les genser

Bob's dos centavos above are uncannily accurate for me as well;... my wife has said pretty much the same thing, and I never seemed to trigger in steady high pressure situations, it was usually the reverse. Yet another facet on the gem of our collective weirdness. Tuesday, you have gotten the advice of forged-in-the-fire experts above. Sorry that you actually need it. About the paxil, though...many busting options, as noted above (many really effective ones, at that) cannot be used or will not work while you are on 'synthetic' SSRIs. The Paxil is a dubious substance which yields diminishing returns; Once you get clear of this cluster (and I pray you do soon) do some serious research on this subject. None of this class of pharmaceuticals are good for anyone long term, especially for cluster sufferers as they literally are poking you in your most sensitive places. Good luck.

Ron: It occurred to me this morning that I was being unnecessarily complicated: I always use grain alcohol, but since Licorice tinctures at 40-50% it would be just simpler to use vodka, which is if I'm not mistaken about that % alcohol?? Then you could cut out the percentage calculation and just use vodka for the total liquid volume. That would work perfectly, and make it easier on you. Sorry. It was late.

OK ... below are instructions for making an herbal tincture. I am passing this on from the place I learned it : The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook by James Green. I highly recommend it, he's an amazingly lucid communicator and instructor. You will need: 1.the herb, of course. What you want to buy is the herb sold as "cut and sifted"; NOT already powdered. Remember, herb potency deteriorates once the surfaces are exposed to oxygen. Bulk herbs are available on line from numerous sources, probably the most accessible would be Frontier Coop. I think licorice root is about eleven dollars a pound. Its imported from China. Like everything else. 2.Several large Mason jars with tight fitting lids (canning jars). 3.Distilled water 4.Everclear or equivalent (pure grain alcohol). 5. A coffee grinder 6. Cheesecloth and a strainer. 7. A scale (optional, I'll explain below) 8. Measuring cups with metric gradations OK, here we go: This is called tincturing by maceration; its an ancient and thoroughly satisfactory method. Lets say for example you bought a pound of licorice root and you want to make half of it. So split it in half (use a scale if you have one, do it by eye if you don't. Exactness is nice, but not critical. Isn't herbalism fun?). Now grind it all up in the coffee grinder. Just like with coffee, the finer you grind it the stronger the finished product as more surface is exposed. You don't need to grind to a uniform powder for this method, just chop it up as much as possible. Place it in a measuring cup and pack it down, and record the total VOLUME of the whole amount you are going to use. Once you know the total volume, place the herb in a mason jar. NOTE: the jar you use needs to be large enough to hold all of the herb and liquid, so plan ahead. Now you need to make the liquid portion of the future tincture which does the actual extracting. This is called the menstruum.(We are going to do math now. Please don't panic). The "1:5" ratio I keep throwing around refers to the strength of the finished product. This is determined by doing a weight-to-volume calculation. It is really very simple; you multiply the weight of the herb you are using times five, and that gives you the volume of menstruum, that you need to use. So for example (and it isn't rocket fuel it does not have to be painstakingly exact) you are using half a pound of licorice root, that's 8 ounces or approximately 240 grams. Multiply that by 5 and you get the required menstruum volume of 1200 milliliters. Now when you put the herb in the liquid, some of it is going to soak in and be pretty impossible to get completely out. So in order to compensate for this, there is one additional calculation you need to do. Refer back to the total volume of the herb that you ground up. Lets say for example its 600 milliliters. ADD that number to the 1200 for a total of 1800 milliliters of menstruum. Licorice root extracts well at about 40% alcohol; so take your total (1800) and take 40% of that: 720 milliliters alcohol. Which leaves 1080 milliliters of distilled water. Pour these amounts into the jar with the herb, Stir it around until all of the herb is wet and seal it up tight. Now, place it on a counter (out of direct sunlight) or someplace you will see it a lot, because every time you see it for the next 14 days give it a vigorous shaking. This is important. At least several times a day. After 14 days, give it an additional day without disturbing it so it settles a bit. After that, get a clean jar, and pour off the tincture through the cheesecloth and strainer. If you are a perfectionist, let it settle again and restrain it, but the sediment doesn't hurt it and at this point its basically done. The yield for eight ounces of herb should be a little over a quart of finished tincture, and I can guarantee you it will be as good as anything you can buy. Better, because you can put the mojo of all the frustration of those years of frigging headaches into it every time you shake it. A quart should be several years worth of tincture. Its late and I have to go walk dogs and feed horses so I hope this is understandable. If not, any questions I'll fix it later. Les G.

