ThatHurtsMyHead

sebisgood, Knowing some people have been helped with Lithium, I don't think it's a good long term solution. Of those that I'm aware of that have taken Lithium for their CH, it most often causes other issues either physically or mentally in their life. While you're waiting for your garden to grow, you might also try seeds that contain LSA (Hawaiian Baby Woodrose or Rivea Corymbosa. I'm not sure what the legality in France is for importing though? J

Echo, Please, please, take the advice of the many long term 'busters' on this board and get off the script stuff and just take that first dose. You'll never look back. I don't know of anyone that's been on this board, that said they wish they had never dosed with shrooms. 95% or more it's been a god send of pain relieve and the beginning of a new life and for the other 5% it just didn't work... Seriously. Please don't wreck your body with that garbage the doctors give out. 99% is garbage, and will only cause more long term issues, which you're starting to see. Please don't go through what so many of us went through before starting our shroom, LSD or LSA treatments. You've heard from so many on this board that keep saying, just take the dose. (from someone that turned chronic, only to be 99% Pain FREE for 4 years running! me... PFW, J

brett66, Sounds like some good news, but please try to adhere as close as possible to the 5 days between doses. Take it from someone (me) that dosed too close together way back... It basically unbusts your CH, from my experience. My CH got worse shortly after taking several doses too close together. PFW, J

Echo, Sadly I'm not sure many here can assist with your question. Socialized medicine has some benefits, but there are a ton of negatives that go along with it. In the US, if we don't like a doctor, or they appear to be a complete buffoon. We just go to another doctor. Eventually finding someone that's competent (hopefully). I wouldn't take my car to a mechanic that's incompetent, nor will I ever visit a doctor (more than once) that's incompetent with my treatment. Sorry to hear you got the guy that passed his medical test (but not at the top): I guess there has to be doctors that were at the bottom of the GPA but still get to use those "DR" initials. J

newfie, Outstanding news on your PF time!! (but don't tempt the beast, and stay way from alcohol for a while) If your cycle has ended, you might find this a good opportunity to get setup with 'busting' material before any upcoming cycles. (or better yet! start preventative busting to keep the attacks away!) J

brett66, ++ Jeebs comments. I'd bump the dose a little higher. It's been found to be fairly common that slightly larger doses help smack down the CH a little better. J

Tony, I might not be understanding, but are you in the trial for Acetium? J

Brett66, Everyone above is correct, but I think to fully answer your question we need to know if you're trying to kill a current cycle? Or preventative dosing? (dose schedule can be very different) If you're dosing to kill a CH cycle, I'd try to stick as close to 5 days as possible. Most often each dose will reduce the attacks frequency and pain level. It's been noted that if you wait too long between doses the attacks can come back. Meaning the dosing won't kill the cycle. Picture it like pushing a car up a hill. If you keep pushing (dosing each 5 days). you'll get the car up the hill. If you stop too long the car will roll back down the same amount you just pushed it. Meaning it won't kill the cycle, it'll just keep coming back. Hope that example wasn't too confusing. If you're preventative dosing, taking a second dose 5, 10 or 15 days apart isn't an issue, since you're not 'pushing' against the active CH. Again if you're in an active cycle, try to stick to 5 days. You'll have significantly better results! J

++ Tony is spot on. Alcohol extract stored in the freezer keeps much longer (but that stuff is NASTY).. Made me want to barf just smelling it. Overit, I'd recommend getting fresh, (just in case). Well worth the few $ to not let the attacks come swinging back if your seeds are old. J

Tony Only, Thanks for sharing. Happy to hear he's getting some pain free time. Sooooo sad his body is in such bad shape from all the Dr and Gov approved medications. I wish more people could get the news of the SAFE alternative medicines and not have to go through wrecking their body first.... J

newfie, You seem to be taking a lot of stuff, that might be clouding what's going on. I think you're on the right path to try JUST the energy drink, /or JUST the indomethacin. That said, sometimes it takes multiple things to knock the attacks down. What works best for you - IS best. My last cycle the VA prescribed amitriptyline (Elavil). I took a half a pill one night, but after reading all the side effects. I never took another one. (Instead, I focused on finding a good day to dose my fungus). PFW, J

CHFather, We need to clone you. Love that you help so many people. Just reading your posts sometimes makes me proud to be part of this community. Echo, Sorry to hear you haven't improved. CHFather's posts are generally spot on. If you do decide to try fungus (and I'll deviate from CHFather and say "Why not see" if it helps. The #1 thing I've learned about the fungus is Set and Setting (guess that's 2 . I'd be pretty confident you'd be fine with a threshold dose if you have a friend (or 2) over to just hang out and have some fun one evening. Make sure you're in a comfortable place, with people you trust. I try to make some fun out of each time I dose. I have a ritual that a true friend helps me with (my sitter). We go to the grocery store and get some snacks and gatorade. Snacks for just after peak when everything is all-good. I've found fresh fruit is the BEST. Pineapple (nicknamed Cosmic F-ing Pineapple). Make sure your phone is OFF, The music is ON (something tripppppy). Don't plan on trying to do anything for a few hours, but just have some fun. Please check in here often if not for you, for us. I'd like to hear you feeling better sometime soon. Even if it's small spurts of feeling good anything can help sometimes. I'll be happy to open my can of bad humor if that'll help any PFW, J

newfie, I'd push your doctor to get a reference to a qualified neurologist. I'd also question the diagnosis of CH if you have 1 week of attacks ever 3 to 4 years. That sounds very odd and nothing like an eposodic CH I've ever read about (but I'm easily wrong sometimes . A neurologist that specializes in head conditions would be a highly recommended next stop. CHFather has some great recommendations above J

