A couple weeks ago had some homemade banana bread and gave me 3 hours solid sleep that night.
Thats a huge deal for me as normally max continuous sleep has amounted to 20 minutes for last 6 months causing me to hit an invisible phsycological wall fairly frequently.

While trying to understand why, I found the bread was loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Curiosity says break it down and I began the very next day consuming about a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon every day.
If that didnt work I would start with the nutmeg. then try eating rotten bananas. Never had to try these two.

Day 2; I actually sat on the edge of the bed and rocked for 2 hits (reduced pain) and back to sleep after 20 minutes. Up and doing the dance for the 3 remaining hits that night.

Day 3; no hits during the day, normally at least 3 good hits during working hours.

Day 4; only 3 hits at night and a little sleep happened.

Day 5-14; rare daytime hits fairly mild. Nightime hits staying at 3 per night lowered to level 8 pain from 10s allways. Sleep totalling out to 4-5 interupted hours per night with continual periods of sleep often exceeding 1.5 hrs.

This is like heaven.

Cinnamon is very much worth a try. No other medication including CBs has helped me this round.

Cinnamon is one ingredient in a Japanese herbal medicine that has been shown to block CGRP. Dr. Goadsby and the pharmaceutical community are big on researching CGRP inhibitors for migraine and clusters. Coincidence? Dunno, but there could be a causal link there.

The herbal mix is called Keishi-bukuryo-gan. It contains equal amounts of 5 ingredients: cinnamon, two types of peony root, Persicae seed, and Poria fungus.

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LOL Brew that was horrible! Ok so maybe mixing the cinnamon in your coffee or something...rather than trying to consume a spoonful?

Just out of curiosity has any one looked into nut meg as I have heard that it is a hallucinogenic? but then maybe that's just one of those modern myths.

Nigel

Headache Boy uk wrote on Mar 15^th, 2010 at 8:01pm:

Just out of curiosity has any one looked into nut meg as I have heard that it is a hallucinogenic? but then maybe that's just one of those modern myths. Nigel

In large doses, nutmeg is psychoactive (and potentially toxic, especially to the liver). It's recreational use is mostly limited to schools, jails, and other situations where authority figures do not recognize it as a drug and it can fly under the radar. It doesn't seem to get many long term fans.

As far as neurotransmitters go, it hasn't been thoroughly studied, but it does inhibit acetylcholinesterase, which means it will raise levels of acetylcholine.  (Nicotine acts on one subset of the acetylcholine receptors.) 

One theory is that the chemicals in nutmeg are related to both amphetamine and ecstasy, but the chemicals are different than either of these ... nutmeg partially blocks the effects of amphetamine, which might mean it behaves like olanzapine in one respect. 

Nutmeg has been compared to verapmil for treating gastric ulcers, and performed about as well. The authors of that study suggested that nutmeg could replace calcium channel blockers for treating ulcers, but they did not actually determine whether nutmeg is a caclium channel blocker or not.

In animal studies, nutmeg increases erections and mating attempts and is considered an aphrodisiac.  Nutmeg has anti-convulsant properties.

Nutmeg also increases anxiety and can trigger panic reactions. Anything more than a pumpkin pie dose affects me negatively.

Bottom line - nutmeg is not well understood. It might help - or it might make things worse - no way to tell based on theory.  It can be toxic, depending on the dose, the person, and any other meds one is taking. Caution is advised ... don't assume that because a small dose is tasty and mild, that a large dose would be safe.

I've been putting a bunch of cinnamon in my morning coffee all week and have drank tons and tons of water, and am currently taking 12 mg of melatonin instead of the 9mg I had been taking for probably a year or so even before the cycle started. (I've always been an insomniac which I know is connected to this). I have had the best last few days since this started in November. My pain levels have literally cut in half and so have my headaches. I was getting 3-5 CH a day, level 7-10 a day (thought I was going to die pain), and now just one at about a 5 which is bearable. The length of the CH has cut dramatically as well.

I'm all for natural treatments. The meds I've tried have all been evil. I am down to just one, verapamil, 2 x a day at 240mg each which isn't too bad side effect wise.  I am assuming this has helped too...

My body is finally starting to feel back to normal...I had tried high levels of prednisone for a couple of weeks, imitrex injections (which do help sometimes but I'm out of them for insurance reasons grrr), indomethacin, and tramadol. I am not currently taking any of these now. Neuro wanted me to start lithium. No thank you. I know it works for some but I refuse to put that poison in my body. I have O2 as well but again insurance won't cover it and I have to pay for each refill. 

I don't know if my cycle is ending or any of this has helped, but when I see a noticeable improvement I take notice of it and what I've done differently.

MJ,

Just want to say good luck with your treatment, Im sorry the CB is not working this time.

You have helped so many people on this site with CB questions including myself. Just doesn't seem fair.
If anyone deserves a break or a mulligan from CH it is you my friend. Don't give up on us MJ.

Coach Bill

JenniMcCarthy wrote on Mar 19^th, 2010 at 12:30pm:

..I had tried high levels of prednisone for a couple of weeks, imitrex injections (which do help sometimes but I'm out of them for insurance reasons grrr)

Jenni, just checking (I forget if we already discussed it), you are using 1/3 to 1/2 imitrex doses in order to stretch your supply, right?

High levels of prednisone for a couple of weeks is a stunt that runs high risk of leaving ya with permanent, and potentially severe, side effects. Glad that it sounds like you may have dodged that bullet...this time.

coach_bill wrote on Mar 19^th, 2010 at 10:38pm:

MJ, Just want to say good luck with your treatment, Im sorry the CB is not working this time. You have helped so many people on this site with CB questions including myself. Just doesn't seem fair. If anyone deserves a break or a mulligan from CH it is you my friend. Don't give up on us MJ. Coach Bill

Coach - Thankyou very much.  You renew my faith and warmed my heart.

I shall not give up as I do still believe the CBs are the most effective treatment available by far for a vast majority of us and I would hope it becomes affective again for me at a later date.
I am not aware of any other medication that can stop an entire cycle yet.

Cinnamon is interesting so far for me though.

Jenni - thats way cool as you have reported. If it continues please report back.

Monty - Cinnamon may be better as a stand alone treatment for CH than in combination with other herbs.

For Me and cinnamon.
I have no idea for sure if this is coincidence or not, its just what I see and feel.

In the last week The hits have steadily weakened.
Mid week I began to get deep extreme chills in cluster time, several times a day and night, rather than extreme pain.
Friday morning I awoke without a CH, no wake ups during the night. A very mild hit and chill around 10 am.
Friday night a hit of extreme exhaustion for a short while.
Saturday no hits of any kind, Sunday so far no hits.

My CH historically starts full blown and when it stops its without delay, not over a period of weeks.


There is very little info or studies done with Cinnamon. Mostly just casual mentions in the scientific literature and unproven health supplement stuff.. Its curious as this spice  has been used for thousands of years for many maladies and flavors.
There may be far more to it than a simple flavoring.
A few articles reference thermoregulation of the body systems and maybe this is partial of what CH is.
The chiiling I experienced and the continual referencing of many on this site regarding heat and cold may be telling.

For me I am a hesitant believer that cinnamon has helped, if not crushed my CH. I have stopped yesterday taking daily and will stretch it out to see what happens.

Time will tell.

I'm anxiously waiting to see your results!  I use a little cinnamon to help regulate my sugar, but to much gives me reflux.  However, if it will kill the hits I'll gladly deal with reflux!

Jerry