Hey mom... not that mysterious, maybe...a fever would naturally disrupt the thermostat in the hypothalamus, maybe enough distraction to interrupt the usual pattern. Andrew, by the way, is extremely wise (in my opinion, anyway) for refusing pain meds. I have done it myself for years, after many of the same things (dental stuff, sinus surgery, herniated discs). I don't think they actually help that much and the rebound loops are awful. I sometimes wonder, given how the brain and body really tries hard to always be in balance, if many of the things we do to abort come back to haunt us later; things like vasoconstrictors and such. Not that I'm giving up coffee. Also; I have a feeling that the fewer meds you're actually on, especially anything that would already mess with you hormonally, the better the licorice tincture will actually work. I'm glad you are there for Andrew. When I was his age and first starting to get clusters I was living alone and was terrified; I thought my brain was growing a tumor the size of Detroit. Anybody out there looking for sources for licorice root tincture, if you cannot get it locally (and I sympathize, I live deep in Appalachia) there are several good reliable internet sources;;; try Gaia Herbs, they are a national brand and they offer licorice root tincture, although I couldn't get the technical specs on their site. Terrafirma has what looks like a nice organic tincture, and there were a bunch more. Eventually, if there is interest, I can post how-to instructions to make your own. All you need is a few ball jars and for about 30 bucks or so you can make about a five year supply. Takes two weeks, the old fashioned way.

Hey guys; I just read the latest (maybe second to latest? I don't know ) Scientific American last night and there was a feature article on "new" interest in research using hallucinogens at Johns Hopkins and other places.... mostly psylocibin, also LSD. They talked about a lengthy list of prospective uses for the substances; everything from addictions to psychotic breaks.... guess what was conspicuously missing??? Any mention at all of CH. There is no justice. Just us.

W: Thanks. Loads. I, too noticed the same effects (not all the time).. kind of like a very low grade hangover. They go away after a cup of coffee... at least they do for me. I don't know about the SRI connection, its a definite possibility, but I will say I took the stuff for 4 weeks straight, stopped cold and had no discernible aftereffects. That will be a question for people in white coats, if I can interest any. (I'm working on it). I also had the same stuff happening... I would get 'shadowing', as you put it; I still do occasionally... but it does not seem to develop into anything. My intuitive belief is that the shadows are the feedback loops, the chronic pain allergic/alert reactions that we all have that are ordinarily causative because those are the nerves that feed back into the hypothalamus;... somehow the licorice root is interrupting the pattern, and thats why these things don't develop. It is strange, trying to relax when I feel like I'm triggering and trusting that it will go away. And it has, with minimum effort on my part. I have felt for a long time that the key to breaking clusters would be interrupting the pattern; I think long term actual cure is possible too, but that is going to be energetic and mental. One thing at a time. Maybe the seed/ tincture thing is a possibility; I only did the tincture. Last thing: If you feel you're shadowing, and it does escalate,(only do this if you are NOT taking regular doses) try it as an abortive... it seems to kick in about twenty minutes, no rebound and the shadows just split. I wish you continued success.

Nothing is going to change the fact that any lysergic acid derivative is a schedule one controlled dangerous substance. You may not be aware, but LSD was first synthesized and researched as a potential migraine cure. It also showed exceptional promise as a therapeutic agent for use by psychiatrists. None of that means Jack to a government which has declared by imperial fiat that these substances have no medical value. There will always be that to overcome. No matter what BOL is developed for, it will always be expensive. If I am wrong about this, it would literally be the first time in the entire history of pharmaceutical drugs, so statistics are on my side. Look at AIDS drugs. Who needs meds more than those people.... does a compassionate pharmaceutical industry make them available cause there is a need? yeah. If I may, I think you missed the point I was trying for: I really don't care much about BOL other than to point out the obvious impediments to waiting around for it. What I was trying to suggest; well, just read "part two" above again.