TMonkey, Plane rides are notorious for being CH triggers. Thanks for the info: It wouldn't surprise me at all if Ayahuasca doesn't keep the CH away similar to the other hallucinogens. That stuff is a pretty strong trip though. For preventative busting, I'd prefer to dose with something a little softer on the mind. J

TMonkey, Curious about your Ayahuasca experience: Were you in cycle when you took it, and your CH went away? Or were you already out of cycle, and just stayed out of cycle after the Ayahuasca? J

+++ Jeebs and Moxie's post!! J

TryToSurvive, If the fungus dose reduced the frequency and intensity, then I suspect you just need to fine tune the dose and/or schedule. (stick with fungus since it's much more reliable in chemical consistency) A bit of a hypothesis (because I'm a numbers crunching / analytical kinna guy) : Did you wait the 5 days between doses. While the majority have found through trial and error that 5 days between doses is the "sweet spot" that allows the frequency and intensity of the attacks to get reduced more and more with each dose. I wonder if some people's metabolism has a different "Sweet Spot" maybe some people need 3 days (or maybe 7 days?) between doses, due to metabolism or something else going on in their body / diet. If you had success, even limited success, I'd highly recommend giving it another go, and experiment (document along the way) what works better /or worse. #1 I'd say make sure you're taking a fairly high dose. That's repeatedly been proven there is a direct correlation of dose to CH reduction in those that have stubborn CH. PFW, J

booj / all, From what I'm seeing there appears to be a campaign to recruit people to get treated by this doctor in Africa. From my perspective it looks to be about nothing but good old money... Here's my opinion from what I've read: 1) There are less than a dozen people with CH that have had treatment at that clinic that have been pain free for a few weeks (that clinic ONLY advertises and has documentation mostly just for migraine sufferers, which we all know CH is nothing similar to migraine). While I'm happy they're "temporarily" pain free, there is NO proof they are cured as the people implanted to this website and others are purporting.... A few weeks is NOT cured. Prednisone can do the same thing without cutting on a person's face, head or brain... 2) There are several reports of serious issues coming out of the surgeries (cutting muscle, blood vessels and nerves and/or burning them) that have complications. Compare that to: 3) There are thousands (maybe 10's of thousands) of people that are now taking fungus / shrooms / psylo / LSA or LSD that have either stopped their CH, gotten their lives back, or had significant improvement (or all of the above). My vote - NO CUTTING on my face, brain or anything. J

TryToSurvive, As Potter once said: Take enough fungus to see God(?) Making sure you wait 5 days between doses? Any scripts or supplements that might be blocking the bust? Curious why It's not helping. (gotta be a reason?, I'm very curious about those few occurrences that people say it doesn't help). Anything you can share might help others. J

The write up on that stuff looks pretty scary. It's highly addictive, has a history of people committing suicide and can cause death when mixed with a LOT of common drugs. TryToSurvive - Are you currently dosing with fungus? seeds? J "Xyrem is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant. Alcohol and sedative hypnotics are contraindicated in patients using Xyrem. The concurrent use of Xyrem with other CNS depressants, including but not limited to opioid analgesics, benzodiazepines, sedating antidepressants or antipsychotics, general anesthetics, muscle relaxants, and/or illicit CNS depressants, may increase the risk of respiratory depression, hypotension, profound sedation, syncope, and death."

Ting, Awesome to hear from you, and your many days of PF time. You have to fill us in on what's been going on in your life since your last visit. J

Sad day. RIP. While some of his creations may not have been used by some in the best manner, others were very helpful to many. It sorta feels like a change of times with notice of his passing. http://psychedelicfrontier.com/good-bye-sasha-chemist-alexander-shulgin-dies/ J

struett, I'm going to pick and choose, and double up on key points from the posts above ++ Energy drink slam, right before hitting the O2 at a high LPM ++ I'd dose and hit it hard - Even if you cycle is close to it's normal end. There's nothing wrong with shoving the beast out the door. ++ It's a scary thought, but my cycles got longer and harder as I got older. Eventually turning into 2 cycles yearly that nearly merged together with no pain free time between them. Strongly recommend preventative busting. No reason to let the cycles in, if you don't have to. ++ Fungus seems to be universally more reliable on the busting and on the reliability of the measured dose. Some people have good luck with RC, but there's a HUGE amount of variability in trying to dose with them. PFW, J

I tracked down Deb and sent her an email. Curious about her busting experience. I'll ping back after I chat with her. J

dannyboy, Attacking one of the FEW doctors that listen to, and has helped many of us on this board, is not a smart move if you want anyone here to listen to you. BostonHeadacheDoc is one of the most respected and knowledgeable headache doctors when it comes to Cluster Headache.. PERIOD... To say CH is not his field is showing your knowledge very clearly. I'm sure there are treatments that help many people in different ways. Brain slicing would be my absolute least preferred. Of all the reports over the years I've read about, people having their brains cut on by surgeons: Few have been successful and MOST have a string of fallout issues related to their surgery, after care or new issues that result from the surgery. I would never advocate for someone to allow a doctor to take a knife to their brain... NEVER. I watched the Deborah Zale video end to end. Interesting that when the video was taken, she was 7 days pain free. There are a plethora of treatments and drugs that can give 7 or more days of pain free time. I wouldn't declare 7 days a "Cure" just to get people lined up for their brain slicing....... I remember when I took Verapamil for the first time. It was definitely a cure to me at the moment. I was on cloud 9, that the pain was gone... But like so many other cures, it didn't last... I'd be more interested to chat with her on her use of the hallucinogens she referenced in the video. Really interested if she followed the most current substance and procedures. (ie, wait 5 days between doses etc). It's commonly known there are lots of drugs that block busting as well as taking it too close together (w/o 5 days) can cause the bust to be ineffective. J