MIGRAINES and replacing triptans with cannabis - success?

Junabug · Sep 1, 2019

I am in Southern California, a wildlife biologist, instructor, researcher, and had chronic Lyme / Babesia with daily migraine for years. I am only just now learning how amazing the cannabis plant is for medicine, beyond my initial preconceptions.

I still have MUCH to learn about cannabis chemistry... but my primary question is who here has reduced migraine pain with cannabis, and with what compound exactly? And what form?

I have not yet had success, but am a beginner. I tried some nasty tasting expensive CBD paste, it worked once and never again. I tried a 10-1 CBD-THC tincture, didn't do much, took the edge off anxiety but not pain. I tried a 3-1 CBD-THC and it gave me an awful migraine.

I take Imitrex for migraine, have for decades, it works, but I want off. No painkillers of ANY kind touch my headaches that I have had for 30 years. Imitrex is a triptan, helps serotonin re-uptake, and a vasoconstrictor. I have read cannabis is, more or less, a vasodilator. Not good...maybe...it's complicated obviously.

I am not giving up, I have read cannabis in some form has helped a lot of people.

But where to begin? CBD only? with THC? Sativa? Indica? Hybrid? One that migraine sufferers prefer? What about tinctures that give you ratios, but no strain, what to think? Or CBD oil with no strain? What am I misunderstanding? I want to know exactly what I am taking to found out what may work simply put.

Thanks in advance, any and all insights, anecdotes, welcome.

Junabug · Sep 1, 2019

FYI I have researched migraine and headaches and chronic Lyme/Babs for many years. I do not need advice on what to do for headaches or what causes them. I have seen 17 neurologists and lost count after that. My Q is specific to anyone who has supplemented cannabis for triptans (like Imitrex) and had relief. THANKS!

shaggyballs · Sep 2, 2019

It will not help with my migraines, I have not tried super high doses.
It may make things worse on the bad days too.
But everything seems to make it worse, except ice.
BTW I do imitrex injections for mirgraines just so you know where I am at.

But my wife has good results using Full spectrum canna oil for back and leg pain.
So everybody is different, please don't let me discourage you.

Best of luck

Peace
Shag

P.S.

I think some cultivars have an effect on muscle tention.
Therfore may have an effect on a migrane before it happens.
Combine that with some specialized trigger point work on your neck and back with ice but sometimes its a hot shower and relaxation.
That is my best hope to stop one anyway.
Once it has progressed nothing works but a shot, sucks but glad to have it at the time.
Trying to find other ways myself.
Send me a pm if ya wanna chat.

ozzieAI · Sep 2, 2019

sorry to hear of your ills Junabug...

as a life long migraine sufferer i haven't touched any prescribed medications for 30 years or so...i just use cannabis...

i found that i didn't get a good reaction from the medications of the time (1980s) and using cannabis was a game changer for me...

cannabis use reduced my frequency and intensity of migraines and i find edibles more effective than vaping/smoking...i have been making my own capsules for a couple of years now and found that adding terpenes to the mix really added another level of relief...

i am at a stage now that i get 4 or so migraines a year, when i don't use cannabis i get 2 - 3 per month...

if interested let me know and i will post my capsule recipe...just short on time atm...

WHIPEDMEAT · Sep 2, 2019

you should do much more research on psilocybe cubensis microdosing to help migraines/cluster headaches.

ozzieAI · Sep 2, 2019

WHIPEDMEAT said:
you should do much more research on psilocybe cubensis microdosing to help migraines/cluster headaches.

another rabbit hole to tumble down...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5584001/

Conclusions
These patients are in a desperate and vulnerable situation, and illicit psychoactive substances are often considered a last resort. There appeared to be little or no interest in psychoactive effects per se as these were rather tolerated or avoided by using sub-psychoactive doses. Primarily, psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and related psychedelic tryptamines were reportedly effective for both prophylactic and acute treatment of cluster headache and migraines. Treatment results with cannabis were more unpredictable. No severe adverse events were reported, but it was observed how desperation sometimes spurred risky behavior when obtaining and testing various treatment alternatives. The forum discourse mainly revolved around maximizing treatment results and minimizing potential harms.

WHIPEDMEAT · Sep 2, 2019

worth to watch

[YOUTUBEIF]Jv1lG417LKg[/YOUTUBEIF]

Treating Cluster Headaches with Psychedelics by Bob Wold was recorded as part of a seminar on Psychedelics: Therapy, Culture and Cluster Headaches. Bob Wold discusses the clinical use of psychedelics particularly in the treatment of migraine and cluster headaches Bob Wold is the president and Founder of Cluster Busters

Junabug · Sep 3, 2019

Thanks ozzieAI, I did see that article and yes I am interested in your formula if you care to share, many thanks.
Incidentally mine are not cluster headaches they are from inflammation from having pathogens in my brain...fun stuff.

