Posted by Bennie Sue (63.16.4.150) on May 14, 2000 at 21:07:03:
In Reply to: Capsaisin posted by Bud on May 14, 2000 at 19:54:02:
The information below is from that long and difficult article by Dr. Goadsby's associate and posted by drummer.
The asterisks are mine.
What do you think this means?
"While migraine and cluster headache share much in the expression of the pain, their underlying generation distinguishes them.
Indeed, it is the CNS's (central nervous system's) triggering or driving process that ultimately characterizes many of the primary headache syndromes.
By contrast, PET scans of *capsaicin-induced pain* showed no hypothalamic activation, despite the fact that severe first-division pain is turned on by *capsaicin.*
The *capsaicin* experiment did demonstrate flow changes in an area consistent with the cavernous sinus/carotid artery, just as there are flow changes in the vessels in cluster headache. This implies that the activation of the carotid does not relate specifically to cluster headache, but that it is a trigeminovascular autonomic reflex to first-division pain. The flow changes are, therefore, epiphenomena of the trigeminal activation, not part of the disease generation process in cluster headache."
Maybe I had better stick with Ora-jel as a numbing agent during an attack. It helped my upper gumline so I spread it over my temple, etc. It seems to soothe a little - or maybe applying it just serves as a distraction. What does the capsaicin do?