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        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2003 >> New guy
        
(Message started by: Tony_M on Jan 28^th, 2003, 9:12pm)

Title: New guy
Post by Tony_M on Jan 28^th, 2003, 9:12pm

I introduced myself in the medications forum but will do so again here since it seems there is a bit more action here. I have suffered from migraines since I was a teenager. About 15 years ago they turned into CH and since 1996 I have been pretty much chronic.

Currently I am using 1500mg of Depakote and use injectable immitrex and oxy for attacks. Or Maxalt, Zomig or whatever they will give me. Lately if I keep the Depakote at close to 1500mg I do alright any higher and my stomach objects, any lower and the attacks get worse.

I also self medicate with marijuana. I did a search and found no references. Since you guys seem to think shrooms is ok I wonder what you think about the smoke and if anybody else uses it.

Until my most recent neuro I never had much help. To this day my family doctor had no idea about oxy and it has helped so much since the neuro put me on it.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Ueli on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:31pm

Hi Tony,

The commen consent here is that narcotics like oxy don't work for clusters. For most the best abortives are Imitrex shots and oxygen.
The use of marijuana has been discussed often, and most agree that it makes things worse, not better.

PFNADs
Ueli

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Tony_M on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:43pm

I guess I still have to learn the lingo. With oxy I meant oxygen.

Also, in the thread below about cigarette smoking the consensus was that it helped. I am surprised the marijuana does not.

BTW, search for marijuana comes up with zero posts.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Opus on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:47pm

Tony,
Narcotics make my pain worse. As for the shrooms most don't need to take enough to trip. If I were you I would stop all pain meds and see if your pain gets better. You will have to get past the rebound first. If you have nausea then the pot might help with that but not much else. We are not druggies and would never take meds we don't need. There are home remedies also if you are interested. O2 is the drug of choice. Some have had great success with O2 only.
Opus :P

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Tony_M on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:52pm

Oxy was meant as oxygen! not a narcotic!

I have been on the Depakote only a few months and it is helping to control the situation. I can tell because I get more pain when I let the dosage slip. I had some side effects early on but they have gone down. The one thing I dont like about it is my hair loss.

I have a very long history and have been on all the drugs including depakote in the past. It seems I need to keep the dosage up for continued relief.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Opus on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:53pm

It seems that something in cigs can help with attack. I have aborte done by chain smoking. This is hard to do as you can imagine. Also black coffee helps make imitrex work better for me. It's not the caffeine. Most warn to never quit smoking during a cycle.
Opus :P

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Opus on Jan 28^th, 2003, 10:58pm

There are some that have had sucess with narcotics, one even uses methadon. What ever works for you.
Opus :P

Title: Re: New guy
Post by eyes_afire on Jan 28^th, 2003, 11:01pm

When comparing marijuana to cigarettes, the smoke is not the thing to consider. It seems that, in general, CNS stimulants are a better thing for clusterheads than CNS depressants. CNS stimulants cause constriction of blood vessels, depressants cause the opposite.

CNS stimulants that some have found helpful:
caffeine, nicotine, Ritalin, psilocybin (shrooms).

CNS depressants that are often detrimental to CH:
alcohol, marijuana, narcotics, nitrous oxide.

Of course many other CH meds work thru different mechanisms. And, of course, there will be exceptions... CH is complex. But my guess is that the advantage that cigarettes have over marijuana is that cigarettes contain the CNS stimulant nicotine.

That's just my opinion.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Tony_M on Jan 28^th, 2003, 11:03pm

I guess you are calling marijuana a narcotic. I thought you were misunderstanding my use of the word oxy which I am trying to explain I meant oxygen not a narcotic.

If you are talking about marijuana as a narcotic then I am confused.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Opus on Jan 28^th, 2003, 11:07pm

Tony,
Here are some posts. I'm sure you can find a few more.

http://www.clusterheadaches.com/wwwboard/messages/47609.html
http://www.clusterheadaches.com/wwwboard/messages/29304.html

Opus :P

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Charlie on Jan 29^th, 2003, 12:25am

Welcome to our world.

There is no evidence that tobacco is bad for CH.

The percentage of members of this board who smoke is twice the national average, however.

Glad to have you and stick around. You'll find some good ideas here.

Charlie

Title: Re: New guy
Post by suzy617 on Jan 29^th, 2003, 2:58am

Hi Tony and wecome to the board.

I have used marijuana in the past for my shadows and it seemed to help although I never tried smoking when being hit hard. If you try it and works for you, let me know, I'm curious myself.

suzy

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Stampertje on Jan 29^th, 2003, 3:28am

Welcome Tony,

I hope you can find some info here that you can use. There is a lot of it.

I live in The Netherlands and here the use of marijuana, weed and shrooms ("the softdrugs") is somewhat legal. So there for most teenagers have tried it at least once in their life, this includes me. ;)

When not in cycle it had no effects on my CH, but when in cycle it was a trigger for me. As you can see I said "for me", it's different for everybody!!!

Anyway, this was my experience with it.
Maybe you can tell some more about all the meds you used. How about Verapamil, Prednision, Lithium and so on... and on.... and on... and on.... ;D

I'm starting to think I am a druggie!!! :o :o :o

PFDAN

Rik

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Tony_M on Jan 29^th, 2003, 9:57am

I am from Holland as well and that is where I had my first smoke.

When I was a teenager I also smoked cigarettes and they were a definite trigger for me. I remember several times of hiding in bathrooms with terrible headaches and nausea. But that was when my headaches were more migraine like with the auras and everything. I haven't smoked cigs in 25 years so am not sure how they would affect my current chronic CH.

My wife thinks the weed is one of my triggers but I have stopped it for months on end with no positive influence on my CH. I think smoking helps with the shadows and anything less than a 6. Anything over a 6 and there is nothing I can do but take Immitrex injections. But, I have a terrible fear for needles and generally will make sure an attack is an 8 or higher before using it.

At the first shadow I will take two Advil. Often they will deal with the shadows np without the need for anything else. If it gets bad I will take some Maxalt. If it gets really bad I take the shot. My insurance pays for one shot per month but my neuro has been giving me loads for free at every visit. So far I still have a nice stockpile. It helps that I would rather sit through a 7 than take a shot. Though many times I say afterwards, gee I should have taken a shot for that one. I have been told my threshold for pain is very high.

I have been on the drugs like Paxil and Prednisone. I have never been on Lithium or Verapamil. Though not totally sure about the latter. Pretty much all other drugs sound familiar. But, before when I was episodic I would stop taking them when not in episode and that made it harder to see what was working.

So far the Depakote is holding and I have had several good weeks with only one attack then went over 7.

Title: Re: New guy
Post by Mark C on Jan 29^th, 2003, 11:12am

Welcome Tony,
I see you are doing a fine job holding your own on the board, good for you! Sounds like you are veteran CH'er....glad to have you. For what it's worth I have smoked pot for years...and not smoked for years with no effect one way or the other on my HA....just for me.
PFDAN's
Mark

http://www.gifs.net/animate/welcome.gif

Title: Re: New guy
Post by JDH on Jan 29^th, 2003, 11:44am

Smoking herb doesn't seem to trigger ha's for me. In fact, I use it for the "morning after" when my head is still sore from the night before, it seems to take that edge off better than OTC pain relief.