Douglas.Curtis · Sep 3, 2019

Junabug said:
they are from inflammation from having pathogens in my brain...fun stuff.

Look into using cannabis root oil. There are at least 3 identified compounds in the roots only, which significantly reduce inflammation and block a few specific types of pain. (the 6-second pain relief link in my signature)

Definitely interested in any feedback from you on this if you get the chance.
:tiphat:

Boocoodinkydow · Sep 3, 2019

I started using medical cannabis about four years ago as an alternative to the handful of mood stabilizing pharmaceuticals that the VA so generously doled out for the treatment of symptoms associated with PTSD. To my pleasant surprise, the cannabis also totally eliminated the migraine headaches from which I had suffered for over 40 years. I haven’t taken migraine relief medication since July 2015. I’ve found relief with cannabis in every form I’ve tried; no difference in strains nor preparation. I can empathize with your delima and hope you find the magic formula that offers relief for you.

Good luck
BCDD

I'mback · Sep 3, 2019

Junabug said:
I am in Southern California, a wildlife biologist, instructor, researcher, and had chronic Lyme / Babesia with daily migraine for years. I am only just now learning how amazing the cannabis plant is for medicine, beyond my initial preconceptions.

I still have MUCH to learn about cannabis chemistry... but my primary question is who here has reduced migraine pain with cannabis, and with what compound exactly? And what form?

I have not yet had success, but am a beginner. I tried some nasty tasting expensive CBD paste, it worked once and never again. I tried a 10-1 CBD-THC tincture, didn't do much, took the edge off anxiety but not pain. I tried a 3-1 CBD-THC and it gave me an awful migraine.

I take Imitrex for migraine, have for decades, it works, but I want off. No painkillers of ANY kind touch my headaches that I have had for 30 years. Imitrex is a triptan, helps serotonin re-uptake, and a vasoconstrictor. I have read cannabis is, more or less, a vasodilator. Not good...maybe...it's complicated obviously.

I am not giving up, I have read cannabis in some form has helped a lot of people.

But where to begin? CBD only? with THC? Sativa? Indica? Hybrid? One that migraine sufferers prefer? What about tinctures that give you ratios, but no strain, what to think? Or CBD oil with no strain? What am I misunderstanding? I want to know exactly what I am taking to found out what may work simply put.

Thanks in advance, any and all insights, anecdotes, welcome.

From my research cannabis is not the cure all to end all. It is the individual strains that prove beneficial.

I started off on CBD and quickly switched to specific strains for what ails me. I don't have what you have but yes I truly believe cannabis as "medicine" is strain specific. That being said, sometimes more than one strain can be effective as seen here: (migraines)

Blue Dream
Super Lemon Haze
Green Crack
Sour Diesel
Trainwreck
Pineapple Express

The aforementioned strains are in order of efficacy. I might throw in Harlequin as anti-inflammatory and pain medicine. Keep n mind, different strains affect people differently based on body chemistry. Good luck :tiphat:

NEED 4 SEED · Sep 3, 2019

ozzieAI said:
...cannabis use reduced my frequency and intensity of migraines and i find edibles more effective than vaping/smoking...i have been making my own capsules for a couple of years now and found that adding terpenes to the mix really added another level of relief...

i am at a stage now that i get 4 or so migraines a year, when i don't use cannabis i get 2 - 3 per month...

if interested let me know and i will post my capsule recipe...just short on time atm...

I have migraines since I was ten. I sometimes get episodes of three to four days with ongoing strong headaches. Most of the times it starts in the back, then the neck, then the head. If I realize the coming attack early enough it sometimes helps to take a paracetamol pill. 2 hours later no stopping by taking more... I also have fear of high doses of chemical meds so I am suffering a bit more. Cannabis doesn't help against the pain on the first look. But it still relaxes you, puts you at a distance and lets you tune in to some other healing methods. My last weapon is my electric heating pad. I take a good whiff on the vaporizer lay myself on it on the bed and let the heat relax my body and mind. As a kid my only help was to put my head under the bed cover and only breathe that warm and co2 enriched air, secluded from noises and light.
One time I had a terrible day. I went to the hospital for help and they gave me an intravenous infusion of 1 gram paracetamol and the pain was gone in 20 minutes. That was crazy. It came back that day but not as hard anymore.
I also can confirm what ozzie said. Since I am using cannabis the frequency and the magnitude of the attacks are reduced significantly. Before cannabis every spoken word was a thunderclap in my head with needles and forks. Now it is "somewhat" controllable and not as often. Though it can still be awful and the duration of that period ist still 4 days. Nothing stops it completely before it is really over on itself I feel.

