. When I woke again later it was fading. I think I am having headaches each night while I am sleeping.

Katy confirms this, she says I am still moaning and making pain noises in my sleep in the morning after she gets up.

Also my legs have really been aching the las few days.

I was very sleepy all day. Only minor headache pain mostly on the migraine side.

Besides having some short bursts of 1-2 pain on the cluster side I was mostly pain free. I was really really tired though. Super sleepy even with provigil.

I tried to take a short nap in the afternoon and I think I crashed for like 3 hours.

Some short periods of mild pain. extremely tired. I also had weird little bursts of cluster side pain, 1-2 in level lasting for just a minute or so.

Best day I have had in a long time.

Somewhat bad pain all morning... 1- 1.5 range all on the migrane side, very distracting.

I am hopeing it will leave soon.

Now real cluster pain yet today, just faint twinges.

Medications List Update For 2007

List Of Medications Murdock Has Taken…

The list first part of the list was before I started getting migraines on any regular basis so all these medications were evaluated based on how effective they were against the short intense cluster attacks I was accustomed to at the time.

• Aleve (naproxen sodium): doesn't do anything for cluster pain.
• Isolyll: "makes me stupid but will kill pain" (1996)
• Amitriptylene (1996) Seemed to have some affect (no further notes)
• Maxalt: bad side effects. (2000)
• Zomig: seemed to sorta work a bit (2000)
• Imitrex: (injection) resulted in horrific off schedule rebound (2000)
• Prednisone: steroids. Makes me twitchy, insomniac. Unsure of effectiveness (2003)
• Relpax: I got samples, but I don’t think I got a chance to use them (2003)
• Vioxx: banned by the FDA (2004)
• Axert: prescribed in 2003 but not used; trying right now (2005)
• Frova: major side effects, dizziness, dry mouth, nausea, etc, but maybe helped (2004)
• Atenolol: may take 2-3 weeks to work. Can't tell if it did anything (2004)
• O2 on 2 different occasions. Some effect, but it never seemed to end the attack or offer more than minor relief. (2005)

Between late 2005 through mid 2007 I just sorta “toughed it out” I think, I wasn’t having too many rounds of bad clusters and when I did get a cycle it was short lived so I was trying to not take medication if it was not necessary. In 2006- early 2007 I started getting more long periods of constant dull cluster pain that was around the level of a really bad “normal” headache and I felt I could just deal with those but in July of 2007 I got started on the freaky 3 week migraine that lead me to seek help again.

• Depakote 250-1000mg: seemed to “change” the headaches a bit more they started coming and going more quickly and randomly and switching sides and type sometimes quite suddenly, Depakote is defiantly having some effect but overall I am not sure if it is making me have less pain overall, I am starting to have less severe headaches but I wonder if that’s due to the medication or just natural improvement. ( August 2007)
• Depakote 1500mg: Shortly after the increase to 1500mg of Depakote I have had a return to the “classic” cluster cycle with powerful attacks happening 1 or 2 times per day in addition to the lingering waves of migraine pain. This cycle lasted for many weeks and is just now starting to wind down. (September 26th – November 8th 2007)

Annoying migraine pain most of the morning today. level .5 mostly short twinges of cluster pain.

The evening hours were a bit better, mostly just felt spacy and "out of it".

Long bout of annoying pain in the morning hours (both sides) followed by a break of a few hours and then a more intense level 1 stretch of pain that lasted from around 3pm and never ended... I fell asleep with it.

the pain was odd, I think it may have been a migraine along with long low level "washed out" cluster waves.

Not a bad day. Low level waves of migraine with twinges of cluster now and then.

The last few days have been much better.

I have had some headache pain occasionally pretty much every day but these have been mostly mild. Level 1-3 pain has become much more rare and its short lived when it does happen. Tonight I had a short burst of 2-3 pain in the cluster area actually it felt really strange. I had to sit down I rattled my head and it sorta felt like something was "loose" in there. Kinda like a migraine concentrated in the spot a cluster would normally be.

I think I should also mention that I think I am having mild headaches while I sleep. Most mornings, when I wake I still have some pain that lingers for a while and I have been having bad dreams that I think are a reaction to the annoyance of the pain. 

Other than that I have the common feeling of being unable to focus and feeling "stupid" that lasts for some time after a cluster cycle. Plus I have been getting the "cluster without the pain" sensation.