link between drug abuse and CH

[Myhedhrts]

I am a recovering addict and I had always thought that my past drug use had caused my headaches. though I found out yesterday that my maternal grandfather also had ch.

[MoxieGirl]

There is probably more of a link in genetics than drug abuse, or else I'd expect you see more people with CH out there. 

 

And, depending on your drug of choice, they may have actually kept CH at bay, and you're now experiencing because you've come off drugs. I'm sure that's not what you want to hear, but a lot of people have noticed that - especially if you used LSD, mushrooms or the like. 

 

MG

[ClusterHeadSurvivor]

I have never done drugs recreationally prior to CCH. I use MM for CCH only. They also say that MM is supposed to work to get people off it,

My wife is in recovery with 10 years clean time so kudos to you and "keep coming back":

[Bejeeber]

I've heard others ponder whether their past drug use may have caused their CH. I understand the regret and/or guilt regarding past recreational drug use and the tendency to blame current afflictions on it, but I haven't seen any evidence whatsoever of it being a cause of CH. The reverse is actually true with psychedelics, and as MG said, many of us have looked back at times of past psychedelic use only to realize we were in remission then, VERY LIKELY courtesy of the psychedelics.

 

Plus there are plenty of CH'ers such as ClusterHeadSurvivor who had never done drugs.

 

Now if you actually got bonked a good one or two on the noggin, THAT appears to be a nasty trigger indeed for CH, there are plenty of stories of head injury related onset of CH.

 

And echoing MG again, your genetic link with your CH'er maternal grandfather sounds to me like it could be the most significant "cause" of your CH.

[Ricardo]

I think it works the other way around--I think in some ways CH may make you more likely to abuse substances as a self-medication.  An under-active hypothalamus does not produce the right amount of endogenous brain drugs, so you seek them out on your own.  I think that before we actually get to the point in our lives where we get the clusters our brains are just not making enough drugs and our brain's know it.

 

-Ricardo

[Marc]

I cannot speak for others, but no recreational drug use or head injuries for me - but I was 14+ years chronic. I was a late starter, but now I'm PF with only a familiar "warning" now and then. (Actually my wife sees it before I realize it, because of the way I move my head/neck)

 

Marc

[urs Brasil]

I confirm Cluster-like headache smoking an excess of Marihuana. Wears excess means daily and a lot of joints...

One may call me longterm pot smoker (when working 3-5, else around 10 a day). Never experienced problems until a few month ago. Even didn't realize headache coming from pot smoking.

 

Cluster-like: It starts like Cluster-headache but barely reaches the EYE! But painful yes!

Heard a similar story years ago (receiving terrible headache each time smoking pot...)

 

Hence, I don't think smoking pot does/did cause my headache.

Rather I think something else is wrong in my body, so at the time smoking pot, things get worse and ending in headache. So something else is wrong causing pot creating headache.

[domino]

No drug use for me until CCH. In fact using shrooms is greta for breaking addictions...

[Twisted Image]

I have used cocaine, 2CB, MDMA, speed, laughgas and some miscellaneous recreational. Smoked weed everyday in the past for some years. And i was drinking a lot in weekends. I have a feeling my CH has something to do with that past behaviour. Maby it was in my genes and DNA regardless but i maby made it worse or something can't tell for sure. No familymembers with CH.

[DitkoNL]

Hi, for what it's worth: I tried marijuana against the pain over the past weeks and it does nothing for me. 

I read somewhere that cocaine can immediately provoke a cluster attack.

[Ricardo]

 

I read somewhere that cocaine can immediately provoke a cluster attack.

 

Actually it is the other way around.  Cocaine has been know for quite a long time to be an effective abortive for cluster headache.  And no, you should not try it.  

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1526-4610.1982.hed2202069.x/abstract

 

-Ricardo

[DitkoNL]

And no, you should not try it.  

 

 

 

-Ricardo

 

Hi Ricardo,

 

I appreciate your reply (and warning, which I fully support).

 

As a matter of fact I did. I've done some recreational use of cocaine in the past so I considered it worth a try. Shortly after taking it I experienced one of the most excruciating hits I ever had, so that's it for me, never again. Whatever the reports may say, it's obviously not for me.

 

On the other hand, I have the impression that Amphetamine is helpful to keep the beast at bay (compare to coffee/energy drink). Evil side effect is that it keeps you awake till exhaustion; in the end we all have to face sleep & waking up with The Pain. 

 

I count myself lucky. I'm off the hook again, so far my episodes don't last longer then six weeks. 

 

Best,

Dit

[didgens]

pretty sure its a gene pool thing .. my sons great grandfather had migraines ,, my husband had SUNCT syndrome and now he has CH.  and he looks mostly like his GG.

[domino]

I never did any drugs either and started getting them at 17, i was the most clean cut person ever. Now i control these with MM.

[Mergleman]

Hi users,

 

I am in the middle of trying some new methods for my mother whose been suffering quite severely for almost 10 years now, and have seen 'MM' be mentioned quite a bit and is described as quite effective in preventing and stopping attacks.

 

Can anyone tell me what this is and share their experience with this please (how effective it is compared to other treatments tried.

[CHfather]

"MM" is "magic mushrooms" -- mushrooms containing psilocybin.  (Also referred to here in other ways, including "psilo" and "shrooms.")  Before you immediately think that this is not for your mother, you should probably read the numbered files in the ClusterBuster Files section.  There are some other forms of treatment with "psychedelic" substances that can be quite effective and are very unlikely to cause any actual psychedelic effects.  Depending on what your mother has tried, this might be a very reasonable option for her. If this method of treating CH, which is called "busting," wasn't very often effective (with far less side effects than conventional treatments), this site wouldn't be here.

 

If you can give us a fuller history of what your mother has done and is now doing to treat her CH, we can perhaps give you some other kinds of advice.  MOST IMPORTANTLY for now (until you tell us more), does she have an optimized oxygen system: high flow (at least 15 lpm, but higher flow rates are preferable) and a high-quality mask?  Although this is CH treatment #1 for stopping attacks, it is just amazing how seldom people have it. More here: https://clusterbusters.org/oxygen-information/

 

If you are going to give us more information, it would be best for you to start a new thread in a different section ("Theory and Implementation" or "Share Your Busting Stories").