Bejeeber

Well if you adopt the approach of just slugging down the seeds right before bed maybe you can do them any old night? That's how I've done it (after seeing it suggested) and like others, I find I gain a good solid night's sleep each time.

Glad to hear that's still the case (RC working for your daughter) Jerry!Â

I doubt you'll feel jack with 25-30 RC seeds. I don't recall hearing of anyone tripping at all on that kind of dose. But then there's this whole thing lately about whether the RC seeds from a given vendor are potent, so potency issues with RC seeds I've tried may be coloring my perception of what RC seeds will do.

If our clusterhead brethren and (sistren) responding to this could also indicate whether the seeds they bought seemed to do anything for 'em or not, that could be helpful too, since I think there's an ongoing question about the actual potency of RC seeds from one vendor to the next.

Your story is very touching Tingeling. And harrowing. Sounds like that man may have saved your life.

Hi Jilly from Philly Glad to see that you're getting the good answers and advice from the grizzled CH vets here. 8-) I would add that while you're seeking out a new doc, do everything you can to make sure he/she is a headache specialist. Your willfully ignorant bonehead dork of a neurologist is unfortunately very typical of non headache specialist neurologists. Sounds like you got a good recommendation for the Jefferson center. One of the great things right there about this online forum. Since as Hipshot noted, you'd need to detox from verap to effectively "bust" (mushrooms), the O2 would be a critical component in that strategy of course. Lotsa CH folk who have a difficult time getting an idiot doctor to prescribe O2 just do an end run and get the same O2 at a welding supply place without prescription. In any case you'd likely need to also order a good non rebreather mask and hi flow regulator online. [Edit: dang I now see that you guys posted more info about this before I was able to finish typing my diatribe ] Sleeping.....some CH'ers report that melatonin actually prevents their night time hits, not to mention it's use as a sleeping aid. Starting dose for hit prevention is 9 mg before bed, with some people going all the way up to 18 mg - or even 25 mg (!) before getting relief. On the extremely anecdotal side, when it's just sleep that's the issue, I personally find that 5-HTP along with 3 mg melatonin knocks me out good. (5-HTP is a form of tryptophan, that stuff in turkey that causes you to involuntarily nap 8-))

Did you catch them at onset with injector?

Imigran (imitrex), is certainly a much more controversial abortive than O2, and therefore it is good to use O2 as a first line abortive. Personally I have reserved imigran for my backup in case the O2 doesn't work, or isn't accessible, and although many swear at imigran, I have sworn by it for this type of use, as it was a component that has allowed me to abort every single attack in a 2.5 month episode last year (I'm hoping that now that I'm busting with mushrooms, I won't have need for abortives anymore). I feel no side effects whatsoever from imigran, although I think that folks who believe it can extend episodes may have a case. I've used imigran since it came on the market BTW (about 17 years ago I think). Injectible is by far the most effective form (extremely effective in fact) and this tip for extending doses (and avoiding OD) can be critical for those who are prescribed 6 mg injectors: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/imitrex.html

Well hopefully now that you've brought up the severity of her attacks after alcohol, she'll start monitoring this herself, and if she sees an alcohol/severity correlation I would think/hope that like most of us she'll drop the booze like a hot potato until she's sure it no longer has an effect.

I'm with TakinItEz on that, and on an air related note, there's a cheap abort that can work for some of us some of the time: The deep breathing of freezing air through the nose at onset of attack. It actually works as well as O2 for me in the first week of an episode before the intensity of my hits has ramped up and while I'm often awaiting my O2 cylinders. It can be particularly easy to try this this time of year in many areas of course (just step outside!), but if you're in a warmer area, the trick is to hop into the car, engine running, blast the air conditioner on max cold, put shnozola up to main vent and go at it. Should take 10 minutes or so, and if successful, the welcome in comparison sensation of an ice cream headache may take over momentarily - with CH aborted.

Agreed that O2 is absolutely the safest abortive. It can be very effective too. Banish any concerns about lung damage - they are misplaced (just avoid using a "bubbler" with O2 flow above 15 LPM). And Imitrex is controversial to be sure. Personally I've used it since it came out, and used it occasionally during my last episode when the O2 wasn't available or effective enough. This was a 2.5 month episode where I was able to prevent or abort every single attack - a pretty rare accomplishment, but I've been at it 30+ years, did a ton of research, and also got lucky. My hope now is to not have to even mess with abortives anymore, now that I'm busting with mushrooms as a preventative. I'd suggest putting all your primary focus on getting high flow/non rebreather O2 as outlined here: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/O2/index.html and then moving on to preventative decisions after that. Typically we have to order a high flow O2 regulator and an "optimask" online in order to acquire an O2 system that will be most effective at aborting attacks quickly, so that's something to hop on ASAP. [Edit:] I've been thinking about this, and although most of us have followed the directive at the link supplied to put together hi flow regulator and optimask components, there's another, simpler, reportedly more surefire way to go that is briefly mentioned in the link: a "demand valve" system. it is assumed that people don't want to spend the extra money on one, but the highest CH O2 guru, "Batch" uses one, and they apparently can lend themselves more to portability too. Giussepi who is a very regular contributor over at the ch.com message board was a patrol police officer for many years, and would carry an E tank with demand valve in his cruiser. If an attack hit he'd just pull over, breathe the O2 for 5 minutes, then he'd be right back on patrol. Wanted to mention that in case you can afford one, because I'm getting the impression that it is an option that is too often overlooked. Your son is going through some hellish times to be sure, with a level of pain that most people will fortunately never know, but with a wonderful mom like you assisting he'll be just fine - really, and especially encouraging is the fact that we're figuring out much better ways to deal with these nowadays. His life'll be good.Â

