These days, scientists found the chemical psilocybin contained in certain species of mushrooms a potential efficient treatment for depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. Magic mushrooms were also investigated for their properties to cure chronic pain, but more official studies are required for the approved medical use. How about using mushrooms for cluster headaches? Does psilocybin have the potential to treat excruciating headaches? Today, we’ll try to discover these questions.
What are cluster headaches?
A cluster headache is defined as an excruciating headache, and this pain is usually so aching that people begin to scream, cry, and even beg for death. These headaches often occur on one side of the head, particularly around or behind the eye. The cluster period typically lasts from a few weeks or months, and in rare cases, it can extend up to a year. During this time, headache attacks can take between 15 and 180 minutes.
The causes of cluster headaches are still not thoroughly investigated – some studies suggest that abnormal activity in the hypothalamus and the autonomic nervous system might trigger severe headaches in people. Cluster headaches are sometimes confused with migraines, but migraines usually occur over the head and occur in people more frequently than cluster headaches.
Current treatments for cluster headaches are limited. Triptans – the drugs designed to suppress nerve pain – are typically prescribed to cure these headaches, but they aren’t efficient for all patients and can cause rebound headaches. Other medications, like Lithium, might work to prevent pain attacks in some people. Oxygen therapy was also investigated to relieve pain in 7 participants from 10 ones successfully, but curing cluster headaches requires out-to-date approaches.
Cluster headaches and mushrooms
When using psilocybin for cluster headaches, we can rely on a few earlier studies. The 2017 study concluded that psilocybin and LSD have the potential to treat cluster headaches and migraines. This research was based on the number of participants who suffer from treatment-resistant cluster headaches, and they involved 20% of the overall cases of chronic pain.
Another 2006 study demonstrated that 18 people who used psilocybin among 19 participants reported more prolonged remission after psychedelic consumption. This study also suggested that both psilocybin and LSD might work well to relieve cluster headaches thanks to their potential to slow down the blood flows in the area of the hypothalamus.
Nonetheless, the main concern around the clause of magic mushrooms cluster headaches is their illegality. While cities such as Denver, Oakland, and Washington D.C. have decriminalized psilocybin, and Oregon even made this chemical legal, psilocybin is still a Schedule I drug in the USA.
Thus, people who suffer from excruciating headaches can’t get magic mushrooms legally to stop their cluster headaches. Psilocybin is a pretty promising treatment for this kind of headache, but approved medical use is essential nowadays to make this approach widespread.