Posted by Seriously (199.174.224.51) on January 14, 2001 at 02:49:57:
I've been reading a ton of posts about the mushroom and lsd therapy that's been so talked about lately. Let's stop to think about a few things here. I realize that cluster sufferers will do just about anything to get rid of the pain. I've been trying just about everything for almost 20 years. But I ask all of you to take a few things into consideration. First of all, there are people out there that have very bad psychological experiences due to psychedelic ingestion with even relatively small doses of psychedelic drugs. I know alot of you are saying, yeah but compared to the clusters, who cares? I understand but I suggest that everyone seriously study as much material about the stuff before you decide to take it. This comes from personal experience. Psychedelic drugs can manifest themselves in the "mood" you are in at the time you take them. If you are experiencing depression, fear, anxiety which is very common during cluster periods, these states can be greatly intensified during a psychedelic experience. It's very important that you are in a good state of mind before you decide to take that very unusual trip and be sure that if you are a first time user that you are with someone you trust that can help you through the experience if it starts to get too intense. Believe me, I'm not trying to disuade anyone from finding relief, but there are downsides to every "magical cure" that comes along. Drugs effects vary from one person to the next and the amount that it takes to have reactions also vary. If you have never done a psychedelic drug before, the experience can be very disconcerting. It can also be wonderful and expansive. Reality is subjective and this is something that becomes very apparent when your senses are influenced by psychedelics. Many people say that these trips have changed their entire outlook on life and that is a pretty drastic thing. They can be both good and bad. Granted at relatively small doses many of these effects do not occur. But it is very important that you study the hell out of these things before you start chomping on mushrooms in a fit of anxiety when your staring at a kip 10. This therapy may indeed be very promising but please take great consideration before jumping into it.
Another point is that this is a public post and sufferers and the general public are quickly finding that this is the place to go if you want information about cluster headaches. We have lived with misunderstanding long enough without complicating things by misrepresenting ourselves with controversal drugs. All I'm saying by this is please be discrete when discussing things like how and where to get these types of drugs. Perhaps another forum or links should be suggested for graphic discussion of such subjects. I know I'm going to enfuriate some advocates but such is life. Please, just think twice, 10 times and more before you decide to follow Alice down the rabbit hole.