I had resolved to stay out of this , but I can’t. Its been eating at me all day since I read this thread . First of all, I am truly sorry in the empathetic sense for all the terrible pain. I don’t wish to be a pain in the ass when someone is hurting, but for the same exact reason ( someone is hurting) I cannot in good conscience keep quiet. This is in no way directed at an individual , although I have certainly been moved to write this by Dan’s eloquent account of his pain and frustration. So, some thoughts, which hopefully lead to a logical conclusion: 1. Waiting for Godot: Drugs take a long time to bring to market. Most should take longer, since greed trumps caution every time and the industry has pushed substances they don’t understand with disastrous results so often it almost seems cliché at this point. This is true even for drugs with huge potential user bases that they positively salivate to get out. Only two things would interest any pharmaceutical firm regarding any possible CH drug: a) they would get lifelong clients how much could they charge per dose. Since the maximum potential market is small, would have to be pretty substantial to even get them interested.; also the price would reflect their development costs which would be shared out amongst the ‘user pool’ of patients; again, since our pool is small the cost would necessarily be pretty steep. This will be true of ANY company bringing ANY drug to market no matter who they are; they could be Gandhi incorporated and they will still operate this way because they have to, its how business is done and they answer to their investors, and they are essentially in business to make money, not alleviate suffering. There was only ONE Jonas Salk. ( In case you don’t know, he refused to patent his Polio vaccine and gave it to the world. Free.) 2. To add to this complication, attempting to bring a schedule I CDS into accepted medical use, or even trying to do it on a research/trial basis that doesn’t involve DARPA (defense/security) priorities is like herding cats. No American government is going to do this . Won’t happen. I used to work, long ago, in this particular area of law enforcement, and the people and policy makers involved stopped evolving sometime in the late Cretaceous. They MIGHT allow research, but getting beyond that stage would be a cluster-F ballet of cosmic proportion. So my point, so far, seems to be that a legal BOL formulation is a) not going to appear in the immediate future and is likely to cost a shit load of money when and if it does appear. Don’t think they don’t know we will pay anything up to and including redundant body parts to stop the pain. Which bring me to part two, and I will be really brief and not preach, hopefully. Someone, I forget who exactly, made the astute observation on the other (herbal option that works) thread that it seems curious that people who are willing and eager to do-it-yourself dose themselves with potentially dangerous and obviously illegal substances seem ludicrously reluctant to try a simple herb. Allow me to add my own incredulity to his statement. I am not a particularly good BS artist; I think those who do so for a living are Satan’s little helpers (sorry lawyers, politicians, salesmen, etc.). The following is absolutely true: I have seen “simple plants” (they are really anything but) do completely amazing things. Speed the healing of difficult fractures; eliminate the need for hip replacement in hip dysplasia; reverse liver damage in advanced hepatitis; kill dead antibiotic resistant bacterial pneumonia. I have seen “simple” roadside weeds cure intractable eczema of many years duration that had stumped doctor after doctor. And now, I have seen and experienced a ‘simple’ plant that so far, has proven at least in my case to be extremely effective in stopping CH cold, and it seems to be working for others as well. I could go on and on, but I won’t as its pointless. I will instead go with ‘old reliable’:: If you try the herbal solution, what do you really have to lose? Twenty bucks, more or less, and a trip to a health food store. You don’t even have to deal with dangerous and unsavory underground hippie types (like me). This is less than the single dose cost of most of the stuff a lot of you guys are regularly taking, and I’m talking about the legal stuff. I don’t believe this is in any sense a “cure” (I agree wholeheartedly with the post above ‘cure’ v. ‘treatment’) or a magic bullet, but if it works for most people most of the time it will be more efficient and far less damaging to our bodies than anything else available now or likely to be available; including BOL. ** not to sound portentous or pretentious but the brain does not like being fooled on a long term basis in the hormone department. It compensates which is why SSRI’s are so hard to kick. This little-known as of yet factoid of research is going to come back like Marley’s ghost and haunt the pharmaceutical industry; unless of course they can cover it up. Just my little prediction. So; if you try the licorice root and it doesn’t work **(if you do try it, please try to have a positive outlook; you have no idea how important that really is) you can pour it down the drain and curse me out, it won’t bother me ( I have a vicious and psychotic ex-wife; I’ve been abused by experts) . On the other hand, it just might surprise you. And that might save everybody the necessity of figuring out how to smuggle assault weapons into Britain.