I second that. Wholeheartedy. And don't be surprised to see some results. Here's hoping.Â

LOL! ;D Gallows humor like this can be stress relieving and therapeutic IMO - I felt a little stress jump right offa me just from reading through this topic.Â

I haven't researched this so I'm just shooting from the hip here 8-), but when you look at what Mushrooms and LSD have in common, isn't it mainly the hallucinogenic properties, and would that be an argument for hallucinogenic properties most likely being the main thing in mushrooms that helps CH?

;D ;D

Good point Alleyoop - heck my wife aborts her migraines with energy drinks now because I suggested she try it (not that an energy drink would actually abort a CH attack for me).

When I first started using O2 in the 1980's (!!) I was somehow able to abort many attacks with a nasal canula. That stopped working at all though after awhile, so I agree that you'd be wise to start ordering your non rebreather mask now. I found at my last peak cycle when the wake up attacks were coming on really hot'n heavy that I would be routinely be reawakened with a rebound 1 hour after using O2. I probably should've stayed on it longer, as Kaboom suggested above.

Booze and occasionally some fumes like bleach or cigarette smoke. Haven't tried chocolate covered bacon and I don't believe I will. ;D [Edit] Mulerider's post below reminded me that I should list sleep - definitely including naps - as a trigger, along with meditation. :-[

I was on gabapentin/neurontin during my last 2.5 month episode. I started off at 900 mg day, then after a couple weeks, on the advice of a neurologist, built it up to 2400 mg day. It turned out to be an essential component in my arsenal, as it kicked in right around the time my episode was going into very high gear, threatening to hit me with more attacks per day than I could keep up with (it can take around 5-9 days to really kick in). It seemed to cut the number of attacks per day by about 30% - 50%, which wasn't exactly a miracle result, but was something I really needed. For me the wooziness side effect wore off after a couple weeks.

Update: Well I was awakened by a sustained K4 or so this morning, which I still consider a shadow and which in and of itself is nothing to fret about of course when compared to a high kip CH hit. My concern is just that strengthening intensity/longer duration shadows could be forewarnings of a full blown episode trying to ramp up. So I think I'll head back on over to the mushroom dosing side of the fence in a few days, as I don't really have the patience to try to figure out anymore what the right RC dose might be for me, what sort of potency these particular seeds have, and whether RC is even something that I will respond to at this point in time. My couple of mushroom doses over the summer knocked all my shadows out immediately, and kept 'em away for a good while.

For cold air aborts, if its not freezing outside, I prefer jumping in the car, putting nose right up to blasting/freezing air conditioner vent, and deep breathing. Granted, it is much more comfortable to do in the hot summer months. I don't know why I didn't think of also holding ice cubes in my mouth on the cluster side at the same time, but if I find myself attempting cold air aborts again, I'll certainly be trying that.

My report: This batch was pretty plump and light brown looking (which is a good sign I imagine?). A couple nights ago before bed I drank the juice and pulp of 52 or so seeds, having ground and started them soaking several hours earlier. I had my now traditional one minute of nausea while lying in bed, and that's the last thing I remember - I was out like a light for a good 5 hours or so - never felt any other effects. I've been having a few somewhat pronounced but really short shadows since - like just a couple minutes or less each. Sorry I don't have any concrete conclusions to draw regarding alkaloids/effectiveness of this RC - my shadows do seem to be behaving a bit differently so far.

Dang. FWIW I just received my order for 100 seeds for $15 from psychoactiveherbs.com, and just as with iamshaman, significantly more than 100 were supplied.

I emailed pyschoactiveherbs.com and asked about the source of the seeds. Here's an encouraging excerpt from the reply: "We import these seeds... very high quality..." Although the exact location they're from hasn't been disclosed - it could still be from the climate and soil of Asia (?), which I suppose wouldn't be a good thing.

Alrighty then, I've ordered from pyschoactiveherbs.com and will give them a shot. I too suspect that growing climates and soils make a huge difference, and wish we could get some RC that is guaranteed grown in the right part of Mexico. Thanx peeple. 8-)