Posted by Flash (134.32.125.116) on November 08, 1999 at 04:34:28:
In Reply to: Liberty Cap posted by Caren on November 06, 1999 at 20:35:39:
When I was younger and still using Pot I found that it made the headaches worse. As did drinking and smoking. I avoided taking hallucinogentics during episodes because I was scared that combined with CH they might kill me! The strange thing was that I didn't suffer from an CH episodes at all the years I took LSD. That's what initially made me suspect there may be a link.
LSD is the sister drug to both Ergotamin and Methysergide. LSD also contains an Indole ring structure. According to Dogsbody IMITREX is a substituted indole - a sulphonated form of the well known hallucogen DMT, di-methyl triptamine. Now the substance Psilocybin that is found in some magic mushrooms (not Fly Agaric, although it may contain other similar chemicals) is also based around an Indole Ring. Psilocybin is metabolised into Psilocilin, and that substance is almost identical to Serotonin in structure.
The effective dose of Psilocybin is 10Mg. The effective dose of LSD is 0.1Mg. Both substances appear to work equally well, although your mind can tolerate the higher dose of Psilocybin (LSD gives you more bang for your gram).
There are a lot of similarities between Psilocybin, LSD and those drugs used conventionally to treat CH. The only difference is that Psilocybin and LSD are much more effective (and probably safer in such a small and infrequent dose).