for dblu: good on you that you are monitoring your bp. If you are normally in the range of 120/80 the slight elevation should not hurt. I agree you should cut the dose. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the efficacy at the lower level. In any event, eat bananas or other foods high in potassium. Watch for signs of fluid retention. My bp went up about ten points on both S&D as well. If it worries you and doesn't go down after cutting the dose, you should look into the DGL tincture. I believe it would work on our little problem, since I think it is the phytoestrogens that are effective and I don't think they are removed with the glycherrizin, but since I haven't tried it myself I really have no way of knowing for sure. An alternate strategy would be to stop the tincture entirely and try using it more as an abortive. Last evening I felt some precursor shadows, some flushing and I thought I was triggering, so right away I took a standard dose. (I have been off it for about a week). I was completely fine in about twenty minutes, with no recurrence so far today (I only took it the one time). I am going to continue to use it in this fashion, if its necessary, and I'll report in.

Ron: That should work fine. The 1:3 means it slightly more concentrated than the one I made. As to dosage, you needn't count drops or anything.. two squeezes of the dropper should be a little over 30 drops, about 2 milliliters. Put it in about one inch of water in a glass, like one or two shots worth, and drink it. It is very tasty, as tinctures go. Most root tinctures taste like dirt and lawn clippings. As to the alcohol, the thirty or so drops are only half alcohol by volume, and thats further diluted in the glass. I can't speak for everybody of course, but I am so triggered by alcohol I haven't had a drink in years, and it doesn't affect me in the least. If you were to wait 48 hours after busting that should be sufficient. I'm with you guys. For Matty: Check my earlier posts in here, I tried to explain how and why this stuff seems to work...if you Google 'licorice root' with 'serotonin' you should get some of the research papers. ANYONE CONSIDERING THIS , please check the earlier posts for possible side effects, contraindications and drug interactions especially if you are currently taking MAO inhibitors or SSRI's.

Needless to say, I am thrilled beyond words that you are having a positive experience. To update my own situation: 1. I stopped taking the tincture four days ago, cold. It just seemed like the right time, and I have been completely symptom free so far. This is exceptionally unusual given my typical chronic pattern. 2. I have contacted a sometime- teacher of mine, who is currently on the board of the American Herbalists Guild. I am going to try to interest people more qualified than me to look into this. 3. I try to check this board every day. If anyone has questions regarding this modality I will be happy to answer them if I can. Les

Don't touch that shit, friend. It is the only addictive hallucinogen. What is referred to as the 'line dose' (almost literally the line where you lose function) is tricky to manage, real K is almost impossible to find on the underground; its usually cut with god knows what. It is a close chemical relative of phencyclidine (PCP), you know.. angel dust. It is an anaesthetic, and you would almost have to render yourself unconscious for it to affect CH. The hallucinogens that are used by the folks here work because they metabolize as chemicals that bind to serotonin receptors in the hypothalamus blocking and stabilizing uptake; ketamine is chemically totally different.

I was not aware it was actually people who care, which is truly outstanding. I wish them luck dealing with the DEA and the Feds re: the CDS act. When Nixon at his paranoid best decided to declare by imperial fiat that substances like cannabis & the psylocibes, plants with many thousands of years of medical use, had absolutely no medical value, they set everybody back. ( Even though he only really did it to annoy his mortal enemies, the anti-war 'hippies'... true story... Nixon didn't give a shit about drugs). Note that in spite of years of evidence demolishing their contentions, like the worst of schoolyard bullies they simply refuse to admit error. Anyway, I believe they are on the right track.

I read their stuff, including the research paper...it looks like its finally dawning on a pharmaceutical company a) that busting with hallucinogens works that there might be a buck in it for them but most significantly c) they are finally paying attention to the fact that clusters are NOT primarily vascular and that focusing on the serotonergic transmission system is the way to go. If they help some of us, great; but I must confess to a deep seated distrust of big pharm, especially a company that seems to be trying SO hard with the fuzzy critter pictures and the feel good we love the earth crap. Don't mind me; I'm just being a curmudgeon.

