Posted by drummer (12.7.224.211) on April 19, 2000 at 09:38:25:
In Reply to: Drummer's post constricted my brain veins posted by Dennis O'C on April 19, 2000 at 02:42:31:
Hi Dennis,
I'll try answering your questions. I'm out of town right now - I'm actually in the great state of Texas, close to you, I believe. I have brought my Imitrex injections with me, just in case I get a Cluster attack. My Imitrex injections are a 'triptan' medication and they affect specific Serotonin receptors in my brain when and if I get a "headache" (I really hate that word). I simply give myself a shot and 'kiss' the "headache" goodbye.
Anyway, if you look at the [Ask Doc Greg] link you'll read this:
"Imagine, for a moment, all the doors in a building. You could make a master key, one that would open all of the doors, or a key specific to just a few. Serotonin is the master key...Imitrex opens only just a few. Increasing the amount of serotonin everywhere in the brain does not help in the treatment of headaches. Seems that stimulating some parts helps, others hurt. What was needed was something that stimulated only those sections that help."Imitrex, and the other triptans, do just that. They work at the doors labeled 5HT1, doors that cause constriction of the arteries in the brain...also believed to interact with the ends of nerves that secrete pain chemicals, decreasing their activity. By doing so, the medication works quickly, and often effectively, in reducing pain involved with vascular headaches (clusters and migraines)."
If you then look at the article that I posted a bit ago you'll see that the writer wrote a bit about 5-HT1B receptors and 5-HT1D receptors. The writer is talking about Serotonin.
All that 5-HT stuff is located under the Central Mechanisms heading. Under that heading you'll see that the writer wrote about zolmitriptan too. Zolmitriptan is another kind of tpriptan that the "headache" researchers are testing on Serotonin receptors.
Hope this helps.