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Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Tue Aug 02, 2005 at 11:08:29 PM EST
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Psychedelic mushrooms are making a comeback - medically. Here's the low-down on the medical 'shrooms:

In the past two years scores of British cluster headache sufferers have turned to magic mushrooms, prompted by reports from the US that suggest that LSD and psilocybin - the active ingredient of magic mushrooms - may be able to control the intensity and duration of their headaches.

Although some have experimented with psychedelics before, the majority have no history of drug taking. But many say they would rather risk jail than forgo a substance that lets them lead a normal life.

Spurred on by the large number of patients who find relief from the mushrooms,

researchers at Harvard Medical School are hoping for permission from the US food and drug administration to conduct a controlled trial.

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    Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches | 32 comments (32 topical)
    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by TomK on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    Cookie - Let me add to what that other guy said. It's plain ignorant to think that psychedelics are only used by bored college students. For example, in the business world, Steve Jobs has said the problem with microsoft products is that Bill Gates needs to drop acid. In the world of religion, psychedelics have a long and important role. Before being too critical of mushrooms, consider that nearly all religions in the world have a substance which, when consumed, brings direct contact with God. For example, it's entirely plausible that Jesus himself fed psilocybin, or more likely aminita muscaria, mushrooms to his disciples. Psychedelics may play a huge role in christianity, if christianity originally resembled a mystery religion (and the way the sacrament of communion is described, it certainly sounds like it). The elusian mysteries (ever hear of, say, Plato, who partook) used a drink that was most likely precursers to LSD caused by fermented rye grains (ergot). Buddha's last meal, fed to him by a blacksmith (a fellow with a similar role in buddha's culture as an alchemist in the west, one who would know a lot about herbs) was mushrooms. Many creative people find inspiration in them as well. You only have to look at the artwork of someone like Alex Grey or listen to the music of someone like Tool, Shpongle, or Saul williams to see that they can have a positive effect on creativity. Many have attributed the rise in popularity in Buddhism in the western world to psychedelics. It is one of the great travesties of the drug war that so many people equate psychedelics with drugs like meth and herion. The purpose in taking these drugs can be entirely at odds. A person who uses psychedelics intentionally to enhance awareness and aid in letting go of traumatic events in ones past will not freak out from them. A person who uses them because he thinks they are a means of escaping ones situation instead of enhancing it will quickly become educated that this does not work. Also, the dose of psilocybin that is used to treat clusterheadaches is under the threshhold for that which will cause psychedelic effects. No one is tripping off their headache medicine here. No one is driving while tripping.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (3.00 / 1) (#1)
    by chemoelectric on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    The title is wrong, because this is about treating cluster headache, not curing it. I think I'll stick with nortriptyline for now and stay away from the magic mushrooms, thank you.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    look out for tummy aches though!!

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Now I've never experienced cluster headaches, but I can't imagine that LSD or magic mushrooms would help anyone lead a normal life. While they may be loads of fun for bored college students, they certainly don't help anyone be a productive member of society.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#4)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    That's why they're magic.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Tim Leary was a Harvard researcher. He was only 40 years ahead of his time.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Magic Mushrooms, one of mother nature's most special gifts. Too bad one of the side effects (or in my case the MAIN effect) is euphoria, the powers that be just can't stand substances that bring about euphoric feelings.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#7)
    by swingvote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Cookie, That all depends on how you define a "normal" life. There are theories today, based on both anthropological and archeaological evidence, that mankind may owe its own heightened state of conciousness to the routine ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms during our developmental stages. They may in fact be the missing link. Consider that there are receptors in your brain that have only one purpose, the processing of the subtance DMT, a naturally occurring chemical released by the body during moments of stress which has many of the same properties of both LSD (which is in many ways a synthesized form of the same) and the compounds in psilocybin mushrooms. It is this substance which is responsible for that heightened state of awareness which occurs when you are under extreme stress, such as when time seems to slow down in the midst of a car accident or other catastrophe. And that heightened stated of awareness is responsible for many of the effects of LSD and magic mushrooms. Taken in small quantities, these susbtances rarely cause true "hallucinations", in which people see things that are in no way real, but rather cause one to notice, and focus on, things that are always happening around you but which we all learned to ignore a long time ago, when we were kids. I can't attest to any efficacy of these substances in regard to headaches, but they are of use to far more than simple bored college students. If you've got an open mind on the subject, try reading a book or two by the late Terence McKenna, a man with 5 or 6 Doctoral degrees and a lifelong interest in the anthropological evidence of our (as in mankind's) long-term symbiotic relationship with these substances. Then, if you really want to scare yourself silly, try reading Michio Kaku's book "Hyperspace", which seems to be describing much of the same thing that McKenna does, but from a purely mathematical, quantum-physics based approach.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    All of the greatest medicines and treatments in history were discovered in nature, not invented in a lab. Why people get so bothered by the euphoric side effects of certain drugs that are effective in treating certain conditions boggles me. What's so wrong with feeling good as a side effect? Life's too short. "I never had a problem with drugs, only with policemen." Keith Richards

