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Scientists Flip Two Atoms in LSD – And Unlock a Game-Changing Mental Health Treatment praying that this doesn't share the same fate like BOL-148 did, which has super promising results for ch but is not being really pushed forward.

I'd say go and get some Professional Help my friend,

I'm just gonna move to a planet with no sun!!!!!!!

Dropping by to share a review article just published in The Journal of Headache and Pain which adds to the growing body of research suggesting microbial dysbiosis is implicated in migraine pathogenesis. It found migraine patients have less diverse gut microbiomes with elevated bacteroidetes, proteobacteria and firmicutes as well as reduced faecalibacterium, a butyrate producer known for its anti-inflammatory effects. This imbalance may increase gut permeability resulting in neuroinflammation impacting migraine onset and severity. Probiotics and synbiotics reduced migraine frequency, severity, and painkiller use (excluding triptans) in five randomized trials, though results varied by strain and population. Unravelling the gut-brain connection: a systematic review of migraine and the gut microbiome https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-025-02039-7 Could similar microbial mechanisms apply to CH? I suspect so. We know CH shares neuroinflammatory pathways with migraines and a couple of recent CH studies suggest there may be a systemic inflammatory component in CH as CH’ers, regardless of whether chronic or episodic (in or out of bout) were found to have elevated levels of oncostatin M and I believe it was the most recent paper that identified a distinct difference in inflammatory cytokine profiles between episodic and chronic CH sufferers. Elevated cytokine levels in the central nervous system of cluster headache patients in bout and in remission https://thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-024-01829-9 Distinct Alterations of Inflammatory Biomarkers in Cluster Headache: A Case Control Study https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.27205 So what evidence is there that perhaps diet may be a key therapeutic target for CH? We have the 2018 Lorenzo study to refer, where 15 of 18 chronic CH patients had a therapeutic response with 11 of those achieving clinical remission on a ketogenic diet with the author stating “we observed for the first time that a 3-month ketogenesis ameliorates clinical features of CCH.” Is it reasonable then to ask might its efficacy lie in shifting the microbiome towards a less inflammatory profile? Efficacy of Modified Atkins Ketogenic Diet in Chronic Cluster Headache: An Open-Label, Single-Arm, Clinical Trial https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5816269/ If you read into the literature on vitamin D3, I think there is a strong case for the vitamin D3 regimens use as a preventative therapeutic option to have in the CH toolkit given it’s unique role in modulating the immune response – notably in a dose dependent manner, as shown in one of my all-time favourite vitamin D research papers, somewhat supporting the proposed 10,000iu per day dosage as per the regimen. Disassociation of Vitamin D’s Calcemic Activity and Non-calcemic Genomic Activity and Individual Responsiveness: A Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Clinical Trial https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53864-1 The above paper was written by Professor Michael Holick, regarded as one of the pioneering vitamin D3 researchers, alongside others like Wagner and Hollis etc. He also wrote another paper showing that vitamin D3 modulates the human microbiome, increasing beneficial bacteria and decreasing pathogenic bacteria. The Effect of Various Doses of Oral Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Gut Microbiota in Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Double-blinded, Dose-response Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31892611/ The emerging “psilocy-biome” research is nothing short of intriguing too. Psilocybin may alter gut microbiota, increasing beneficial bacteria and reducing inflammation. It could act via the gut-brain axis with microbes metabolizing psilocybin to influence serotonin pathways or dampen neuroinflammation though this needs more study there was a fantastic paper recently published exploring this subject. Further, if the anti-inflammatory effects of psilocybin are in part derived from the interaction with the microbiome, might this contribute to variation in therapeutic response to psilocybin for CH? Mind over matter: the microbial mindscapes of psychedelics and the gut-brain axis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043661824002834 From my humble perspective it is an exciting time to be following the research. It is interesting as a sufferer to hypothesize where all this may converge in the context of CH. It is also tempting to speculate that a patient led vitamin D3 regimen dated as early as 2011 aligns nicely with what recent research is suggesting in respect of the underlying inflammatory component now suspected in CH, particularly given my personal success with the regimen since 2015. As always, anyone considering the regimen is encouraged to doing it under the care of a physician and the regular monitoring of labs for calcium, PTH and 25(OH)D vitamin D.

