As a third French guy with cluster headaches, I can tell you the others make me doubt the validity of pain scales, because I don't think I would describe my pain in the same way as the others
I am probably lucky in that my attacks are less severe than this, but I also can't shake the feeling that maybe they're better at compelling descriptions
Also, a big part of suffering for me is the rational fear of future disability, and cluster headaches don't bring that
Anyway, I can abort my crises with a few minutes of intense cardio, which confirms that they are not that intense apparently:
> Also, a big part of suffering for me is the rational fear of future disability, and cluster headaches don't bring that
Yes, it's definitely multidimensional! Like I'd rather have a migraine attack than a bone fractured, despite the former rating higher on the pain scale. That said, pain of intensity 9-10 is disabling and people end up traumatised and leave in fear of it — I briefly touch on this in the article.
PS: Glad to hear your attacks have been gone for quite some now and such a straightforward intervention as exercise works for you!
It's above my pay grade to speculate, but I am going to do it anyway.
I'm not sure if the underlying mechanisms are that similar — the psychopharmacology is different. Yes, both triptans and DMT act on the same areas, but it's possible that the cascading effects are quite different.
It seems to me that psychedelics have a general “regularising” effect on networks in the brain. Imagine a network “pulling” the brain somewhere. Psychedelics sort of... relax that pull itself. Whereas some other psychoactive chemicals end up creating a push in the different direction.
This example is perhaps most clearly seen in anxiety or trauma. There are many stories of people taking psychedelics and dissolving chunks of their anxiety and trauma. In the same people benzodiazepines might also quiet anxiety, but withdrawing them creates a rebound effect generating worse anxiety.
Can something like this be going with cluster headaches? I don't know.
As a third French guy with cluster headaches, I can tell you the others make me doubt the validity of pain scales, because I don't think I would describe my pain in the same way as the others
I am probably lucky in that my attacks are less severe than this, but I also can't shake the feeling that maybe they're better at compelling descriptions
Also, a big part of suffering for me is the rational fear of future disability, and cluster headaches don't bring that
Anyway, I can abort my crises with a few minutes of intense cardio, which confirms that they are not that intense apparently:
https://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.52263
https://doi.org/10.3390/neurolint16060123
And I haven't had a crisis in more than a year, hopefully they won't come back!
> because I don't think I would describe my pain in the same way as the others
1. How would you describe your pain?
2. Someone mapped out 1-10 onto less poetic definitons: https://clusterheadachewarriors.org/resources/the-kip-scale/ . Does this scale work better for you?
> Also, a big part of suffering for me is the rational fear of future disability, and cluster headaches don't bring that
Yes, it's definitely multidimensional! Like I'd rather have a migraine attack than a bone fractured, despite the former rating higher on the pain scale. That said, pain of intensity 9-10 is disabling and people end up traumatised and leave in fear of it — I briefly touch on this in the article.
PS: Glad to hear your attacks have been gone for quite some now and such a straightforward intervention as exercise works for you!
This is extremely important work I was unaware of, thank you for sharing.
The big question from me is why DMT and triptans have different resistance profiles despite their similar mechanisms.
It's above my pay grade to speculate, but I am going to do it anyway.
I'm not sure if the underlying mechanisms are that similar — the psychopharmacology is different. Yes, both triptans and DMT act on the same areas, but it's possible that the cascading effects are quite different.
It seems to me that psychedelics have a general “regularising” effect on networks in the brain. Imagine a network “pulling” the brain somewhere. Psychedelics sort of... relax that pull itself. Whereas some other psychoactive chemicals end up creating a push in the different direction.
This example is perhaps most clearly seen in anxiety or trauma. There are many stories of people taking psychedelics and dissolving chunks of their anxiety and trauma. In the same people benzodiazepines might also quiet anxiety, but withdrawing them creates a rebound effect generating worse anxiety.
Can something like this be going with cluster headaches? I don't know.