Posted by Bob Pahlow (129.65.105.29) on July 28, 2001 at 13:53:49:
In Reply to: addiction posted by don on July 28, 2001 at 12:11:18:
Not all drinkers are clusterheads and
Not all clusterheads are drinkers.
I'm a recovering alcoholic, 10+ years sober yet I still get clusters.
I saw an article talking about serotonin level adjustment used to treat alcoholism. Stopping the urge to drink by raising or lowering the level of 5-HT. 5-HT is the same neurotransmitter that cluster meds work on. It would lead me to believe that brain chemistry malfunction may cause both CH and lack of control in alcohol consumption.
During an active cluster, our 5-HT processing really goes haywire. We also become hypersensative to alcohol. Consume one beer and the 5-HT can't keep the blood vessels constricted. They dialate and cause headaches. When the cluster is over and our 5-HT control is back to normal we can consume all we want with no headaches.
More than anything else, it's just a hypothesis on my part. Yet to proven. I just think our messed up brain chemistry causes both the CH and addictive behavior.