skibo

That looks like it came from a migraine trigger list. Exactly the same. And no mention of alcohol that has to be one of the prime culprits in triggering CH (maybe because it isn't food )

I was checking the FAQ to see what it said about interaction with SSRIs and detox and I found the following: Bear in mind that Zoloft's "half-life in the body is 13–45 hours and, on average, is about 1.5 times longer in women (32 hours) than in men (22 hours), leading to a 1.5-times-higher exposure in women" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sertraline]. So you might want to wait a couple more days if you're a woman, although most of the zoloft will probably be out of your system after 5 days. I do urge you to be careful though, if you're taking zoloft for depression you might want to talk to your doctor first. The other thing is that usually, with SSRIs when one stops taking them, it's not done abruptly but diminishing the dose over days or a few weeks. Take care.

Zoloft is an SSRI, so it would interefere. The blood pressure med is a tough call... I busted while on calcium channel blockers with no apparent interaction, but there doesn't seem to be any agreement on this point, so it's your decision

really cool house... I wonder why the ewoks are selling

Maybe it's not the heat itself but the change in temperature... I know for sure that sudden changes in temperature (being in a warm room and going outside in winter for example) is a big trigger for me. So I avoid that by getting really wrapped up before going out. I can't think of a way to protect yourself if the change in temperature is the other way round, from cold to hot, other than avoiding the situation, which isn't really very helpful

I thought I'd keep you guys updated. I went to the neurologist and he confirmed the CH diagnosis, more or less. He agreed that the symptoms (type of pain, the cycles, triggers, etc.) point in that direction, albeit not without pointing out the difficulties of a definite diagnosis. He took me off the flunarizine calcium channel blocker and told me to take the traditional verapamil (120mg once a day) and that if I did have a strong attack to go to the ER and ask for oxygen to see if that worked. I'm doubtful about this last thing, since oxygen should be used early-on for it to be really effective, isn't that so? But I guess I'll see about that when and if I do get strong attacks. So I suppose the doctor is giving me the traditional treatment to see how I respond, in an attempt to get a more definite diagnosis. Regarding the pain, I must say that after dosing 3 times with a small amount of mushrooms there has been significant improvement. I should have experienced the peak of a cycle, which didn't actually happen after the mushrooms. Only rarely have I experienced shadows, and significant pain only twice. One of those times was the day after drinking alcohol for an important Copa América football (soccer) match here. A terrible idea, but I'd felt so well the previous days that I thought it would be all right. Other than that, I haven't touched the booze. The other time is today and for no apparent reason All in all, I've felt much better after dosing, and I'm also much happier with this neurologist, who has experience in CH and other type of headaches, and who actually listens to me. I still have to wait and see if the verapamil does its work or not. The thing is that verapamil is incredibly expensive (by Chilean standards). It's 65 US$ for 20 120mg pills. So to sum up: I've been feeling better, although I don't feel I'm out of the woods yet by a long stretch. Things are looking up and moving in the right direction, I think. But I'm still troubled by occasional shadows and pain, not having a definite diagnosis and by the financial drain of doctors and medicine. Thank god for mushrooms, which have given me a sense of control over this damn thing; and for this site and the people that visit it, which have made me feel that I'm not alone in this, besides all the great information and advice.

Really good site, thanks for the link. I found a very interesting article about snuff kits found in the Atacama Desert --in the North of Chile, where I'm from-- used to consume DMT (active componente of the Ayahuasca brew) and bufotenine (toad venom). This makes me wonder: does anyone know if other hallucinogens (other than LSA, LSD and and psilocybin) like mescaline or DMT are effective for CH?

As you can see there are people here that are much better prepared to answer CH questions than I am. I still have to get a diagnosis from a neurologist to confirm that I actually have CH. I'm only a newbie here. What I can tell you is that CH or not, the two small doses of mushrooms I took helped me A LOT with the "headaches" (more like head-torture). Two weeks almost pain free since I started and I should be at the peak of a cycle right now. And that's something that I hadn't achieved with calcium channel blockers or gluticorticoid steroid nasal spray. Bear in mind that I've had plenty of experience with hallucinogens in the past, and that's why I didn't hesitate in trying the treatment. But they are powerful stuff. In large doses they can mean an incredibly beautiful spiritual experience or they can also take you straight to hell if you're not prepared. So start with a low dose, make arrangements so that you have a nice, safe and comfortable surrounding and have a friend or someone close and that you feel comfortable with to keep and eye on you. You shouldn't worry too much though with a low dose, you'll probably enjoy it, but better safe than sorry. Everyone is different and reacts to drugs in a different way. One last thing. If you did have a bad trip, which I seriously doubt would happen with a low dose and in the appropiate setting, there are some very simple techniques to cope with it, like going to another room, doing something else, as mentioned above. You can also take your shoes and socks off and walk barefoot. Sometimes (not always) physical contact is very soothing. As a last resort you could have a couple of "benzos" (benzodiapezines) at hand just in case.

