cluster_f*kd

Hi all. I stumbled here searching for Depression + psychedelics. But was very intrigued as I have had episodic cluster headaches for 30+ years. Thought I’d tell my story in case it helps and then throw out my questions for any who want to chime in with ideas. The clusters first started in college and weren’t formally diagnosed and effectively treated until I was in grad school at UPenn half a dozen years later. I saw the doctor who ran the headache center there (after the generalist I student health prescribed something that made them worse, sent me for a CT scan, and then said there was a headache center at the University Hospital, but I’d have to pay a $20 co-pay...) and before I could get a word out of my mouth, he took one look at me and said “You have cluster headaches.” Described my symptoms better than I could have, guessed the onset of the cluster within 2 days, and then berated the doctors in “stupid health” for the next 10 minutes. Sansert worked for me. But then after leaving Philly finding a neurologist who would prescribe it was nearly impossible. Tried Verapamil + Prednisone - made them worse, as did other “treatments”. High flow Oxygen worked sometimes as an abortive therapy. Luckily mine were Episodic as I got into my mid-30’s clusters became less frequent. In my early 40’s I was diagnosed with hypogonadism (aka: very low testosterone). Physician at that time prescribed Testosterone, high dose vitamin D, fish oil, and some other supplements. It didn’t register until that physician passed away and I was w/o a T prescription for a while that the T supplementation had seemingly ameliorated the CH’s. Cannot say it was the D, b/c I was still taking that and the clusters came back without the T supplementation. Clusters seem to be in check now that back on T and the supplements. However, in the past few years I have struggled with increasingly frequent and severe bouts of depression and sleep issues and recently significantly elevated Blood Pressure and Cholesterol. And cardiac calcium test indicated that at 51 I have the coronary calcium levels corresponding to the median for a 70-75 year old male. Wish someone had thought to suggest vitamin K2 when they put me on mega D3. Frustration I have is that specialists want to focus on their specialty and treat with drugs that deal with the specific symptoms. Psychiatrist wants to feed me Anti-depressants and sleep aids. Cardiologist prescribes calcium channel blockers, and angiotensin receptor blockers. Endocrinologist happy to prescribe T (so long as cardiologist OK with it) and a slew of supplements. At the same time, blood glucose indicates I’m pre-diabetic. Have followed a keto protocol for the past 2 months and have lost 20 pounds which probably helps all around, but still feel like crap and no lasting relief for the depression despite the meds, CBT, etc. Pretty obvious (to me at least) that these are all interconnected. The brain and body are SYSTEMS. Appreciate any thoughts/suggestions/reference sources that address these SYSTEMICALLY and possibly a good functional medicine MD that isn’t full up on patients, preferably in SoCal. Looking for what can reverse the downward spiral and create a virtuous circle. No magic bullets but pieces of the puzzle that link together to help. It may be a red herring, but given that Sansert worked for my clusters, intuition is that psychedelics might help with the depression. Make sense? Thanks, J