Migraines: discuss.

[TheSmokingMonkey]

I get headaches a lot. I have one now. I just smoked. I am trying to see if it will make me better or worse. So far, the headache part isn't gone, but at least I care a little less about it, but the photophobia and audiophobia is MUCH worse.

Anyone else... do you get migraines and use weed? or, does anyone use weed and then get migraines?

Discuss.

[MrDank]

i have a pinched nerve in my shoulder and sometimes my muscles tense up in my neck shoulder area and most likely results in a painful migraine type headache. Even the dankest kush will not have any effect on it. i have to rely on a muscle relaxer to ease that pain.
sometimes i also get regular little headaches and i smoke a joint and end up feeling a little better. not every time.
when i get an actual throbbing migraine headache even the thought of weed makes it worse sometimes :D

[Neojedi]

I have had migranes for about 16 years.I have the type they call "cluster headaches".The problem is smoking and alcohol:( are the biggest triggers for these kind of headaches.I still use both,cigarettes for me are a bigger trigger,a drug called Imitrex gives me relief though.Hope this helps you a little.

[BigBlock]

I always smoke when I get a migraine. It doesn't really help the pain, but it makes it a lot easier to forget about it or just pass out.

[birdgirl73]

I've never gotten migraine headaches themselves, but I've had the visual "auras" that people get before them since I was a teenager. It's a strange flashing-light pattern that I can see, usually in my left field of vision, and it's very distracting. I have them maybe three or four times a year but never get the whammo headaches themselves, which I'm greatful for. Anyway, when I toked with my sister this past summer, I had the flashing-light pre-migraine aura one afternoon before I took a hit or two, and it went away like magic after I inhaled the weed. It was a great relief because usually that flashing lasts a couple of hours at least. I've read good things about migraine relief and weed here.

[BigBlock]

Here's some interesting info:
http://www.gwpharm.com/research_migraine_removed.asp

Cannabis was a mainstream medication for migraine between 1842 and 1942 in Europe and America

[harris7]

a buddy of mine gets migraines and he said weed is the only thing that helps him. but i understand that there are different kinds so maybe it only helps some. For sure try it tho. And as far as the distracting thing goes thats probaly a huge benifit.

Iv'e had a headache for the last 4 days and it's really annoying . i cant remember if weeed makes it go away, cuz i acctualy forget that i have a headache when i'm doing stuff.

[Storm Crow]

I get migraines and cluster headaches due to a head trauma as a child (a friend tried to kill me with a hammer- I was a brat at that time). Cannabis eliminates the migraines and almost eliminates the clusters. I don't exactly get auras, it's more like wearing someone else's glasses with a close prescription. Things just look "wrong". I found out that cannabis treated my headaches when I was in my early 20s (I started at 19). The only time I get migraines now is when I have been out of pot for a while. I'm "California" legal and I don't wish to find out whether or not I have "outgrown" my migraines or not; not with such a pleasant way to prevent them! I know I still had them a couple of years ago, but since I'm now allowed to grow, I haven't been without. The clusters are still there, but tamed by cannabis, so I am assuming that the migraines are still there, too. My migraines, being caused by a head trauma, are not typical, so make what you will of it. Hope that cannabis will help yours, too.

[Babr]

I get visual aura's too before a migraine. I see what looks like jagged silver pulsating lines that get bigger and then fill my field of vision. It almost looks like this ^^^^^^ only curved, silver and shimmering. Makes me sick. :(

I usually blast it with Ibuprofen and coffee. My Dr gave me this prescription for peope that have seizures. I hate taking anything that's not natural, so I stopped. I figured I'd take the path of least resistance and use an over the counter med rather than a prescription.

If the weed helps, then use it. IMO it's better to use something natural to get relief than something concocted in a pharmacy.

Hope you feel better :)

[Skrappie]

I've had em since about 3rd grade. flash foward 1x years and many pounds of weed later, I will still say weed does not help. Me at least. It makes it easier to chill out though, and most times i often just toke up and drift to sleep when i have one. It sucks when you have the multi-day headachs though.

On a side note, i get burned often at work, and toking does help with burns a shit ton.

[DylanN89]

Honestly.... If ur smoking and getting headaches or migranes... You obvisouly needa cut back for awhile... maybe ur chain smoking or smoking to much... When ur high ur high no need to keep smoking tons and tons of herb... also it could be that if u smoke ciggs... smoke to many or summtin u know. what im saying :D lol...

[vincevaper]

Types of migraines differ as do body chemistries. I tried weed for a low-grade attack and it only made things worse. Whether it actually made the headache more intense or made me more aware of it I'm not certain. Imitrex has so far been the only reliable migraine ender for me (a heavy dose of anti-inflammatories can take care of a low-grade attack occasionally). One thing to consider is that medications like Imitrex are vascular constrictors for brain specific areas while weed increases blood flow to that region. Although some report that weed helps their migraines, you clearly are not one of them and should try another method.

[charmed quark]

I've been suffering from severe migraine with aura for a couple of decades. I went through ALL the standard phamaceutical treatments with only minimal success. I've become a bit of an expert in migraine treatment from all of this.

About 6 years ago, after running out of treatment options, at the recommendation of my doctor I went to a specialist and was given a cannabis recommendation. I briefly tried cannabis with great success. I quickly switched to prescription THC (Marinol) for work-related reasons. It also works, but not nearly as well.

What I've noticed over this time is that treating an active migraine with THC is an iffy thing. Sometimes it makes it go away and other times it amplifies it. The problem is that THC can dilate blood vessels, which is one of the things causing the headache.

I found that if I used cannabis at the very beginning, during the prodrome ( the early phase where you start noticing neurological changes) or ealy aura phase, it would make it go away. Also, after the migraine had peaked. But if I used it when the pain and light/sound sensitivities are really getting going, it might make it worst. Although it always reduced my severe nausea.

Since I'm using Marinol, which is very slow acting, I can't catch the migraine before it developes.

Instead, I use it as a preventative. Very small amounts on a regular basis keep me from getting migraines. It's been a real miracle for me. But I think individual responses to this vary a lot. In my case, I have severe cervical disc degeneration, which causes muscle spasms and nerve pain. These seem to be one of my migraine triggers. Cannabis is suppose to work very well for this type of spasticity and neuropathic pain, so maybe that's why it works for me.


Also, the type of cannabis may be important. I know that I was given a variety that exhibited mostly Indica traits - it was breed especially for migraine - and it seemed to work better for acute treatment of migraines than my Marinol does. I guess, for me, pure THC is not the best thing for acute migraines. Also, Marinol seems to induce a lot of anxiety in me, something I didn't notice with the real stuff.

GW Phamaceuticals, which has Sativex whole cannabis spray out in Canada and the UK, is researching a migraine version. I hope they get it out soon! Supposably, the USA is looking at making Sativex legal here.