This week, we talk with a sociologist and a neurologist about the extremely painful condition known as cluster headaches. The sociologist has studied how patients have sought out relief that the medical profession could not provide. They found it in magic mushrooms and shared the details among patient groups termed ClusterBusters. The neurologist has studied the use of psilocybin to alleviate cluster headaches.

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Sept. 16, 2024.

The Agony of Cluster Headaches:

Cluster headaches could well be termed the headaches from hell. Although they are less common than migraine headaches–which are terrible enough–people find the pain worse. In fact, people who have had gunshot wounds or kidney stones say their cluster headaches surpass those kinds of pain. The head pain is often a burning or stabbing pain centered on one eye.

Unlike migraines, they don’t usually last very long, but they do recur. They may happen at the same time each day, or they may occur on a regular schedule. Anticipating the pain really impairs the quality of a person’s life. People have taken extreme measures to try to escape cluster headaches.

Treating Cluster Headaches:

Doctors do have some treatments for cluster headaches, but they aren’t always effective. Part of that has to do with the head pain itself, which may be recalcitrant. In addition, doctors don’t always know exactly how to apply therapies that have been shown to be effective, such as high-flow oxygen. However, oxygen, even when applied properly, stops cluster headaches but does not prevent them.

Other therapies that show promise for treating cluster headaches include galcanezumab (Emgality), a medication that FDA approved for preventing migraines. In addition, vagus nerve stimulation can stop some cluster headaches.

Studying Magic Mushrooms for Cluster Headaches:

Cluster headaches are exceptionally difficult to study because they are sporadic and relatively short-lasting in many cases. Although some people have headache cycles that are very regular, everyone’s recurrence is different. That level of unpredictability is a nightmare for clinical trial investigators. Moreover, doctors and patients alike would like a way to prevent cluster headaches, as that would be the best approach to managing them well. That is where magic mushrooms come in.

Patients Using Magic Mushrooms:

Patient groups were meeting online to provide each other support and information about how to deal with cluster headaches. Then one person reported on his personal experimentation with magic mushrooms and how well they worked to prevent his cluster headaches. Although it took nearly a year to catch on, eventually other patients followed his lead and found that low doses hallucinogenic mushrooms do indeed help prevent the headaches. Scientists such as our guest, Dr. Schindler, are now studying psilocybin for this purpose. It should not be taken by people with cardiovascular problems such as unstable blood pressure or a history of heart attack or stroke. Likewise, anyone with a history of psychosis should not take psilocybin or the magic mushrooms it comes from.

This Week’s Guests:

Joanna Kempner, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University, is an award-winning sociologist of science, medicine, technology, and inequality, and the author of Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Modern Medicine and Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health. Her website is https://www.joannakempner.com/

Joanna Kempner, PhD, Rutgers author of Psychedelic Outlaws

Emmanuelle Schindler, MD, PhD, is a board-certified neurologist and headache medicine specialist. She is Medical Director of the Headache Center of Excellence at Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine. Among her efforts to optimize the management of headache disorders, she has executed the first controlled trials of psilocybin in headache disorders. She has published the results in Headache (Nov. 2022) and in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences (May 15, 2024).

Emanuelle Schindler, MD, PhD, Medical Director of the Headache Center of Excellence at Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System

Listen to the Podcast:

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, September 16, 2024, after broadcast on Sept. 14. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free. This week, the podcast contains additional information about the timeline of psychedelic use over history and other uses for psilocybin such as depression of PTSD. We also discuss certain other types of headaches and possible treatments. How can you choose the correct treatment when there are so many options?

Download the mp3.