Thanks for posting this @Craigo. Definitely something to chew on. I'm down for the Google Sheet poll. In all fairness though, I have to point out that these studies were conducted "after" the individuals were afflicted with either CH or migraine so I can't help but think that the trait outcomes being listed are skewed because who wouldn't be a bit paranoid, schizoid, depressed and anxious after dealing with a good ol fashioned brain arse kicking? I get that it would be hard to conduct the test prior (say on those with a higher likelihood of developing one or the other) but life changes after CH...

hey man, that's some rough stuff you have gone through in your life. you still came out on the other end so you know you're strong as hell, so don't give up hope for the better future. as others have suggested i would go to a psychiatrist and get checked out/tested, just to make sure. meanwhile i strongly suggest you don't touch any psychedelics, they could make things a lot worse. wishing you all the best and stay strong!

Yea but you need a brain first for that to work, so I'd say that a few of us on here have got No chance, what you think @Bejeeberand @BoscoPiko? Not mentioning any names

There are those that would argue that Chicago is on another planet.

I did pretty good through this period but the cycle has been ramping down for a while now.

I still think we are more prone to hedonistic behavior than average as a way to balance pain we experience with pleasure. No....I'm not admitting to a damn thing..... It's merely a theory.

...cool beans Craigo! ...as CHfathers's citation(s) demonstrates, don't be leery of older studies(not that i doubt you!). i distinctly recall discussions and papers demonstrating higher incidence among clusterheads of OCD, smoking, alcohol abuse, and mental health issues, etc...and i'm talking 20+ yrs ago. ..will certainly take this test but just by subhead alone, i know i'll score off the board

Plus you have the (Moog??!!) modular synth action going on in the background, which....OK....may have nothing to do with CH, but is cool as hell.

This could be the photo in the dictionary next to "leonine"!!

Thanks CHfather, I have updated the poll to ask the question and record if the person is a sufferer or not and if so, what form. I take it you added your email and received the analysis run through the prompt - it's just sending your results via an automation to a model with a prompt to analyse them - the prompt deals with a tie in scores based on prioritizing CH traits and if a tie stills exists, rank in alphabetical order - I have made that now clear in the email summary. Thanks for sharing these studies! Raises more questions than answers. Significant that the observed craniometric abnormalities were independent of smoke and alcohol intake which contrasts previous hypotheses that lifestyle factors might explain facial features like the "leonine face" that Graham and Kudrow wrote about. We also have a new paper published a few days back - Smoking in primary headaches – a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at smoking in primary headaches and found a weighted-pooled prevalence of smoking in CH patients of 65% being the highest prevalence among primary headache types evaluated, compared to 20% for migraine and 19% for TTH. Despite this they concluded that current smoking was not associated with CH diagnosis when compared to controls and suggest this lack of association might be due to the limited number of studies included for CH in their meta-analysis but also state that while smoking is commonly associated with CH, it may result from other as yet unidentified factors which aligns with the 2021 craniometry study's finding that the observed bone abnormalities are independent of smoking and alcohol consumption. On the losing beloved family pets, oh man it's tough. I'm sorry. We lost Harper our female border collie at 9 maybe 2 years back, Ollie held tough, my loyal mate, for another couple of years and he enjoyed great health over his 15 years with me. The sharpness of the pain has subsided but boy do I miss him, I find myself telling "Gurl" that Ollie would have adored her, he got so excited around cats. Cats are so different, try and approach them they run away, ignore them and they come to you. Alas its my Sunday and I have one very important task to do today, and that is book flights to Dallas for September. We are very excited but trying to figure out how much time to spend exploring Dallas and maybe Austin before going upto Seattle. It's a long old flight to not make the most of it - 24 hours, ungh.

Hey everyone. Been awhile since i’ve been on here. I hope everyone is well and in good health. The last time i was on here, I made some pretty anxious and depression-ridden topics about how i thought my life was over.. boy was i wrong. I’m posting this to further support the tools and methods that have been written about on these forums.. and to possibly give hope to those that feel lost, as I once did. The last 4 years have been some of the most eye-opening years of my life. I’ve made drastic health conscious decisions that aided in my relatively pain-free years. I’ve tried “busting” and diet changes. Both with great success. I listened to my body and found that a combination of Vitamin D3, magnesium glycinate and omega 3 supplements help keep my headaches at low pain levels or at bay. An (almost) gluten free, no msg or additive, low histamine, anti-inflammatory diet helps maintain that low inflammation in my body. Sleeping with my head slightly elevated and neck supported also helps me keep the blood pressure from building. I also found that getting sick with a cold/flu will immediately bring a cycle on. I assume because of the sudden onset of inflammation in the body. Especially in the face/sinuses. Taking valuable information given by Pete Batcheller, (don’t know his @ at the moment, sorry!) the cycles have been very minimal in times where they should have been grave and unforgiving. I’ve learned to accept the fact that I may have clusters for the rest of my life. I’m 24 years old, and for the first time in the 16 years i’ve had clusters, I’m finally OK with it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. But it’s important to keep in mind that pain free responses will not happen over night. Not every piece of information helped me. Some worked, some didn’t. Having a strong support system of people helped immensely. I can partially attribute my positive attitude to one of the “busting” methods that we know about. These headaches made me appreciate the little things in life, which in turn, makes life much more beautiful. Music sounds heavenly, sights are awe inspiring, love for those around me increase. I can live my life knowing I have the tools and resources to stop a cycle, should it come back. I also learned that hardships and trying times await each and every one of us, but will never make life not worth living to the absolute best of our abilities. The human spirit is truly indomitable. I extend my love and thoughts to everyone here! I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated as I grow older