I'm with the guys re: cold air. Its free and it works. I also was in the habit of packing my head and neck with cold packs like a tuna on a plane to Tokyo; ice can help abort. Ice water, held in your mouth on the affected side (then spit, and repeat as it warms) helps if your palate is affected. If you don't have O2 you can try this: do 20 pushups, wait a few secs, do 20 more, etc. ...this does 2 things: raises your blood O2 levels and increases blood flow to limbs& muscles so less can f up your cranial vessels. I aborted like that back in the 80's. Also, look into acupressure. There are places around your neck, upper chest muscles, base of skull, that you can self apply this to and if you get the right ones you can successfully abort in minutes, in concert with breathing. There are a number of good books on the subject...I like Donna Eden's book Energy Medicine.

Hi folks ....to try to end the confusion: 1. Licorice root is completely legal. 2.A 'tincture' is a liquid preparation which uses solvents (usually alcohol, water, glycerine, vinegar or some combination of them) to remove the active constituents of a plant or plant part and put them in solution to facilitate their use as medicinals. 3. For Bonkers: if you are in So Cal. you can get a good tincture at a lot of places; any good health food store, or whole foods type market, or GNC type place. Pharmacies sometimes carry homeopathics and 'alternative' stuff. Also, California is one of I believe two places in the country where herbalists can actually practice so you should be in good shape. 4. The legality issue is of course the medicine w/o license thing. Have a good day

Hi... A quick note on side effects: bear in mind that most side effects of prescription meds occur at normal dosage levels. The potential side effects of licorice root are usually the result of taking in way too much. Here is as complete a list as possible: 1. The most serious side effect is known as hyperaldosteronism, which is a mineralocorticoid effect (I know, I know, WTF is this shit???). It is very simply a chain of things that happen when your sodium and water balance gets messed up. This is mediated by aldosterone, cortisols and hormones called 'mineralocorticoids' (sounds like something from Buckaroo Banzai, doesn't it?). The effects associated with this syndrome are hypertension (elevated blood pressure), edema (fluid retention), hypokalemia (low sodium levels) and /or sodium retention. Note that most cases of this syndrome, which covers pretty much all of the possible side effects, have occurred due to overconsumption of real licorice candy. There are considerably fewer reports of adverse reactions from people taking normal therapeutic doses. "DGL" licorice products, which have the glycyrrhizin removed, have NONE of these side effects. I just don't know if they would be as effective. I usually suggest to people that while taking licorice you should try to eat foods rich in potassium and reduce your sodium intake to avoid any potential side effects. And keep an eye on your blood pressure. Primarily because of the possibility of hyperaldosteronism, licorice root is contraindicated in people with kidney disease and high blood pressure. It should be used very cautiously by pregnant women, pretty much for the same reasons. This is what I have been doing: I am using a 1:5 40% tincture of licorice root. DO NOT use teas, candies or anything other than a whole plant product. DO NOT use powdered prepackaged capsules, pills or anything other than a tincture, not even if Jesus himself personally packed them. Powdered herbs lose their potency VERY quickly. This, more than anything, has given herbal treatments a bad name, since they tend not to work. Herbs are far more like foods than drugs; they are much better fresh. Tinctures are prepared from fresh or freshly-dried plants and retain all the active properties of the plant in an easy-to-use form; and they keep at room temperature indefinitely, as long as not exposed to direct sunlight. The one I am using I made over two years ago. I have been taking roughly 2 milliliters of this tincture (that is about two squeezes of a dropper, about 30 drops) three times a day, every day. Doses are spaced as with meds, about every 6-8 hours. To take it, you just put it in about an ounce of water (a shot glass worth) and slug it down. I am, at the same times, taking a similar dose of Skullcap tincture. This is a superb and gentle calming herb with sedative and mood enhancing qualities. This is not entirely necessary as I am sure the licorice is doing the heavy lifting, but I just like it. I can report that my mood and affect are noticeably lifted about twenty to thirty minutes after dosing. I have been carefully watching for adverse reactions but so far I cannot report any. I have, in over three weeks of this regimen, had one relatively mild attack of very short duration which lasted about ten minutes with no recurrence. I have had maybe two or three instances where I felt I was triggering (those feedback loops I talked about, remember them?) but I stayed calm, went outside and breathed some cold air and they simply passed. Prior to starting this treatment I was experiencing a pattern of 3 to 6 hits a day/night, severe to I-want-to-die severe. I hope this answers your questions. Obviously, I cannot just come out and say hey people!!! try this!!! because everyone knows that is against the law... I can only report what I am doing; but I don't consider myself a mutant, or physiologically different, and I know we are all individuals with a rare and individuated condition, but I believe what works for me would probably help a lot of others. I really hope so. Les G.