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    kdog, thanks for the info! There's a lot that I don't know about this stuff. I was thinking back to the good ol' days when I spent two hours in the produce department at Dillons in Lawrence, KS giggling at the summer squash when I should have been studying for that accounting exam. I didn't think that was a very productive use of my time, but maybe it played a bigger role in my development as a young adult than I think. I might check out those books sometime, but after two Jared Diamond books in a row, I need something lighter right now.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#10)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    Cluster headaches sound quite a bit more debilitating than migraines, from which I suffer. But I wonder exactly how bad they would need to be to take mushrooms. Take too much and you would be nonfunctional, too little and you suffer (well, at least I do) that really lame tightly wound feeling. I know I would rather have one of the head splitting, vomit inducing migraines than be crawling out of my skin.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    Credit is due to jpaul, not I. I look forward to checking out the recommended reading as well. Very interesting stuff.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#12)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    It's absolutely incredible," he says. "I can't tell you how much magic mushrooms have changed my life." (from the link) Yes, taking shrooms constantly will definately change your life! Personally, I have no problem with un-biased scientific research (is there such a thing?) on mushrooms, but I do have a problem with folks doing things like driving while tripping after "self-medicating" with mushrooms.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#14)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:53 PM EST
    Cookie has it about right in the first post; no headaches? Great. Normal life not if you're doing 'shrooms all the time. Sarcuna1, Good point.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#15)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    "Also, the dose of psilocybin that is used to treat clusterheadaches is under the threshhold for that which will cause psychedelic effects. No one is tripping off their headache medicine here. No one is driving while tripping." Well, if this is true, then I don't have a problem with it. I spent a (great) weekend, years ago, skiing on shrooms with some friends. At one point I pointed out a gondola up on the mountain to my friends. They swore there was no gondola, and after some time of concentration, I realized the "gondola" was actually a small group of pine trees. If the dosage of psilocybin used to self medicate against cluster headaches is well below the level that would induce this type of "reality bending," I'm ok with it being used by folks who are driving.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    Interesting. All I ever learned from them was that sex and psychedelics DON'T mix!

