New research out of Sweden has shown that classic psychedelics like magic mushrooms and acid can reduce a user’s likelihood of having recurring cluster headaches and migraines.
The investigators who completed this analysis are based out the Karolinska Institutet Centre for Cluster Headache at the university’s Department of Neuroscience in Solna. Their study was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology on Mar 12.
“Lifetime use of classic psychedelics was associated with 25 per cent lower odds of having frequent bad headaches,” the Swedish researchers specified in their study. Women in particular are 30 per cent more likely to benefit from LSD and psilocybin for alleviating skull throbbing than men, they also determined.
They analyzed a vast pool of data from a group of over 11,000 people in the United Kingdom to draw these conclusions. The Swedish Brain Foundation was one of the notable funding contributors for their research.
“There is a need to develop new treatments for primary headache,” study author Caroline Ran explained in an interview with PsyPost this week, “and as people with headache [most typically cluster headache] sometimes report that they have self medicated with psychedelic substances with great success, we believe that these compounds needs to be investigated more closely.”
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Findings add to growing body of research
This Swedish investigation is but one of several recent analyses that point to psychedelics as an efficacious alternative to traditional over-the-counter or prescription medications.
In May last year, an analysis published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences found that psilocybin was capable of nearly cutting the number of headaches subjects experienced in half three-weeks post administration.
And last summer, a study titled Psychotropic Drugs Reemerging as Headache Medicines was posted in the peer-reviewed journal CNS Drugs. It highlighted the the growing interest of psychoactive substances for clinical research in this regard.
“The use and reported therapeutic effects of such treatments have long been reported, though formal clinical trials are only recently taking place,” the authors described.
Unlike traditional medications that need to be taken repeatedly, people who have taken psychedelics often report long-lasting relief after a few doses.
Advocacy for their usage to treat these unpleasant neurological conditions goes back to the 1990s with groups like Clusterbusters, and even further.
“Historically, many cultures all over the world have treated headaches with naturally occurring indole-ring hallucinogens [psilocybin, ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT, etc.] for centuries,” the psychedelics advocacy organization says.
rowan@mugglehead.com
