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New Message Board Archives >> Oct-Dec 2003 >> Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
(Message started by: CMNpain on Oct 2nd, 2003, 3:28pm)

Title: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 2nd, 2003, 3:28pm
While I am new to joining the site, I have read a great deal about how magic mushrooms break cycles of the beast! If they do, how do I get them and why are out doctors so blind to this?? I'm looking for any relief!!

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by BobG on Oct 2nd, 2003, 3:51pm
Hey Chuck...
No, mushrooms will not "cure" cluster headaches. But then, neither will anything else. Some have claimed success with them while others got no relief at all.

Doctors are not blind to mushrooms. But they are very aware that the use is against the law.

What meds have you tried? Oxygen? Verapamil? Imitrex?

I don't have the link to the 'shroom site but someone will be here shortly to guide you.

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by catlind on Oct 2nd, 2003, 4:13pm
Magical?  Probably ;)  Cure?  No.

While there is not currently any official research underway, anecdotal evidence suggests a high efficacy in the use of psilocybin in the treatment of CH.

There are currently avenues of research being investigated.  Unfortunately, the research engine is a very slow moving one.  While using magic mushrooms is illegal, the research into this substance and the possible legitimate medication it may produce is not.  Cocaine yielded lidocaine, LSD yielded sansert, etc.

If you are interested in educating yourself about the information available for psilocybin use in CH, visit www.clusterbusters.com

Cat

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by vig on Oct 2nd, 2003, 4:19pm
It's not a yes or no question either.
It's very difficult to do. and it doesn't work for everyone.
www.clusterbusters.com.

I've been almost completely pain free for the last six weeks and I am watching the pain on this board in absolute horror, but this time it's because I remember it, not because I'm in it.  and yes, I DO have a hard time watching you hurt.

I've seen the movie Awakenings so I suspect it's possible this is only a fleeting moment.  
I plan on enjoying every second of it.
I'm not on my knees.  I haven't been awoken by horrible pain.  I don't even carry the 'Trex.

ask me again in another six months.
or six years...

The doctors will learn, but since some tie dyed yahoos in the sixties decided these were a toy, our medicine remains restricted... and the doctors have to distance themselves or risk their careers.

-p

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 2nd, 2003, 4:38pm
Hey thanks for the scoop everyone! I have been on every med in the book in 14 years (the last 7 at Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago). It seems like all the doctors do is throw more and more drugs at these brutal headaches! I was on so many drugs at one time (8 different drugs daily) I hardly knew which end was up! That's why when I saw the news about magic mushrooms I was soooo excited! If not a cure maybe some consistent relief? 14 years as cronic has taken it's toll!!!

Oxygen works but I can't sit still long enough to take it. During the day when I feel the shadow coing on I go run...fast...or ride my bike to move and get O2 at the same time. At night it's Imitrex injections. To be honest, I'm sick of all the drugs but without them I'm dead!!

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by jonny on Oct 2nd, 2003, 4:43pm

on 10/02/03 at 16:38:59, CMNpain wrote:
 (the last 7 at Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago)


LMAO (not at your pain)....How much did they get you for..$$$? ;D

...................................jonny

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by Pinkfloyd on Oct 2nd, 2003, 4:45pm

on 10/02/03 at 16:38:59, CMNpain wrote:
(the last 7 at Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago).


Hi Chuck,
If Dr. Frietag is your doc...next time you're in the exam room, alone with him...ask him about shrooms (psilocybin) and see what he says. If it's either Diamond, ask them too.

PF

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by Pinkfloyd on Oct 2nd, 2003, 5:25pm

on 10/02/03 at 15:51:25, BobG wrote:
What meds have you tried? Oxygen? Verapamil? Imitrex?


If he's been to Diamond for years, he's most probably tried them all....in just about every combination.



on 10/02/03 at 15:51:25, BobG wrote:
I don't have the link to the 'shroom site but someone will be here shortly to guide you.


Yeah, we just hate to see people in pain that, high percentage-wise, don't have to be. They don't even have to count aborting 8 clusters a day, a success.