Actually it's Flunarizine (Irrigor 5mg). One in the morning, another one before going to bed. This has dampened the headache activity, not eliminated it at all. Whereas after 11 days of starting taking psilocybin (two doses so far) this cycle seems to be wearing off. Thanks for your comments.

Thanks so much Ron. I've already made an appointment with an allegedly good neurologist with experience in vascular headaches. I'm sick and tired of doctors though. So far they have all been quite unsympathetic, not listened and explained even less. I've already seen that video, very good. I'll check out the other web site... and I'll ask the neurologist (if he confirms the diagnosis) about getting an oxygen tank. Thanks.

Hi there, I'm from Chile and new to this forum. Less than a year ago I started having terrible headaches (an understatement). At first I thought it was my old migraine that came back and took cafergot and paracetamol, to no avail. Then the headaches stopped, then came back about 3 months later. This time I thought it might be sinusitis, so I self-medicated with pseudo-ephedrine (not helpful at all, on the contrary) and changed paracetamol to naproxen, and finally went to an otorhinolaryngologist (ORL). He told me I had some type of rhinitis (but he didn't know which sort) and gave me a gluticorticoid (budesonide) nasal spray which helped with frequency and intensity, but only partially. I must admit though that the first time with budesonide (at the peak of the cycle) was miraculous, though not 100% effective. I still had a lot of what you call "shadows", basically day in and day out. In my case a strange vascular sensation at the pain focus point --between the nose and eye, left side only-- and occasional "stabs" of very bearable pain. I wasn't satisfied with his diagnosis so I went to another ORL which diagnosed me with CH and gave me some calcium channel blockers and told me to continue taking the gluticorticoid nasal spray for a month. This combination also helped, further reducing the intensity of the attacks, but the shadows and the attacks themselves (although less frequent and severe) were still there. We also discarded the allergic rhinitis theory with a prick test. But by then the second cycle was coming to an end. The important thing is that I had a diagnosis that matched my symptoms and that I believe to be correct, and that in itself is a great relief. Not having to wonder if you have a brain tumor, or if an artery in your skull will explode and what not. Then, a couple of weeks ago the shadows started again. Once I almost thought I was having a coronary incident in my nose, like I had palpitations and tachycardia or something. I've sometimes even felt like something breaking and making weird noises in there (not painful though). Then I also had an attack, admittedly I trigerred my most important triggers (alcohol and alternating between hot and cold environments) and then another unwarranted one, with medication (only calcium channel blockers at this point). By now I knew that the thing was just getting started again... and obviously anxious and scared. I had already read quite a bit about CH on the net and come across the hallucinogenic treatment, so I decided to look into it. Read on how to dose and drug interactions, and being rather impulsive, a bit desperate, and also having had experience with mushrooms, LSD, mescaline and other substances in the past, decided to procure some mushrooms. Took 1/4 of a "recreation dose", no visuals or anything, just some giggling, and then dosed again five days later. I haven't had an attack since, and although I still have shadows the whole thing seems to be fizzling away. So apparently the treatment is working, but I think it's still too early to really tell. I have several questions, maybe you people out there would be kind enough to answer some of them. 1. Do the symptoms sound familiar to you? I had never heard of CH before. The symptoms seem to match. No ptosis or miosis that I've noticed though, but I do get a congested nose on the side of the pain during attacks. The diagnosis isn't really very encouraging, so I guess I'm still hopeful that it might be something else. I'm curious in particular about what you mean by shadows, if it matches what I described. 2. Do you recommend I stop taking the calcium channel blocker if I continue to try to bust the headache with psilocybin? I didn't see it listed under the drugs that I absolutely must stop taking, and I was scarred that it might make things worse if I stopped taking it. Should I continue using psilocybin until the shadows are completely gone? 3. Do you have other recommendations for keeping this thing under control? I've stopped drinking altogether, been smoking significantly less, try to keep an orderly sleep regimen among other things. Haven't experimented with my diet or exercise. Are there any foods that might be triggers? Is it worthwhile doing an inclusion/exclusion diet to try to identify them? The ORL said I should avoid anything that messes up vasodilation/constriction which would include coffee. How true, in your experience, is this? I've found that coffee actually helps me. At one point, when I still didn't have a diagnosis, I found myself drinking large amounts of coffee after drinking alcohol and I think I might have unknowingly aborted some attacks this way. I have loads more questions, but the message is long enough as it is. So I'll stop here, after thanking you for your patience in reading something this long. Tomás