Indeed. I only put up my cat avatar because there was some joking I wasn't getting enough likes, and cats were a theme among the more-highly-liked posters. Never had a cat; never wanted one. But then again, it's very relevant here to note that I don't have CH (my daughter does). So you might want to take my scores (responder #3) off the spreadsheet. In 1969, a fellow wrote about CH patients' "leonine" appearance," and in 1974, the great Dr. Kudrow "confirmed" that observation. PHYSICAL AND PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS IN CLUSTER HEADACHE, Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain | 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1974.hed1304197.x | DeepDyve Kudrow also said there that his male CH patients were on average almost six feet tall, which was about three inches taller than the average American male. Questionable as all that might be, there is this spooky-seeming thing from 2021: "Frontal Bone Height and Facial Width were able to discriminate, one independently from the other, CH patients from Healthy Controls with an overall accuracy of 77.00%." (PDF) Can Craniometry Play a Role in Cluster Headache Diagnosis? A Pilot Exploratory TC-3D Based Study Well, I took the Salamanca test. As you say, it seems to leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, the questions/items on the survey do not seem to be well correlated with the actual traits they are supposed to be measuring. I'm guessing that there are two questions per category (there are 11 categories), and you get one point for "sometimes," two for "frequently," and three for "always." (The actual line between "sometimes" and "frequently" seems much blurrier to me than the line between "frequently" and "always.") My top three traits were schizoid, anancastic, and paranoid, all of which are in the CH top six. I also got the same score for "anxious" (also in their CH top six) as I did for anancastic, but somehow they decided that anancastic was in my top three but anxious wasn't. I have to say that by the "normal" definitions of these terms, I am not an anxious or paranoid person. So my four top answers were all in the six most common ones for people who actually have CH. No idea what that might mean about the validity of the findings/instrument.

It's a fascinating topic, but I am also strongly with you on this, Bosco'. I guess people would have to think about whether they have always had the identified traits. (Once after 18 months of severe back pain, my GP sent me to a pain management guy, who was also a psychiatrist. He administered a personality test (Minnesota Multiphasic) that among other things asked about pain frequency, intensity, and expectation of relief. The doc solemnly told me that I seemed to have a predisposition for hypochondria. I am a calm and polite person, but I lost it at that.)

Interesting indeed. My, we're quite the lovely bunch, aren't we? The Google sheet sounds interesting, too, if it was quick and easy enough (what kind of personality trait does "wants things to be quick and easy" come under?

Hi all, Sharing a study just published in Cephalalgia Reports titled "Clinical treatment of cluster headache with the serotonergic indoleamine psychedelics psilocybin and LSD and with ketamine: A case series". Abstract Background: Cluster headache is an excruciating condition for which standard treatments are usually insufficient. Evidence has accumulated that serotonergic psychedelic indoleamines including psilocybin and LSD can be effective in preventing attacks. Methods: In this case series, nine patients with episodic and chronic cluster headache that didn’t respond to conventional treatments were treated at a clinic with psilocybin or LSD, under compassionate use provisions, and in most cases separately with ketamine. Results: All patients responded positively to at least one of the treatments, and eight of nine responded positively to the treatment with the psychedelic indoleamines, in several cases with extended periods free of attacks. Conclusion: These clinical data, though of an exploratory nature, add to the existing pool of evidence for the usefulness of these substances for treating cluster headache, and further support the lowering of legal and regulatory barriers to medical access to the psychedelic indoleamines. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25158163251345472 Fairly powerful findings albeit a small patient cohort. I don't know if ya'll have used Notebook LLM - but the attached audio "podcast" is an AI generated conversation discussing the findings of this article in podcast format. As with all AI - always be cautious but I checked it against the article as I listened and it's an accurate reflection of the article. Psychedelics and Ketamine for Cluster Headache Treatment.wav leighton-et-al-2025-clinical-treatment-of-cluster-headache-with-the-serotonergic-indoleamine-psychedelics-psilocybin.pdf