Edit: I want to add that I prefer sedating types of cannabis as well as my own bubble hash, but it must be from mixed strains for the balanced cannabinoids. I can't imagine someone taking trippy energetic sativas on their pain episodes. Does someone?

NEED 4 SEED · Sep 3, 2019

Recently a friend gave me some of his own white widow oil. I tried it while I felt the next migraine coming. This oil made it worse. It made me stiff and apathetic for too long, where I should habe been mobile and loose. And the turn itself was bland. So my advice is to only let proven medicin in while the pain is raving.

Junabug · Sep 6, 2019

Thanks

Thanks

Boocoodinkydow said:
I haven’t taken migraine relief medication since July 2015. I’ve found relief with cannabis in every form I’ve tried; no difference in strains nor preparation. I can empathize with your delima and hope you find the magic formula that offers relief for you.

Wow you are lucky I that respect. Guess I will have to keep experimenting, so far cannabis smoked or in tinctures has not helped.

hush · Sep 7, 2019

I don't know man... I've been a stay-high for the last twenty or so years of my life, and I started getting crippling headaches only about ten years ago. They kind of reminded me of the headaches that accompanied the fried comedown of an acid trip, but I wasn't doing any acid anymore. So I saw the doctor. He prescribed sumatriptan and told me that if that worked, there was no doubt that I have actual migraines, and not some other kind of headache. Long story short, they worked, instantly, the next time I had a headache. And that made me start thinking, triptans work on the serotonin receptors, similarly to how LSD does, so there's something going on there, physiologically, in the brain, which is quite different from other types of headaches, and that explained why other headache remedies (caffeine, NSAIDs, cannabis) didn't seem to work.

But I would love to find out if there is a specific variety or cannabinoid compound that would treat them. I hate having to make sure I always have my pill bottle with me just in case one comes on. They only happen about once or twice a year for me.

Boocoodinkydow · Sep 7, 2019

I think migraines are often misdiagnosed, and I may very well fall in that category. In the seventies I suffered from crippling headaches with atypical symptoms of migraines. It was always directly over the left eyebrow. The onset was most always upon rising in the morning with a mild headache that rapidly advanced to the point of debilitation. Back in those days 6 dristan tabs over a four hour period eventually made it manageable but it could last as long as 3 days.

In the eighties the dristan failed to be effective any longer and I found some relief from double doses of stanback powders.

It wasn’t until the nineties that I finally sought medical treatment (suffering with a malady for over twenty years before seeking medical assistance is the epitome of hardheadedness, I know [it was a man thing]). That’s when I was diagnosed with migraines, right or wrong, and prescribed imitrex. I found it expensive and no more effective than excedrin migraine.

Your situation is interesting, obviously impervious to treatment with cannabis. And for those of us that have found relief it raises a question if we were misdiagnosed or our anatomical make up is more receptive to this type of treatment. ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS!!!

Douglas.Curtis · Sep 7, 2019

So nobody taking imitrex (ssri uptake inhibitor and anti-inflammatory) has tried root oil yet?

burmese · Sep 7, 2019

Yes cannabis helps a lotm but try to eat mustard seeds regulary it helps a lot too

ozzieAI · Sep 12, 2019

sorry it's taken me so long to get back: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=366334

here is a link to my capsule recipe...

Anne_Fetamine · Sep 13, 2019

CBD by itself has reduced my chronic (15+ days per month) migraines by about 70% when taken daily. It works better for me as a preventative than an abortive & I can take it full-spectrum in hemp flower (0.03% THC) or CBD isolate (vaped, sublingual) & both work just as well. It kinda makes the pain worse in the beginning, but so did Topiramate except that never ended up helping at all like the CBD did.

Granted, everyone is different & has totally different types/causes/patterns of migraines. So you may not be able to replace your current meds completely. I still have to take Midol w/ caffeine some days for the less severe ones, but overall CBD has really made life more livable for me in a big way. Anything to reduce my Fioricet usage, as that crap makes me horribly depressed. I save it for the really severe ones which usually only happen during that time of the month.

MIGRAINES and replacing triptans with cannabis - success?

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