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#17)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    pigwiggle - Cluster headaches sound quite a bit more debilitating than migraines, from which I suffer.
    Not to marginalize your headaches, but I know people who can't function when their migraines hit. Can't work, can't walk, can't do anything but lay in a dark room and suffer. If even a euphoric dose at home outside of biz hours allows them to lead what everyone else considers a normal life, more power to them. No one was saying they needed to be constantly medicated to achieve these results.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    I am a 52 year old male in Vancouver, BC. I suffered from periodic severe cluster headaches for almost 30 years. They would recur about every 2-3 years for a 2-4 month period, in 1-2 hour "drop me to my knees" headaches occurring 4-6 times daily. I nicknamed them "suicide headaches", and could not work or function normally during the clusters. I used dihydroergotamine (Migran), sumatriptan (Imitrex), and large amounts of ibuprofen or acetominafen in attempts to control the pain with little success. In desperation I finally targeted my diet and for one year stopped eating all meat, dairy products, chocolate, sugar, all sweets and soft drinks, and avoided prepared foods and restaurant food. I lived for that year on only beans, rice, tofu, canned sardines, canned tuna, canned salmon, granola with soy milk, fruit, and multigrain breads. That was six years ago. I have had absolutly NO recurrence of the headaches in that time, other than a brief 1 minute "flash" of the type of pain associated with cluster headaches, caused by ONE bite of chocolate 4 years ago. I have noticed a migraine "aura" about 4 times in six years but NO pain. I consider myself self-cured and have little faith in the medical profession or the pharmaceutical industry. I have slowly and carefully added things to my diet but it is still centered around the things I lived on for that year. I believe that cluster heaches and migraines are an "environmental" disease caused by poisoning from eating things that only "look" like food, but are not food.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    P.S.: I have used LSD, magic mushrooms, and other psychedelics numerous times in my life. I am a moderate smoker, and have perhaps three of four alcoholic drinks per year(usually scotch). None of this has had any positive or negative effect on the clusters.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#20)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:55 PM EST
    Sailor-
    “Not to marginalize your headaches, but I know people who can't function when their migraines hit. Can't work, can't walk, can't do anything but lay in a dark room and suffer.”
    Sounds about right, but after reading some of the testimonials of cluster sufferers (just googled it) I feel rather fortunate. These folks become altogether hysterical; eyes swollen shut, nose pouring fluid, some even resort to pounding their head on walls and floors to detract from the searing pain. VR-
    “I believe that cluster heaches and migraines are an "environmental" disease caused by poisoning from eating things that only "look" like food, but are not food.”
    It is commonly known that certain foods and activities will trigger migraines for folks disposed to migraines. For example, sadly hops is a trigger for me. I have always been a fan of hoppy beer but in my early twenties, a time most folks develop migraines, I found that I couldn’t drink a highly hoped beer without getting a ripping headache. You mention scotch; I cannot drink significantly peaty whiskeys either. I also cannot overexert myself at altitude. This weekend I backpacked in the High Uintas between 9,000 and 11,000 feet. My experience has been that if I hadn’t taken time to periodically rest I most certainly would have come down with a migraine. Sleep deprivation also is a trigger for me. So clearly I stand as a counterexample to your ‘poisoned by fake food’ hypothesis. But really, the two of us are hardly enough to characterize the nature of migraines and cluster headaches, right?
    “I consider myself self-cured and have little faith in the medical profession or the pharmaceutical industry.”
    I have great confidence in modern medicine and pharmaceuticals. For example, in my teens my appendix ruptured. Today the procedure is relatively trivial, but in my grandfathers day it would have been a death sentence. Incidentally, where did the idea to change your diet come from? The first bit of advice I received from my physician was to keep a diary of my diet and instances of migraine.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:55 PM EST
    I love all those drug commercials on TV with the side effect disclaimer in really small print at the bottom of the screen or spoken so fast at the end of the commercial that one tends to ignore it. Apparently in today's society it is OK to take a chemically manufactured drug that will leave you with a liver problem or having to make really fast trips to the bathroom, nosebleeds, sexual dysfunction etc. but God forbid one should take a naturally produced substance to make you feel better because then you would feel better, which means that you will not have to go buy another chemically produced drug to counteract the effects of the first chemically manufactured drug.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:55 PM EST
    Vern, Migraine and Cluster headaches have many triggers, and food is a big one. You've managed to cure yourself by meticulously eliminating your triggers, but unfortunately some triggers are beyond human control. Changes in weather cause instant migraine in some, while lack of/too much sleep is a sure trigger in others. For these people modern medicine is a godsend. I speak from experience: Imitrex has worked perfectly for me for years.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:56 PM EST
    C-Law I agree with you that Imitrex works wonderfully to abort a cluster headache or a migraine, and is useful for temporary relief. It did work for me also... my concern with it though was manyfold...(1) it is symptomatic relief only - the headaches are only a symptom of an underlying problem...(2) it can be very dangerous - vascular constricting drugs can and do affect the heart, brain, and circulatory system... and drugs that unbalance sertonin production in the brain can have unknown and unexpected effects...(3) the headaches are not caused by a deficiency of Imitrex... and finally (4) I wanted to remove the cause - not the symptom. ...Vern

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:56 PM EST
    2 is not anywhere near a useful statistical sample,true... and I have no evidence that what worked for me will work for anyone else. I think though that awareness of what we do (knowingly or unknowingly) to ourselves, and recording how we feel after eating something, or after activities we engage in, will often give us enough clues to what we can change to acheive a result we want. I have little faith in engineered pharmaceuticals other than for infections (antibiotics) because so many of them are produced to mask or remove symptoms, rather than address causes... allowing us to feel better while continuing actions that cause illness...thereby avoiding resposibility for our own health.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:57 PM EST
    I think though that awareness of what we do (knowingly or unknowingly) to ourselves, and recording how we feel after eating something, or after activities we engage in, will often give us enough clues to what we can change to acheive a result we want.
    To get back to the topic of this forum... I will concede the possibility that heightened awareness produce by psychedelics may be helpful in giving us enough "awareness of what we do (knowingly or unknowingly) to ourselves... [to] give us enough clues to what we can change"... and it may be that the psychedelics I've used in the past were, in that sense, what cured my clusters.