Hi folks. Thank you for all of the responses. First, I must apologize if my comments re: the sister site were misinterpreted. When I said they did not seem amenable to alternatives, it was potentially my own prejudices about relying on the good will of pharmaceutical companies and my own frustrations surfacing. It was not my intent to offend anyone, and I'm sorry for that. I certainly didn't mean to incite a shitstorm. And yes, I certainly appreciate humor and strawberry twizzlers though I have no idea what they are actually made of. I would venture to say that we all have seemingly been crapped on enough by circumstance and we don't need to do it to each other. There; well anyway to address a few points raised: regarding the testosterone, bear this in mind: most of the (admittedly) few serious studies I have been able to access regarding licorice root have used dosage levels ranging from 700 milligrams to 2 ounces (!!!) and most have isolated certain presumed 'active' constituents of the herb rather than use the whole plant. Needless to say, this is far in excess of what I am using. Most herbal authorities I tend to trust believe that whole plant extracts contain properties that tend to counterract negatives; from the Lippincott Herbal Therapy manual: "Most cases of hyperaldosteronism have occurred with overconsumption of real licorice candies; there are fewer reports of adverse reactions in patients who take recommended therapeutic doses of whole licorice extracts". Also, just for general FYI, there is an article in the latest New Yorker regarding the scientific method which bears on all the studies we see; it is really interesting reading. The gist of it: take all such pronouncements (including mine) with a giant grain of salt. Licorice will RAISE blood pressure; it is contraindicated in people with hypertension and can cause sodium retention which further aggravates this. Again, this in in higher dosages. Licorice products labelled "DGL" have the glycyrrhizin removed. DGL Licorice root products have NONE of these side effects. I honestly don't know, and neither does anyone else, whether removing the glycyrrizin effects the efficacy of the herb... results were 'inconclusive'; but if anyone has any of the contraindications and still wishes to try it, that would be the way to go. I was asked a question on an email that bears mention here, cause its important: Do not use this herb if you are taking anything classed as an SSRI or a MAO inhibitor. As I think I mentioned at some point, this herb is pretty damn potent. Ask your Doctor. He or she may not be that familiar with herbs, but there are good online databases. Here is an expanded listing of interactions: diuretics, digitalis, antihypertensives, corticosteroids, some laxatives. I am currently slowly lowering the dose I am taking in the hope of finding an effective minimum since I am very conscious of the potential negatives. I also believe this is probably going to be different for different people. A little anecdote before crashing: I intentionally exposed myself tonight to an environment containing a hot and smoky wood stove and half a dozen people smoking like Pittsburgh in the 60's (I'm not a puritan I just recently quit myself). The last time I was there, just prior to 'discovering' the licorice root, that same atmosphere triggered a 24 hour marathon of more or less constant recurring K7-8s. The only thing missing was a midget calling me into the light. I spent four hours there and I am happy to report I emerged unscathed. Be certain that I will report any setbacks just as readily, notwithstanding the fact that I desperately want this stuff to work reliably, and not just for me. The solstice has just passed; renewal is coming. May we all have a better year in a better world. Merry Christmas & love to all of you. Les G.

