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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2003 >> Mary Joan
        
(Message started by: S@ndman on Apr 10^th, 2003, 12:13pm)

Title: Mary Joan
Post by S@ndman on Apr 10^th, 2003, 12:13pm

Hi all!
I'm new to this, and have a few questions:
I've has CH since I was 20 (diagnosed at 33), now I'm 37. I'm in the middle of a cycle now, the strongest (in pain level) I've ever had. This time I decided I need some sort of chemical help.
Haven't tried anything yet. In fact, I went to the doctor today and he prescribed Sumax (sumatriptane) nasal spray for attacks and Flunarin (flunarizin dichlorhydrate) to avoid attacks. The brand names may sound weird to some, but I'm in Brazil and the medication names are sometimes different.
I haven't tried them yet, but I "know" I'll be needing the nasal stuff tonight.
I am quite adverse to medication, so I am interested in the shroom therapy, although I've no idea where I would get them here in Brazil.
I also have a question: when I was in college, there was a 3 year period when I used a lot of marijuana, and during those years I never had a CH bout. Does anyone have any information about the effects of MJ in CH?

Good luck to you all.

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by amber on Apr 10^th, 2003, 3:41pm

hey..check yer mail :)

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by tommyD on Apr 10^th, 2003, 5:24pm

Welcome, s@ndman

Marijuana and clusters have been discussed many times on the board. the general consensus is that MJ is no help for clusters. Some say it will trigger attacks for them. I don't remeber anyone saying it did much good.

The shrooms do work well, though. There are several places that will ship spores, but better check on custom regs and the laws in Brazil.
Mushrooms containing psilocybin grow all over the world. A good place to start research is:
http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml

And of course the Cluster Buster sites:
http://home.attbi.com/~rwold350/
http://www.geocities.com/ClusterBusters2002/

-tommyD

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by S@ndman on Apr 11^th, 2003, 7:05am

Amber:
???

Did u send me a message?
If so, I didn´t get it...

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by michaelc on Apr 11^th, 2003, 3:51pm

Shoot - some of the shroom spores for sale on the web had their origin in brazil. I'm 99.9% sure you can get them in the pasturelands where they grow. I have picked many times - they grow abundantly in mississippi.
BUT BE INFINITELY CAREFUL to properly identify them.

ALSO Brazil is home to Ayahuasca.(vine of the soul) Can you access an ayahuasca ceremony? It's the same active ingredient as mushrooms and would probably work just as well for clusters.

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by S@ndman on Apr 14^th, 2003, 12:37pm

Hey, Michael,

We can get the shrooms in the pastures here, and a lot of them, but only during the summer and in very specific areas (humidity, heat, etc.) they usually sprout in the early morning, and by about 8 am they´re gone...
As for ayauasca, that´s in the Amazon, man, something like 3000 miles from where I live... It´s a big country... ;D
In any case, I took Imitrex (called Sumax here in Brazil) for the first time a couple of days ago, and it worked wonders...
Are you aware of any side-effects?

Take care,

S@ndman

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by S@ndman on Apr 14^th, 2003, 12:40pm

Update...

I fotgot to mention that last night I smoked MJ and had a MASSIVE attack :'(
Decided not to take Imitrex after MJ, and held on for dear life during the episode. I must have walked something like 20 km...

No, MJ does not work for me....

Cheers,

S@ndman

:-/ :-/ :-/

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by tommyD on Apr 14^th, 2003, 4:04pm

S@ndman -

Imitrex can cause serious deflation of the wallet and evacuation of the bank account...

Seriously, Imitrex has been known to raise blood pressure, and many docs won't prescribe it for folks with heart conditions.

You will see limits on the number of Imitrex doses you should take in a given period, but these limits were set based on treatment of migraines. Some insurance companies will only pay for six doses a month, based on the number of migraines a patient is likely to experience...

Many folks here on the board say it's okay to take more doses than recommended, but I'm no expert, and you didn't hear me say that. Hopefully Ueli or other resident meds experts will chine in on Imitrex...

-tommyD

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by tommyD on Apr 14^th, 2003, 4:04pm

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by S@ndman on Apr 15^th, 2003, 5:39am

Hey, ToomyD

Thanks for the advice, man.
I agree with you about the risks associated with Imitrex. My doc told me about them. Since my case seems to be mild (at least compared to some folks here) - I am episodic with 1 month bouts and 2 -3 year remissions - I hope I won't have to take a lot of it.
A curious fact is that Imitrex seems to be much cheaper here in Brazil than in the US. It´s less than $8 per dose.
I am very interested in O₂ right now, and making inquiries as to pricing and availability down here.

Thanks again, and take care,

S@ndman

Title: Re: Mary Joan
Post by paragate on May 22^nd, 2003, 8:37pm

Um, MichaelC, ayahuasca does *not* contain the same active ingredient as psilocybin mushrooms. Ayahuasca has actually come to be used as a generic term for a variety of brews found in different parts of S. America. What most of them have in common are two ingredients: n,n DMT (and sometimes 5-MeO-DMT as well, in varying ratios), and a beta-carboline (typically harmaline and or harmine, with some others sometimes in the mix). The variations depend on the plants. Most ayahuasca gets its beta-carbolines from a vine, banesteria caapi. Wrt the dmt, it can come from several different plants, most commonly psychotria viridis, though others are used as well, sometimes in conjunction sometimes not. Depending on the plant sources, the brew will contain either n, n DMT alone, or n, n DMT along with a small amount of 5-MeO-DMT.

This is not at all the same as shrooms, which contain no beta-carbolines, and in which the active ingredient is psilocybin (and some psilocin, which your body will convert all the psilocybin to anyway). Yes, psilocin and DMT are indole psychedelics with strong seratonergic activity, but the comparison stops there.

People using shrooms to treat or prevent CHs use very small doses. I'm not sure how easy that would be to accomplish with ayahuasca, and trust me on this, if you're not into a very heavy ride, you don't want to fuck with ayahuasca. Because it takes you *out* there. Very, very far.

Moreover, because ayahuasca contains beta-carbolines, they are potentially very dangerous unless you follow very strict dietary precautions. That's because those fellows are MAOIs -- not to be taken unless you are extremely careful about what you eat and drink for at least several days to a week prior to, and after, injesting ayahuasca.

As for MJ -- I found once or twice when I got hit with a CH and wasn't near any other alternatives that getting stoned helped me ride out what would otherwise have been a nasty couple of hours. But it doesn't really help me beyond that at all. THC is a very different bird from the seratonergic psychedelics.

Gopod, I'm kind of surprised at all the misinformation I'm seeing here. Telling someone to go take ayahusasca for CHs as a substitute for shrooms is positively dangerous. And I'm saying that as someone who truly reveres ayahuasca, in the right context and circumstances. But it's spirit medicine, and pretty much the most powerful kind.

It also can cause you to vomit, wretch, have diarrhea something awful during the onset.

Could it work for us? Quite possibly yes. But like I said, you'd have to be fully prepared, follow strict dietary precautions, and really be familiar with that exact brew in order even to attempt a sub-entheogenic dose.