Hey @Snowflake. Sorry to hear of the rough go at things! As for mental disorders, understand that they can manifest late in some unfortunate folks.. While late 20's is the most common, late teens are subject as well. As @Bejeeber and @Shaun brearley have expressly stated it may be time to sit with a professional. No one should have to deal with feeling like they are not in control of their own feelings or as if the feelings they are having don't belong to them. Your mention of not being in the "Driver's Seat", Folkes noticing a change in your behavior and the feeling of being watched are a bit of a red flag that something is out of balance (possibly a chemical imbalance) (Not uncommon). None of these things are incurable, but are best dealt with by professionals which we are not. We are all here, ready to help should you need.

Sorry to hear of this @Snowflake. Of course @Shaun brearley has called attention to a best immediate course of action.

You don't have to go that far away. We haven't seen the sun in Chicago for months.

FDA Approves Auto-Injector for Migraine, Cluster Headache | MedPage Today It says, "DHE can relieve pain associated with cluster headache attacks, particularly when administered intravenously." Of course, this is not an IV autoinjector.

No change in my clusters so far this week at all due to earth wind or fire. See you on the dark side of the moon!

You know to tell the dentist not to use epinephrine, I hope. It's a big trigger for many people. (As I understand it, it's added to Xylocaine because the epi reduces bleeding, so the actual anesthetic to avoid is Xylocaine+epinephrine.) This is from a post somewhere else: "Anesthetics containing epinephrine (such as Xylocaine) and nitrous oxide have been identified by some people as triggers. Ask your dentist to use something else: Prilocaine seems not to cause bad effects. Another person has mentioned carbocaine as an anesthetic that didn't trigger his CH."

...i waver between thinking these are caused by CH vs being part of the whole package of a "wonky hypothalamus"....

That's some weird, suspect timing following the implant, but even though epinephrine at the dentist is a notorious trigger for some, the fact that the repercussions would typically be expected more instantly makes it sound like coincidence can't be entirely ruled out(?). Also, as you may be well aware, even following decades of consistent behavior, we can still expect CH to pull a change up on us, and start a cycle in a never-before-experienced fashion, such as a slow ramp up with advil etc. abort-able attacks at first. Hate to think it, but I would be bracing for some possible continued ramping up.

Given all the circumstances, it seems very unlikely that this is the issue, but I think it's almost universally true that the anesthetic that dentists typically use, Xylocaine + epinephrine, triggers CH attacks. (It's the epinephrine that does it.) But, among other things, the attacks usually come on more quickly than what you're describing, and of course you've had many previous dental procedures so it seems very likely you would have had the X+e during one of them. I think your next procedure with this oral surgeon won't be for quite a while, but I suppose you could request a different anesthetic just in case.

It is ROLAND SYSTEM 500 and at the time a Moog voyager oldschool plus vx and cp breakoutboxes It can make sounds that scare beasts away but not ‘“the beast”

First, thank you @Craigo for the poll, and second, I do have to agree with @BoscoPiko on this one:

A small (I hope) hijacking. I've been reading more about Dr. Graham, who first provided the "leonine" characterization. Just thought these quotes about women were worth mentioning. "It's a man's disease," says Dr. Graham, and women who are afflicted with cluster headache tend to "act mannishly." What's new on heads and their aches? (This article recounts a couple of 1977 talks about CH at a conference. On one hand, they're pretty cringeworthy, and on the other they at least show some folks trying to figure out what to do about CH. (CH was considered just a subdivision of migraine until the 1960s -- which, depending on your age, might seem like a long time ago or pretty recent.) (In 1960, 5% of medical students were women.)) This is from 2006. I think it still took a long time after that to really acknowledge that many women have CH (and many doctors still don't seem to know that), but she (the author) was trying, at least. "Cluster headache is a notoriously painful and dramatic disorder. Unlike other pain disorders, which tend to affect women, cluster headache is thought to predominantly affect men. Drawing on ethnography, interviews with headache researchers, and an analysis of the medical literature, this article describes how this epidemiological “fact”—which recent research suggests may be overstated—has become the central clue used by researchers who study cluster headache, fundamentally shaping how they identify and talk about the disorder. Cluster headache presents an extreme case of medicalized masculinity, magnifying the processes of gendering and bringing into relief features of the world whose routine operation we might otherwise overlook." Uncovering the Man in Medicine - Joanna Kempner, 2006

At the time I was reading about this I looked like my avatar picture. So it was like “whaaaaat?” And my zodiac sign is lion. And I am 1.86cm in height. That is probably 6feet in American?

