You will find that this horse has been beat to death.  Dope is a huge trigger for ch.  Oxygen is the preferred method for aborting ch.

               Potter

Yep...What Beth and Potter said.

Jeannie

THC is a vaso-diolator (sp?) which for CH'ers tends to be a really bad thing, as everything we use to fight CH is a vaso constrictor. You'll find we're an open bunch and are not a bunch of puritan "anti pot" zealots! If we thought it'd help you, we'd tell you so. Be really careful with it when you're on cycle as you could end up triggering a nasty KIP-10!

If you haven't already, do read the oxygen info linkmon the left. Enjoying an incredible success rate on the board, worth a try!

Joe

I'd also have to agree with your doctor. I've noticed that on days that I smoke the headaches I get that night are worse than on days I didn't smoke.

I can reproduce the results consistently. If I smoke today, tonight the headaches will be more frequent and stronger than if I don't smoke.

Still, they won't be as bad as the ones I'll get if I drink alcohol. I completely refrain from drinking when I'm having my headaches!

I sure wish this entire thread could be stickied for future use.

Dead horse indeed.  This subject comes up at least once every 4 to 6 weeks,  and we all have to say the same things over and over again.  A lot of folks take our collective word for the fact that this is a trigger and a lot get totally defensive.   

i live in VA where Marijuana is not legal and my doctor actually suggested me trying it ! i have been smoking weed for about 8 years. helps me relax. But during my days with the attacks i would stay away from it. becuse i thought it would make it worse. but about 3 months ago i tryed it during the shadows of my attack a round a 5 in pain ! and after smoking about .5 i was completly fine ! thank god ! now everytime i start to have an attack i smoke and am fine ! it is great ! now i will say that if your attack wakes you up in the middle of your sleep the Marijuana will not help. you have to smoke before the pain reaches a 7 in intensity. preferbly the earlier the better. and smoke out of bongs pipes bowls vaps or doobie . dont try and smoke out of a blunt during an attack it contains nicotin and makes it worse ! Also dont smoke mid grade. only the good stuff because mids will make your headache worse ! hope you find this helpfull ! it is also deff not a trigger i quit for a year at one point to see if that was causing it but still had the chronic CH!

Brew wrote on Apr 12^th, 2012 at 1:15pm:

I've wondered that myself.

Well written sir, and a nice reminder to all. Remaining open minded can at times prove incredibly beneficial.

Joe

wimsey1 wrote on Apr 24^th, 2012 at 7:36am:


Here's a copy of something I put on Clusterbusters a while back...

Caffeine works by vasoconstriction right? Here's a quote by Dale Pendal in an amazing book I have, Pharmakodynamis.  "While caffeine is generally a vasodilator, it has the opposite effect in the kidneys and brain, actually decreasing blood flow to the brain.  It is the increase in cerebrovascular resistance that makes it effective against migraines caused by cerebrovascular  distention."   
      
How about ginger, an amazingly effective Vasodilator, why does it help so much for clusters? 

I don't know how many times I've heard that sumatriptan works by vasoconstriction...It's sulfonated DMT, I think it's doing a lot more than just vasoconstriction.  (my guess is your brain gets flooded with serotonin, just like DMT does, but it's JUST serotonin, not halucinogenic DMT)

Pseudoephedrine, a known trigger for clusters is a vasoconstricter.

Feverfew, a substance many migrainers and some cluster sufferers get relief from is a vasodilator.

capsaicin, another really good vasodilator, has helped a lot of people with migraines and clusters....

Here's a couple links, admittedly about migraines, but I think the parallels with CH can easily be seen...

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

-Ricardo

wimsey1 wrote on Apr 25^th, 2012 at 7:26am:


I think that what you're saying drives home my real point very well--that there is NO drug that can reliably GIVE everyone a cluster, and there is no drug that can take away everyone's cluster.  My guess is this has more to do with individual brain chemistry than the idea that "these people don't have clusters because there clusters don't act like mine"

I also think that you would be hard pressed to find any cluster headache researcher that still subscribes to the idea that vasodilators= bad/vasoconstricters= good for clusters.

I understand your personal experiences, everyone is different.  But here is one study (again with migrainers, but the whole dilation/constriction theory that they have thrown at us has consistently been the same for migrainers and cluster sufferers) showing a combination of feverfew and ginger, both vasodilators.  The conclusion was that it was "safe and effective as a first-line abortive".  This shows that not all vasodilators are going to trigger you, and some of them may actually help. 

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I suggest we move away from telling people that marijuana is a trigger because it is a vasodilator, and move towards telling people that for some reason that we do not yet understand, some people are triggered by marijuana, some people get relief, and some people have no effect on their clusters. 

If it helps at all, I'll give you a bit of my experiences.  Right now, I am being treated by a one of the first Neurologists that I have thought actually seems to know what he's talking about.  He has passed the United Council for Neurologic subspecialites headache medicine exam--the ONLY accreditation out there to prove that you know what is up with headache medicine. 

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

His diagnosis is that I have cluster headaches, and he knows that marijuana seems to help me.  If anyone else has passed a rigorous test like this, and disagrees with my neurologists opinion, I will be glad to reformulate my ideas.

Last thought--to me, it really is no surprise that we have such varied reactions to Cannabis.  I know many people that have tried recreational marijuana, and you will hear some people say it makes them anxious, some it calms them down.    For some it wakes them up, for some it makes them sleepy.  Some it inspires creativity, some it makes them stupid and stoned.  My guess is that individual brain chemistry and cannabanoid receptor differences makes it so that all sorts of people get different reactions.

And ya'll are right...we should try and make this a yellow sticky

-Ricardo

Look we all have an absolutely shitty condition! And we are all trying to cope with it and trying our own ways to treat them due to the lack of research being done! Now answer this if just because I say pot does help my clusters sometime (not every time) that I must not have them please explained why some preventative work for some, some abortive works for some, oxygen works for some, working out works for some but none of these things listed work for all of us! ! ! Everyone is different okay! don’t dismiss someone’s illness just because one thing may work for them and it does not work for you. That is just ignorant. In that case everyone with cluster would all be given (Topamax Prednisone and Sumavel) <---- just and example of what I am on. I am 23 and had this condition since I was 11 I have the chronic form and I am pretty sure when I am on the verge of pushing my hand threw my eye, and crying my eye's out cuz i feel like someone is shoving a knife threw my eye. I know the condition I have !

lydia nichole wrote on Jun 5^th, 2012 at 4:44pm:


Lydia, I couldn't agree with you more. We have an absolutely horrible condition about which too little is known. I'm glad you have found something that works for you. It beats the alternatives. As for recommending a treatment, or an abortive, with the sense that it is "nearly" universal, we need to be very cautious. Even O2 doesn't work for everyone, nor does Red Bull, or even Prednisone. The opposite is also true: some interventions that seem useless to most of us, may have beneficial outcomes for some.

I think the true genius of this site is the shared experience of what has worked most of the time for most of the sufferer's, as well as what has worked some of the time for some of the sufferer's. We are emotionally invested because we are in so much pain.

Please realize no one is trying to minimalize your experience. Like you, we are only trying to find relief. God bless. lance