Could microdosing help with cluster headaches and migraines? Anyone who suffers from these conditions knows how awful it can make you feel. The pain can last for hours and keeps you glued to your bed. Working or even doing something is not possible. Pain relief is unfortunately not always effective and can also cause side effects. That’s why other options for treatment are being looked at, such as microdosing psychedelics.
Migraines and cluster headaches: headaches that disrupt your life
We all suffer from headaches from time to time. Migraines and cluster headaches, however, are of a different order. The pain you feel then is intense. These types of headaches regularly prevent people from going to work or functioning normally.
Migraine
The pain you feel during a migraine attack is extremely intense. Your head is pounding and usually the pain is on one side. You may see flashes or glares, some people get nauseous and vomit. Another characteristic is that you are hypersensitive to light, sounds or smells. A migraine attack can last for several hours or even days. Someone who suffers from migraines can often feel an attack coming on.
Attacks are so severe that there’s not much you can do. The only thing that helps is lying in bed in a dark room. You want as little stimulation around you as possible. Everyone will experience a migraine attack differently: it varies from person to person how severe it is and how often migraine attacks occur.
Cluster headaches
Those who suffer from cluster headaches will feel excruciating pain when attacked. This is a pain that is actually indescribable. That’s why this headache is also known as Suicide Headache (unfortunately, the percentage of people who commit suicide because of this disease is 20 times the national average).
An attack of cluster headache can come on suddenly. This pain is also felt on one side of your head, often around the eye. The pain comes in attacks, sometimes 8 to 10 times a day. It has been said that cluster headaches are worse than giving birth to a child or amputating a limb without anaesthetic. Unfortunately, doctors still don’t really understand everything about cluster headaches. This also stands in the way of the development of a good medicine. Often opiates are used or injections in the back of the head with a drug for cardiac arrhythmia.
20% of people suffering from cluster headaches fail to find good treatment. The side effects of medication are not bad either and that can also be a reason that you have to stop treatment. And sometimes it happens that a medicine doesn’t work anymore.
It is striking that both migraine and cluster headache have a gender preference. Migraines are more common in women, while cluster headaches are more common in men. It could be that this is related to hormones, but whether this is so is not known. These types of headaches can be triggered by certain stimuli. Migraines are triggered by caffeine, lack of sleep, the use of alcohol, stress and even the weather. Cluster headaches seem to come in cycles. Sleep can even be a trigger for these headaches.
Microdosing as a treatment for migraine and cluster headache
Because standard medication has little or no effect on these headaches, scientists are now looking at psychedelics. Both LSD and psilocybin can have a positive influence on seizures. Already in 2006, 53 patients with cluster headaches were investigated. 22 of the 26 people who took psilocybin reported that this substance prevented a seizure. 25 of 48 people reported that it could also abort an attack. In 18 of the 19 people, the period that they did not have cluster headache attacks lasted longer when they used psilocybin. However, in this study, people were given a larger dose than a microdose.
Psilocybine (the substance which has a mind-expanding effect and occurs in magic mushrooms and truffles) can help with headaches. This applies to migraines as well as cluster headaches. One of the active ingredients is an alkaloid called tryptamine. It’s also in LSD and DMT. This alkaloid causes the brain to produce more serotonin, which can affect the processing of pain stimuli. In this way, it can influence the course of a headache attack.
How to microdose for headaches?
With microdosing you only take a small amount of the psychedelic (1/10 of a normal amount). This allows the substance to do its work, but you do not suffer from any mind-altering effects. So you can continue to function normally. Is it a miracle cure? Every person reacts differently, also to microdoses. Users indicate that microdosing has a positive influence on headaches. It can make the pain go down, make it take longer to have another attack or make the pain go away. It can help you continue to function despite the migraine or cluster headache.
Interviews with microdosers show that psilocybin can work just as well as normal painkillers. This can be a godsend if you suffer from headaches that cannot be treated with regular medication. In addition, it has hardly any side effects. Would you also like to use such a natural remedy to tackle your migraine or cluster headache? Take a look in our shop at our offer of microdoses of magic mushrooms.