Cephalalgia
March 26, 2010
Matthias Karst, John H. Halpern, Michael Bernateck et al.
104 citations
Cluster headache is a severe, one-sided headache condition affecting 0.1% of people. Standard treatments like oxygen and sumatriptan can fail, and surgical options carry serious risks. An internet survey of 53 patients suggested that the hallucinogens psilocybin and LSD may abort attacks and extend remission better than standard drugs, but these substances are criminalized. To test whether a non-hallucinogenic LSD analog could also help, researchers investigated 2-bromo-LSD (BOL-148). Past studies found BOL-148 non-toxic and non-hallucinogenic, with only mild side effects at the dose used, and no long-term effects in over 300 healthy subjects or in schizophrenic women given 30mg daily for weeks.
Cephalalgia
October 5, 2018
Ilse F. de Coo, Willemijn C. Naber, Leopoldine A. Wilbrink et al.
47 citations
People with cluster headache in the Netherlands use illicit drugs more often than the general population: 31.7% reported lifetime use compared to 23.8% in matched controls. Among psilocybin mushroom users, 56% reported a reduction in attack frequency, and 46% reported shorter attacks. Lysergic acid diethylamide users reported frequency reduction in 60% of cases, and heroin users in 50%. Amphetamine users reported shorter attacks in 36% of cases. The authors suggest the higher drug use may reflect genuine symptom relief, placebo effects, personal conviction, or a shared biological basis between cluster headache and addictive behaviors.
Cephalalgia
April 22, 2015
Cherubino Di Lorenzo, Gianluca Coppola, Giorgio Di Lorenzo et al.
40 citations
Many cluster headache patients are dissatisfied with conventional treatments and turn to illicit drugs. Among 54 respondents from an online self-help group, all were dissatisfied with standard care, and 34 had used cannabinoids, 18 psilocybin, 13 cocaine, 12 lysergic acid amide, 8 heroin, and 4 LSD. Most found suggestions for these substances on the Internet and often underestimated legal risks while overestimating safety. Patients frequently did not inform their physicians about this use, raising concerns about the physician-patient relationship in this population.
Cephalalgia
December 1, 1999
Klaus Podoll, D Robinson
40 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) can occur as a symptom of migraine aura. In a collection of 562 migraine art pictures, seven pieces depicted OBEs and related phenomena, such as sensing a duplicate body (parasomatic body) and seeing one's own body from an external perspective (autoscopy). Comparing these depictions with 17 case reports from the literature supports the idea that OBEs are a preformed functional response of the brain, not merely hallucinatory experiences based on imagination and memory. This neuropsychological theory complements existing psychological explanations of OBEs.