Herbal Cigarettes

[CharleyN]

I was just wondering, do herbal cigarettes (i.e. tobacco-free) exacerbate or trigger any attacks? Just curious if anyone has tried anything

[Pebblesthecorgi]

I don't think you will get an answer to this because of the variety of herbal products out there.  My observation from attending CB conferences is that a significant number of clusterheads are smokers.  I have heard neurologist state this is a cause of the clusters but I suspicion the opposite is true.  Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor and vaso constriction is desirable in aborting cluster headaches.  So if you have a headache and smoking helps even a  little you are reinforced to smoke.  It becomes a vicious cycle.  There are plenty of cluster heads who do not smoke so drawing conclusions is hard even with a more common use on inhalant.  Pretty much anything you inhale into your lungs isn't good for them.  The smoke/vapor causes irritation and allows other problems to manifest.

[Bryan]

When I was a smoker, I definetly used them to abort milder attacks when I didnt think imitrex was needed. A quickly smoked cigarette at the onset of an attack was usually enough to abort it for me. I relapsed many times from quiting smoking during my cycles because they gave me relief. Now I use oxygen to abort and it works better than cigarretes with no side effects.  Not sure about  herbal cigarettes, but I imagine they woulds have a varied effect, depending on the brand/ingredients.