Agreed. The "Sometimes" was a bit frustrating because you are forced to go with that selection even if your response would have been "Never".. That aside, my top three were anancastic, anxious and dependant. The dependant one was a bit funny to me because my husband swears all the time "you have your mind made up and there's no talking sense to you"!!

I don't think it was ever meant to be a trend... Jeeb has had that profile pic since I joined the CB site and CHF changed his a while back (not sure why but assume it was in an attempt to look more cute) My profile image for social media stuff has always been of Bosco my late Abyssinian cat (coolest cat in the world)! Sorry to hear about the loss of your pup that's always hard. I lost my Abby Doo (lab mix) and Bosco (Abby cat) not to long ago and still have a rough time with it. Any animal profiles (except reptiles) are welcome in my book:) Thanks for the link. I'll give it a go and see just how bonkers I really am

And further back it was probably the witch trials. My greatgrandmother died in an asylum nobody knows why or what. But I think I got an idea why it happened . I am so glad I was born in 1974. Today we got O2 and bustingagents.

Hi! No I haven't, but this is interesting. I've only done occipital nerve blocks twice. Each time I got relief from my episodic CH for only like 1-2 days. From a CH standpoint, this injection would likely help or do nothing. I don't think it would hurt or trigger anything. Good luck and don't forget to report back!

I also read sometime that we(ch-heads) have a leathery skin and lion manes. i thought that was very funny and it fits like a glove. Just like the above personality traits. I am diagnosed on the autism spectrum the OCPD is just like a description of autistic behavior. And the schizoid thing is just the consequence of having a cluster. And I also have a monobrow. And everyone knows what that means

Are you in your late 20's? That is usually when stuff like schizophrenia starts to show up.

Hi, Some of you may be aware I did some research into the timings of CH cycles and remember that it is connected to solar cycles. Recently, it has become more and more obvious that the intensity of CH attacks "peak" whenever the Sun transitions from one sign into the next - whether this be in the sidereal or the tropical zodiac. If around the same day, the Sun is also "afflicted" by certain other planets, the effect is even stronger. In regards to this, I want to make a "forecast" for later this year. Anyone in a cycle around that time, beware of MAY 14-15 2025. The reason: around the middle of May, the Sun will be Ingressing into sidereal Taurus (sensitive point of transition), On top of that, Mars will also be in parallel to the Sun (affliction).

My ramp up in intensity and frequency was from the 11 th of May, so I peaked a little early .

I’m in the fifth week of this cluster and last weeks have been hell. if it gets even worse today or tomorrow I will report.(I hope not

I'm in cycle right now and I have had it fairly easy for the last week so if I get some bangers on those days I will let you know.

Instead of debating the issue. Let’s see what happens this Wednesday and Thursday. To anyone in a cycle right now: it would be helpful if you could give us feedback and share here if you’re indeed experiencing a rise in intensity of CH attacks during these days.

You are definitely not alone, I also have a 'weird' migraine/CH co-existence that differs a bit from yours. If I'm in a cluster cycle I will have no migraines, however the final dose of a 3-dose bust will often trigger a migraine. If this happens then 90% of the time it means the bust has worked and my brain has flipped back to migrain mode. I'll then have a few migraines over the following months until CH rears its head again. So in my case it's a bit of flip-flopping, I can only recall one instance over the past 17 years where I had a migraine during a CH cycle. The moral of the story is I guess that both these conditions are pretty complicated and not very well understood, and there is almost certainly some cross-over in causes that leads to our individual circumstances. By accepting our individuality it also opens the mind to expermenting with the different busting regimes/tactics and finding something that works for you if the standard regimes aren't quite working or that may go against current thinking. Good luck with your journey...

You are not the first to report this unfortunately.. As for the duration.... i've had attacks that have lasted upwords to 6-8 hours. Not common, but again not unheard of. Now that we know you are a rt sider (sorry) for this unfortunate experience.. it sounds even more like CH. I'm not a Doctor and have no definitive answers and can't even claim to know "what is what".. I can tell you that shadows are a really unfortunate offspring of CH. This conversation makes me feel like another member @mit12 with both migraine and CH might have some insight? @mit12

Hadn't seen this either til now. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - thank you for bringing it to attention @Dallas Denny!

Thanks for the warning! I tried but had some leakage

Its bad enough to where I can't do anything but scream and squirm around on the floor wishing i was dead lol. I am a big advocate on staying away from medicine. I don't even use advil most of the time. I just ordered oxygen so hopefully that will help.