The comment that "Some have claimed success with them while others got no relief at all." is quite misleading. Using the term "some" to refer to both success and failure, implies that its a 50/50 chance and that is not the case. Until the reports show something different, 8 out of 10 successful results is closer to the truth. Exactly how many people here have tried them and had NO success?

I also take exception to the "claim success" statement. You really think we're all lying? That we are sneaking into the closet to shoot up Imitrex so we can perpetrate the ruse?

People here "claim" their treatment to be a success when their Verapamil cuts their attacks down from five to "only" three a day.
Some "claim" success when their Verapamil, Depakote, Prednisone cocktails reduce their Imitrex injection use down to only 9 shots a month, within insurance limits.
Subtract the side effects that go with "these" success stories and it's obvious that it doesn't take much to make a clusterer feel they have found some level of success. I know, I used to feel the same way.

They aren't lying. We just seem to have different views on what a "success" really is at this point.

Imitrex = $1000.00
Verapamil = $500.00
Prednisone = $100.00
Oxygen = $500.00
Doctor's appointments = $$???
Out of State Clinic = $20,000
Being able to abort 3 clusters a day with Oxygen = Success

Spores = $10.00
Jars/substrate = $20.00
Birthing chamber = $30.00
No cluster attacks with just one maintenance dose every 6 months = Priceless


PF

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 2nd, 2003, 7:32pm
Thanks PF. I agree with your analysis! I have been through histimine treatment in the hospital (Diamond wing) 3 times! My longest period of arrest was 1 year which was an incredible year!! I have been on every combination of drugs imaginable and onlt imitrex stat dose works or O2. I have injected as many as 3 in a single night! I thank God I am still here to talk about it although to date He has left me with these @#@#@ headaches! I am willing to try the shroom treatment! It is the best odds I have heard in 14 years! Thanks for the good news!!

Chuck

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 2nd, 2003, 7:41pm
One more thing all, the histimine treatments (3) were $20,000 (average...high $32,000...low $17,800) not to mention doc. appointments for 14 years and 7 years at Diamond who now make you see a doctor before they even let me get a depo shot at $120 per...I can't even add how much we have spent on these headaches!!! What price do you put on the lost family time and moody reactions to my boys and wife and silent suffering I have been through!!! I know I am not telling you all anything new...it just feels good to say it out loud (so to speak)!!!!!

Chuck

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by jminmilwaukee on Oct 3rd, 2003, 7:04am
CMN,

Do to the high success rate utilizing this treatment, you will find that many who have tried are no longer on this board. I am one of the success stories who has choosen to stick around and get the word out.

I am not chronic but was able to knock down the severity of my last cycle by 90% or so in frequency and kipp levels. I will be partaking in preventative treatment (legally) in hopes of avoiding the onset altogether for the next due date.

The reason I am responding is to let you know, from another who has tried, that PF's claim of "more like 8 out of 10" is not off base at all. I gotta tell you also that getting off of all of those damn prescriptions is an eye opener in itself. I actually feel that being medication free played a large role in my abiblity to cope with the clusters the few times I did get hit last time.

Getting hit while in a state of clarity not to mention night after night of uninterupted sleep made all of the difference in the world.

I am not trying to "push" this on you or anyone else. I am just trying to help educate through example and hopefully help at least one person out of the nasty cycle of Meds, more meds, different meds and no true relief.

Good luck to you, I hope you have if not complete success at least a window of calm in the storm.

Jmin

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 3rd, 2003, 9:11am
Thanks Jmin! Sounds great! I can only imagine night after night of uninterrupted sleep on being med free. I gonna try this treatment ASAP!!

Chuck

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by ave on Oct 3rd, 2003, 12:42pm
CMN, I tried it too. It works for me. I haven't had a painful attack for 18 months, if I am keeping score correctly. Maybe it is longer, already.

But because doctors won't address this research I may never know whether it is the shrooms or whether I am just growing out of it. I tend to think it IS the shrooms, because I am still getting daily visits from  the beast, it just doesn't hurt anymore.

If you try them, please be careful and adhere to the guidlines laid down on the clustersbusters site.

