Does anybody else out there have ADD/ADHD as well as clusters?  I'm very drug-resistant, and after a 6-month long cycle I can say that just about the only thing that actually helped was my ADD meds- specifically Adderall and the other amphetamine-based ones.  I wanted to compare war stories if anyone else out there is in the same boat!  :D

I don't have ADHD and haven't tried any of the meds for it.  But this subject has been brought up before, and maybe someone else with your condition will chime in.  I will say that on occasion, for some of the random hits I get in between cycles, I have aborted very low level CH's with a combo of pseudoephedrine and a NSAID.

Here is a thread from last year on the subject which contains some good links from other members here:
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~Pat

hi man, ive got pretty bad add and the only medication available to me was ritalin and concerta, which i wasnt too keen on to be honest, the best medication for my add i found is weed
isnt meth in add medication tho i heard ?

I have ADD (inattentive) and have been on ritalin for about 1.5 years ( 20 mg SR). No change in CH's as a result  :(

No, meth, as in "crystal meth" is not in the ADD meds, but that is a "cousin" of what's in the medication.  But it's not at all the same thing.  (I've known a few poor bastards who got hooked on meth.)  

I've found that the Adderall (dextroamphetamine) and Vyvanse (lisdexamphetamine) that I've taken for my ADD were pretty much the only meds that helped my CH and my migraines.  But there's a lot of interest in the connection between migraines and over-stimulation of neurotransmitters, so I'm not surprised.

Kika, I've tried ritalin for the CH, but it didn't help me either; however, Ritalin is methylphenidate, a different animal from the dextroamphetamines...and everyone reacts differently to the different ADD meds, so I'm not surprised that one may work and one may not.

Oh, and Calum, I can get you tons of research that shows that smoking pot actually makes ADD symptoms worse.  :P

@radar yo, i didnt mean cystal meth but its other form methanphetamine which is in ritalin no ?
not too sure about that, post it up m8 !
edit oops read that a bit wrong

I'm a relative newbie, as my CH didn't start until 2011 and I didn't start taking Adderall until last fall. However, I haven't seen any difference in severity or timing with this year's CH.

A little background: I only go into CH cycle once a year, around the end of January or early February. My first year I had a full 3 month cycle in which I tried just about everything under the sun that could be prescribed, except lithium. The only things that worked at all were high dose choline ,1000 mg plus per day, and oxygen, 15-30 minutes at 8-10 liter flow rate. I had the oxygen for the start of my 2011 headaches and it cut my cycle down to 6 weeks. The choline made the headaches more bearable, sort of ever present but with diminished manifestation. Also, after discovering in late 2012 that I have food intolerances and IBS, I made some severe changes to my diet. I stopped eating gluten, lactose and drinking coffee. My cycle in 2013 was only a month, so I there may be a histamine issue that I reduced via diet.

Current cycle started about 2 weeks ago. It got bad when I ran out of oxygen for two days, but other than that I'm getting by with the oxygen and choline supplements. I do occasionally take melatonin, but mainly if I have a headache that's keeping me awake. Also I can't drink during cycle, and for some reason beer, even GF beer, is worse than wine or liquor as a trigger.

My current operating theory is that I have a serotonin imbalance that is made worse by acetylcholine depletion, so taking the choline as a precursor helps my body react appropriately. I'm not a doctor though, so that could be total hogwash. I'm just sharing what I experience. My neuro says as long as I'm comfortable he'll keep prescribing the oxygen, so that helps. His first suggestion was lithium, to which I asked "isn't there a step 1?"

There's more than ample medical evidence of a relationship between a vitamin D3 deficiency and ADHD.  Some studies indicate you may be able to control and reduce ADHD symptoms with a regimen of vitamins and minerals...

After reading through the details, it appears the anti-inflammatory regimen may help control and improve ADHD symptoms...  We already know it's effective for more than 80% of CH'ers who try it in reducing or eliminating CH symptoms.

See:

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Take care,

V/R, Batch

mithraeus wrote on Jan 30^th, 2014 at 2:59pm:

oxygen, 15-30 minutes at 8-10 liter flow rate

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That is a great resource to find out about how we use oxygen effectively. You're using a very low flow rate and by increasing it you should abort a lot quicker. I can abort in about 5 minutes using 25lpm and a non-rebreather mask.

That's good to know. I just sent the study to my neuro and asked for the higher flow rate. Hopefully it will help.

I know a little about the vitamin d/adhd connection, but I'm always happy to read more. Thanks for sharing.

I have ADHD but I am not on meds for it.  Hmmmmm if ADHD meds worked for cluster headaches...

UnderTheRadar wrote on Jan 7^th, 2009 at 11:41pm:

Does anybody else out there have ADD/ADHD as well as clusters?  I'm very drug-resistant, and after a 6-month long cycle I can say that just about the only thing that actually helped was my ADD meds- specifically Adderall and the other amphetamine-based ones.  I wanted to compare war stories if anyone else out there is in the same boat!  :D

Yes, I do too, I am wondering if BOL-148 (2-Bromo LSD) also could work for ADHD. Also I am wondering if ADHD and Clusters share some underlying causes. Because standard ADHD meds have to many side effects same with Cannabis, I means it's nice being stoned once in awhile, but I don't wanna go around stoned all day long either.

I have both. I take 20mg of Adderall XR daily. It has no effect on my CH. In fact, I was in remission and went back into cycle after starting the XR. I don't think they're related - just pretty solid anecdotal evidence that Adderall is neither prophylactic nor abortive for CH.

As to the gentleman that thinks ADHD meds and cannabis - none that I've been on have ever mimicked weed outside of the fact that I'm STARVING when my ADHD meds wear off and not while they're active. That's the opposite of my recreational experiences, but hey, absolute value. ;D :D