Posted by gary (209.187.113.46) on January 20, 2000 at 23:25:17:
In Reply to: Cluster Headaches Serotonin posted by Christy on January 20, 2000 at 19:15:23:
drummer's post is critical to understand
seratonin is present almost everywhere in the body
the thing we need to do is be able to "hit" it just where it is (probably) influencing CH attacks
think of it as a "supporting" substance in the whole CH biochemistry equation-
ergots (cafergot) work in large part by affecting the receptor sites throughout the body - and directing smooth tissue contraction (mainly blood vessel walls)
BUT it does this everywhere - that's why we sometimes can get blurred vision, stroke is possible from diminished flow to the brain,(it ISN'T working on migraine & CH through the brain), we feel chilly or get tingling and/or cold extremities, gangrene (in toes especially) is even possible in severe cases
imitrex & its relatives act very much the same way, but have been developed to target specific areas of the body only, involved in migraine - we luckily find it useful for CH - and usually at a much lower dose, fortunately (see the "imitrex tip" button on the left of CHMB screen)
extend the topic:-
varying systemic seratonin levels are also involved in the different sleep levels, and it is pretty widely assumed at this point that this is what is involved in the REM sleep onset of CH attacks - could be causal, could be simply associative - we don't have to know the last detail to see the connection
I've been experimenting with taking synthetic melatonin during this cluster - one of the things natural melatonin (hypothalamus) does is drive seratonin production - guinea pigging it on the chance that the CH attack problem is excessively dropped seratonin levels "where it counts"
(da hip bone connected to da thigh bone, the thigh bone connected to da... AND - this has been perhaps the MILDEST cluster I've ever had, re: frequency & intensity of included attacks, but it's also getting to be longer than most in recent years - 4 months now & still going - we have MUCH MUCH better luck at controlling the individual attack/symptom than we do stopping or preventing the overall/cluster illness period I can't validly make any claims/findings about the melatonin because I have also been using cafergot a bit, and hitting on the benadryl as usual I HAVE found though - see nearby post for more, related info
which further bolsters my belief that the overall cluster is one "malfunction" that represents a period of being "ill" 24X7,
and the included recurring attacks are simply ONE of the discernible symptoms
IF I thoroughly relax (as in cookies & milk & long recreational reading time before bed)AND take the melatonin AND take 3 benadryl I have been BEATING THE NIGHTTIME ATTACKS
almost every night - end up sleeping thru from about 3 AM to 11 AM or so