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by dberg99 on Oct 3rd, 2003, 2:13pm
Any help getting this cure would be appreciated. Thirteen acid trips in my youth, look forward to trying da shroom. I'm a 20 year cluster sufferer, thought verapimil was my savior, but now it, too, has stopped working. OD-ing on Immitrex, but don't care. 6-10 ch/ day. Oxygen sometimes, but only briefly, helping...

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by jminmilwaukee on Oct 3rd, 2003, 2:19pm
dberg,

Read up at clusterbusters.com.

Our findings indicate that only a small amount is required, small enough to feel a bit silly but no tripping required. We are also finding that larger doses may actually work against you as it may take longer for your receptors to clear up.

It does vary from person to person and this is still a work in progress.

jmin

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by pinksharkmark on Oct 7th, 2003, 11:16am
A cure is something you take once to eliminate a specific medical condition. A treatment is something you must take periodically to control a condition, therefore psychedelics are a treatment.

I took psilocybin (in the form of dried Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms) in March of 2002 to end a cluster "cycle". I had to take it again in July of 2003 in order to abort a new cycle which was steadily developing. I anticipate having to take it periodically for the rest of my life.

There is one chronic (6 years) clusterhead from the Netherlands named Henk who posts here every so often (in the Medications and Treatments forum) who went from multiple clusters every day for 6 years to a painfree existence of more than a year by dosing repeatedly. As time went on, his doses got further and further apart, then stopped altogether. It has been well over a year since his last attack, but I am willing to bet a lot of money that he will sooner or later have to dose again. Not that I am hoping he will have to, mind you, just that I am realistic about it.

A cure it isn't. An extremely effective treatment for the majority of clusterheads who have tried it so far, it is.

pinky

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by Jewel on Oct 7th, 2003, 11:59am
WARNING:  Shrooms make you.......fart.  (So I've heard) Heheh!   ;D

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by thatwasmyskull on Oct 7th, 2003, 9:12pm
Everyone has an opinion on this one.  Here's mine.  They really did work like a magical cure for the first and second year (once a year cycle for a couple months)...  Anyway, then the third year they didn't work at all.  The beast figured out the formula I guess.  Anyway, when they worked they flat out STOPPED the cycle dead, which was nice.  Now they don't work for me.  It happens with other meds too I guess....  Best of luck!  By the way, if you do the shrooms, do your homework first and be careful!  The internet is full of good info on the subject so I won't comment further.  : )

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 10th, 2003, 6:07pm
I really appreciate everyones response to this e mail! However I live in Northeast Illinois, couldn't ID the right mushroom if my life depended upon it so I need to know either how to find the right mushrooms in my area or a reputable spore dealer I can get the right spores from t grow my own. Please can anyone help me???????? ???

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by KipBurbank on Oct 10th, 2003, 8:37pm
I have no Idea if mushrooms could do anything.  I am so frustrasted now, doing at least 5 or 6 shots of Imitrex a day, everyday.  Funny the insurance company doesn't bug me about the cost of the imitrex but it is balking about the O2 .   Three weeks I have been going  back and forth with them.  

My  blood pressure is sky high, I can't sleep and working is a pure struggle everyday.  My weekends are spent in bed trying to collect myself for the next week.  I sleep as much as I can since I can't during the week.  My wife doesn't know how much Imitrex I use cause she would freak.   Pain meds:  I skimp on them, my doc gives me so few that I have to live out the bad headaches and only take them for the worst of the worst.  Life is hard now,  want my pre-CH days back.

Kip

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by jonny on Oct 10th, 2003, 8:41pm
Tommy Chong is doing nine months for selling bongs.......LOL

........................................jonny

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by BobG on Oct 10th, 2003, 8:45pm
Tommy gets sent to jail for selling bongs and Arnie is sent to Sacramento to be governor.

Is it just me or is something wrong with this picture?

???

Title: Re: Are mushrooms really a magical cure???
Post by CMNpain on Oct 10th, 2003, 9:06pm
Kip,

Hang in there!!! There are remedies...sorry but no cures! I am investigating magic mushrooms to break the cycle. Many many people have had success!!!! The hardest part for me is how do I get them?????? I feel for you man...I have been in your shoes and those shoes are rapidly approaching again!!

God Bless,

Chuck



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