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#26)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:01 PM EST
    "The experiences resulting from the use of psychedelic drugs are often described in religious terms. They are therefore of interest to those like myself who, in the tradition of William James,are concerned with the psychology of religion" ---> http://deoxy.org/w_psyrel.htm#part2a = Psychedelics and Religious Experience
    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:06 PM EST
    Hi, I am an episodic cluster headache sufferer. Cluster headaches have nothing to do with food. It has been shown that CH sufferers all have a deformity present in their hypothalamus. Migraines do commonly trigger with food. The cause of pain in both migraine and CH are similar in that blood vessels swell up on one side of the head pressing on the trigametric nerve. In CH the blood vessels typically swell up to 20x their normal size. With migraine it's typically 4-5x. Vern if your vascular headaches are triggered by food then they are not CH - which is fortunate for you! During the periods I suffer from CH I can barely eat, so I wouldn't think that food is much of a trigger. Also my diet does not typically change during the times that I am epsidoic, other than barely eating. Typically I'll lose between 25 and 50 pounds during a 1 month cluster episode. I am episodic, in my case I get 2 episodes each year lasting 1 month each. During the episode I'll get hit approx 6x each day. Each attack lasts 3 hours. The pain is excruciating. For a while I scream and band my head off the floor, then it gets to sore to scream so I just whimper. It is actually hard to quantify how bad the pain is, because it is in a class of it's own. For example if I pass you a mug of hot coffee, then you can say "Oh yes that feels about 70C". But if I stick your head in molten lava... Thing is that chronic CH sufferers go through this EVERY SINGLE DAY. That's why some of them kill themselves. The problem is that episodics quite often turn chronic, but the same doesn't usually happen in reverse. I swear that I would make a good secret agent, because nobody could inflict more torture on me than my head already does! And the thing is that my head is merciless. No matter how much I beg, and believe me I beg... it keeps on turning the vice. Fortunately I discovered mushrooms 12 1/2 years ago. Since then instead of enduring a total of 2 years of pain I have endured a totaly of less than 2 months. Which is a big improvement. The dose is sub hallucinogenic, and feels similar to a 3 beer buzz. In the beginning I needed to dose once every 3 months, then it was once every 6 months, then once a year. The last time i had to dose was over 2 years ago, although I do still siffer phantom episodes (CH without the pain). Undoubtedly I shall have to dose again at some point. This treatment has absolutely saved my life. It enable me to attend college and get a degree. It enables me to work and hold down a job. It enabled me to form a lasting relationship and get married. I won't be having kids though, because they now think that CH is genetic. My grandmother had CH. I would not wish CH on anyone. If anyone would like to read more then visit:

    Re: Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:07 PM EST
    Having had cluster headaches for so many years, I feel great sympathy for anyone suffering such incredibly excruciating and debilitating pain. I am frustrated however by the fact that no one I've ever heard of apart from myself has been able to find a way to stop the headaches permanently (except with symptom relieving medication), and also frustrated with the fact that no one I've ever talked to about this has tried what worked for me. As I said earlier... I have no evidence that what worked for me will work for anyone else...but one can always hope I suppose... For what it's worth, in this thread I've given all the input I have to offer. May you all find a pain free way... :) ...Vern Radul in paradise (Vancouver, BC)

    one more thing (none / 0) (#30)
    by elanpissant on Mon Mar 05, 2007 at 02:03:14 PM EST
    bowel movement immediately on onset.

    (i did say ridiculous didnt i?)

    pps (none / 0) (#31)
    by elanpissant on Mon Mar 05, 2007 at 02:09:20 PM EST
    i wish there were some other name to describe them other than headache.

    headache describes the location but does nothing to describe the pain encountered.

    telling folks you have a headache trivializes the condition. they all immediately lose any sense of what you are describing and relate it to their own experiences (hangovers or something)

    i have read that the only thing that may be more painful is 1. childbirth 2.tic de lareux (sp?).

    consider this. most women experience childbirth 2-3 times a lifetime. i get the headaches 2-3 times per day.

    tic de lareux sounds awful.

    Ever try (none / 0) (#32)
    by squeaky on Mon Mar 05, 2007 at 02:09:43 PM EST
    biofeedback? It helped me. During childhood and college years I suffered qutie a bit from those headaches. Bio-feedback taught me how to relax muscles in my face (at onset) that I did not even know I had.

    madgic mushrooms and clusterheadaches (none / 0) (#33)
    by dogsoljer on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 06:12:07 AM EST
    i am quiet new to the internet but thank the godess and god i am here now, i thought i was the only one who sufferd this storm in my head, for years taking anything that the doctor would give me and then going back and telling them it didnt worki have just taken some magic mushrooms to help with my cycle of every two years ch.
    only enoghf to get an effect [not to send me off my head].
    i am sick of theses periods in my life where pain is the wanting child that constantly screams out for attention .
    my wife has seen enough of these , i cry for mercy and none ever comes , she dose her best at trying to calm me but as you know there is no calming words that can help.
    i would take anything that would stop this madness, i dont like the feeling of man made drugs in my system for weeks on end, .
    i am in week six of my cycle i can only take two frovatriptan a day, although i have three to six headaches aday so thats forty two days so far of agony and eighty four pills .
    i feel sick and weak i am tierd of going to bed when i get in from work and tierd of taking time away from work and getting that unbeliveing attitude from my boss, i know that if he could sample my pain then he would fall to his knees and beg for that mercy i so desperatly crave...

    Magic Mushrooms May Cure Cluster Headaaches | 32 comments (32 topical)