TO ANYONE VISITING THIS THREAD FOR THE FIRST TIME: After a year of development, a finalized (to date) version of this herbal protocol is available which will save you a lot of reading. Here is the link: http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cb/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1322547210 The file is also available on the general board as 'new big licorice root file from Les Genser'. To begin with, let me first salute all of you for being proactive in your response to CH. Anyone who is waiting for the mainstream medical establishment or big pharm to come up with a ‘cure’ is waiting for Santa Claus. There simply are too few of us for them to care, and anyway they are very busy working on a better boner pill. Every current med used for cluster was developed for other purposes, but you probably know that. If only white millionaires suffered from CH you can safely bet they would have something on hand by now. Most medications prescribed now are of limited effectiveness, have absolutely horrific side effects and are hard for the body to tolerate. Few of them actually target primary causatives. There are actually people now who are having holes drilled in their heads, getting their hypothalamus wired up like a Borg, and that is the best the medical establishment can do?? I don’t blame the patient; I understand completely, but WTF? In any event, this post is intended as a rather long-winded introduction regarding what I believe to be a new specific therapeutic approach . I originally posted it about a week ago on the CH.com board, but they do not seem highly amenable to alternative approaches. I'm glad I thought to look here. I would like to talk a bit first about causation . Clusters are not vascular headaches as they are usually defined, in that the pain of a CH does not arise due to thrombosis or edema of cerebral (or peripheral) blood vessels. This does occur (sometimes) but it is secondary, not causative. Cluster headaches have a single, demonstrable cause. A periodic energetic disturbance in the hypothalamus (think of it as similar to trying to tune two radio stations in at once) results in a cascade of hormone release and/or depletion (nobody really knows which, for sure) which is slightly different for every sufferer, although the generalities are the same. The trigeminal nerve and the oculomotor nerve pass directly through the hypothalamus, and they are right in the path of this shit storm. The disturbance in the hypothalamus (which synthesizes and controls the most powerful chemicals in the human body and is responsible for more things, physical and emotional, than anyone has time for here) is translated into frantic signaling by the nerves, resulting in the skullcrappity smacking pain we all know and love, again different in minor ways from person to person depending on where the disturbance is in the hypo. and which nerves are most directly affected. There is, by the way , nothing wrong with your hypothalamus. You can look at it side by side with that of a non-sufferer, you can scramble them and spectrographically analyze the chemical content and they will be no different in any significant way. This is because even though the hypothalamus is the most direct proximate cause of CH that you can actually see, the actual cause is energetic. This may be going off the reservation for some folks, but the hypothalamus is physically situated at the exact juncture of the fifth and sixth Chakras. The fifth Chakra is considered to be the channel of communication between the body and the greater environment, and the sixth and seventh Chakras are a person’s connection to that environment. Oddly coincidental for a several thousand year old system, isn’t it, considering what the hypothalamus actually does? The disturbance in the hypothalamus, by the way, is well documented. The actual cause of it is not. Chronic, or frequently repeated pain does funny things. It affects cellular memory and behavior ‘downstream’ from the source. An increase in mast cell (histamine) mediated activity (allergic-type reactions) results; muscles swell up and tense, causing pressure on blood vessels which attempt to swell up themselves to maintain flow rate. Nerves in all these areas become feedback loops; these are your secondaries. Because there are no pain receptors in the hypothalamus and the progress of the attack is so rapid it is sometimes exceptionally difficult to discern cause and effect . Thus, thermal disturbances (hot flashes etc.) and possibly auric events (due I believe to the direct coupling of the optic chiasm to the hypothalamus) are frequently perceived after secondaries set in. It is necessary to decouple the pain response from the actual event in the hypothalamus to experience the actual sequence, but I have been able to do this. Now most of you probably know that no analgesic known has any effect on cluster headaches, up to and including opiates (morphine and yes heroin HCL included;- personal experience). This is not hard to understand if you accept that the hypothalamus is the sole actual culprit in initializing CH; there are of course no pain receptors in the brain and the hypothalamus in particular as the brain’s chemistry set would have to be virtually immune to outside chemical influence with a few IMPORTANT exceptions; also since the pain signals are going mostly out, analgesics at remote receptor sites would likely not do shit. And, they can cause serious rebound events. I don’t