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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2003 >> Anti Depressant Medication
        
(Message started by: doogienj on Nov 14^th, 2003, 1:00pm)

Title: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by doogienj on Nov 14^th, 2003, 1:00pm

Hi Folks,

I was reading somewhere that antihistamine medications does not help against cluster headaches, but they were not sure about certain anti depressant medication.

I have just started a very strange cycle. It started as usually with 4 straight days of headaches at the same time, for which I took Imitrex 100mg. Then I had nothing for 5 days. This has never happened in 30 years of clusters. During the period I drank no alcohol. Last night I had a few drinks, and today I get a headache back.

My question is has anyone been on anti depressant medication during a cycle and noticed any difference? I’m taking Effexor XR 75mg, and Wellbutrin XL 300mg.

Thanks for any feedback.

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by thomas on Nov 14^th, 2003, 1:09pm

I am taking 5 mg of melatonin (3 regular and 2 time release) 45 min before bed. Upon waking up I'm taking 20 mg of prosac (selective seratonin re-uptake inhibitor) and 250 mg of magnesium. It has made a world of difference.

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by HypnoticFreddy on Nov 14^th, 2003, 1:31pm

At the time of my clusters last summer I was on Zoloft, an SSRI antidepressant, and Wellbutrin. I was also taking some other mood stabilizers. I had been on Zoloft for ~6 months. I still got blasted with a 3-month CH cycle.

-Fred

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by pubgirl on Nov 14^th, 2003, 2:48pm

doogienj

I haven't posted about this before as it may be a coincidence but I would have expected a cycle by now and haven't had one. I was shadowing badly, then started Zyban (an anti-depressant) and the shadows disappeared and no cycle started.

Also I was prescribed an antihistamine preventive called Pizotifen when my GP was insisting I had migraines. It did diddly squat to prevent the CH , just made me very tired and thick headed

Wendy

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by floridian on Nov 14^th, 2003, 3:58pm

New Years eve 1999/2000 and my brother (with Muscular Dystrophy, living with me) goes into respiratory arrest, spends 1 month in the critical care unit with pneumonia, followed by a month in assisted living rehab. I started taking saint johns wort in early january, and continued through the year. No clusters that year.

Could be a coincidence. Others have not reported any benefit from SJW. Research has shown is that saint johns wort takes several weeks to have any effect. But it does have a beneficial influence on neurotransmitters in the hypothalamus and improves the working of the pitutary-hypothalamus-adrenal axis if it is taken steadily for long periods.

After about 14 months on SJW, I decided to quit to give my body a break (was worried about UV exposure, etc). 2001 and 2002 saw increasing cluster activity. 2003 was a "dry" or phantom cluster cycle - all the wierdness of a cycle but no blistering pain. Not 100% sure why 2003 was dry, but I attribute it to turmeric, ginger, tea catechins, flax oil and magnesium, plus occasional melatonin and 5htp when I noticed my sleep patterns were looking pre-cluster.

I'm back on SJW, and continue taking magnesium, sipping tea, and consuming flax/fish oils. Will post my results next summer.

Quote:

Brain Res. 2002 Mar 15;930(1-2):21-9. Long-term effects of St. John's wort and hypericin on monoamine levels in rat hypothalamus and hippocampus. Butterweck V, Bockers T, Korte B, Wittkowski W, Winterhoff H. Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Domagkstrasse 12, 48149 Muenster, Germany. butterv@uni-muenster.de

Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's wort) is one of the leading psychotherapeutic phytomedicines and, because of this, great effort has been devoted to clarifying its mechanism of action. Chronic effects of St. John's wort and hypericin, one of its major active compounds, on regional brain amine metabolism have not been reported yet. We used a high-performance liquid chromatography system to examine the effects of short-term (2 weeks) and long-term (8 weeks) administration of imipramine, Hypericum extract or hypericin on regional levels of serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine, dopamine and their metabolites in the rat brain. We focused our interest on the hypothalamus and hippocampus, as these brain regions are thought to be involved in antidepressant drug action. Imipramine (15 mg/kg, p.o.), Hypericum extract (500 mg/kg, p.o.), and hypericin (0.2 mg/kg, p.o.) given daily for 8 weeks significantly increased 5-HT levels in the hypothalamus (P<0.05). The 5-HT turnover was significantly lowered in both brain regions after 8 weeks of daily treatment with the Hypericum extract (both P<0.05). Consistent changes in catecholamine levels were only detected in hypothalamic tissues after long-term treatment. Comparable to imipramine, Hypericum extract as well as hypericin significantly decreased 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid levels in the hypothalamus (P<0.01). Our data clearly show that long-term, but not short-term administration of St. John's wort and its active constituent hypericin modify levels of neurotransmitters in brain regions involved in the pathophysiology of depression.

Quote:

Bull Exp Biol Med. 2001 Dec;132(6):1180-1.
Effect of Hypericum extract on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system in rats. Makina DM, Taranukhin AG, Chernigovskaya EV, Kuzik VV. I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutional Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg.

We studied the effect of Hypericum extract on activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system in rats. In rats exposed to stress after a 30-day daily oral treatment with Hypericum extract, the weight of the adrenals and ACTH concentration were lower than in controls. Hence, treatment with Hypericum extract improved resistance to stress and prevented exhausting of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system.

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by eyes_afire on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:18am

Back in the daze when I was misdiagnosed, I tried several anti depressants (nortriptyline, serzone, zoloft, and paxil). None of them ever helped. I ended up having a horrible experience with paxil. I wish I never took it.

--- Steve

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by forgetfulnot on Nov 16^th, 2003, 4:01pm

Quote:

antihistamine medications does not help against cluster headaches, but they were not sure about certain anti depressant medication.

Their are two main types of antidepressant's, Tri-cyclic and Ssri's. Some of the older T-Cs are antihistamines.
I.E. Amitriptylin.

Either way, none of them (antidepressants) helped my (Chronic) C/H.

YMMV

Lee

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by Karla on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:36pm

I have tried effexor 300mg and welbutrin and serzone and celexa all at very high doses. They have had no impact in my ch. However, they have helped wonderfully with the depression that accompnies my chronic ch.

Title: Re: Anti Depressant Medication
Post by floridian on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:51pm

Quote:

Their are two main types of antidepressant's, Tri-cyclic and Ssri's.

Outside of the US, a third category is available, the MAOIs. The old generation of these had dangerous side effects (very high blood pressure when eating certain foods) and lost popularity from that. Newer reversible MAO inhibitors with fewer side effects are available in some countries, but not the US. And St. Johns Wort doesn't fit neatly into any of these categories.