propose to even discuss individual drugs, most of which are highly toxic and dependency causing crap with no business in a human body except to say this: No drug or substance which does not act directly on the serotonergic neurotransmission mechanism of the hypothalamus has a snowballs’ chance of affecting CH. Enter the psychedelics; LSD, LSA and mushrooms all, of course, do what they do because they metabolize into indoles which are almost exact mimics for serotonin, and they bind to serotonin receptors more readily and tenaciously preventing reuptake of the real thing. And of course, as you all know or you wouldn’t be on this board, they work. Central and South American shamans have prescribed mushrooms for probably thousands of years. I have personally used both mushrooms and LSD to abort clusters. There are only two pesky problems: Such substances are illegal to buy or possess (as an herbalist I am incensed at the very notion of making plants ‘illegal’; what crappity smacking arrogance, implying that god makes mistakes) and second they are also expensive. I believe I have finally found something cheap and legal that works as effectively on the serotonergic system as mushrooms; extract of licorice root. I have to pause for one minute to explain that I have had cluster headaches for 37 years; they have been episodic and borderline chronic; then in 2003 I achieved remission of sorts with trigger point acupuncture. Then, two years later they came back on the other side, and since that time they have gotten progressively worse. For the last three years they have been chronic, with remission periods of no more than a week or two. Until I broke this cycle, I had been experiencing between three and six hits a day, with usually three at night at two hour intervals. When seriously triggered, I would have the 24 hour marathons with short breaks. I do not use pharmaceuticals anymore (used to take lots back in the day) ; I was treating with ice, acupressure, relaxation techniques & breathing. To cut to the chase: Using a licorice root tincture I have completely aborted my chronic CH. I have been free for three weeks; during this period I have experienced exactly one quasi-headache which lasted about eight minutes and disappeared (I had been exposed to heavy environmental triggers all day previously). Do the research yourselves; just google licorice root. It is a very effective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; it has a balancing effect on many other hormones, it stops cortisol depletion and it reduces mast cell activity. It also is a fine and gentle antidepressant. An Israeli University study in 2003 found that licorice root is a more efficient serotonin reup inhibitor than virtually any prescription drug then available (still, actually). To be completely thorough, the headaches disappeared instantly, metabolic disturbances continued for about a week and a half (hot flashes, etc, duration usually about ten minutes) mostly at night and these are now almost completely faded. Anyway, I have gone on far too long and I beg your indulgence(s), so here are the particulars: PLEASE: this is NOT an attempt to give anybody medical advice. This herb, as herbs go, is powerful and should NOT be taken by people with certain preexisting conditions, among them hypertension , osteoporosis, renal disease, cirrhosis, or by pregnant women. People taking MAO inhibitors or certain other antidepressants should also not take it as it vastly increases their effect. In other words, ask your Doctor. I could find nothing in the literature that indicated it was harmful in the amounts I am using. 1. Use ONLY a whole plant extract ( tincture) of licorice root,{Glycyrrhiza glabra}. I use one I made myself, but good high quality tincture is available at any health food store and many pharmacies, Whole Foods, Mom’s , etc. . Get the best one you can find; it should be about $20 for 2 oz. . Label should say 1:5 (that’s the potency) and 30%-40% alcohol by volume. Do NOT use teas, candy (which isn’t real licorice anyway, its anise) or anything other than a whole plant extract. This is very important. 2. I took a standard dose for the first two weeks, that is 2 milliliters (about thirty drops) three times a day. After two weeks, I cut it to 1 milliliter three times a day and I will continue to titre it down with the aim of being off it completely after four weeks. 3. I am taking it in conjunction with a Skullcap tincture. (Same dosage as the licorice). This is not completely necessary, but Skullcap is a beautiful and gentle nervine/anti stress tonic for a frayed nervous system ; very relaxing. Let me emphasize three things: 1. I am not interested in selling anybody anything. I have to say that because people on the CH site jumped instantly in my shit when I posted this there which I found strange and off-putting. Do I sound like I’m selling something? 2. I am really not interested in having chemistry set / reductionist / organic chem .201 discussions about this stuff, though I am quite capable of it. Nature made it, I don’t need to defend it . I am merely reporting that it works, and works well. 3. That having been said, I will be more than happy to answer any questions I can about what I did and why. As I’m sure all of you will understand immediately, I was so excited when this stuff actually worked I was beside myself. I’m so used to disappointment, I kept waiting for it to stop working. I share it in the hope it will help someone else.