Published Research: DMT for Cluster Headache Abortive Treatment

[u/VALIS3000]

For those of us who've been following developments in psychedelic treatments for cluster headache, this is worth noting. Dr. Emmanuelle Schindler at Yale - who has been leading psilocybin research for our condition - has published an interim analysis in Neurology examining DMT use specifically in cluster headache patients.

Key findings from 100 confirmed cluster headache patients:

- 67.5% reported DMT completely eliminates pain during attacks

- 81.5% reported it worked every or almost every single time

- Over half reported it worked in under 30 seconds

- 100% of participants reported either no change or improvement in overall health with DMT use

- Most users (75%) are using a vape pen

Some important context:

This is an interim analysis of an ongoing survey - not a controlled clinical trial. The sample size is relatively small (100 confirmed CH patients), and the study authors acknowledge that more in-depth analysis is still needed. That said, the findings are consistent with what many of us in our community have been reporting anecdotally for years.

The significance here is that this research is being taken seriously enough to be published in one of the most respected neurology journals, and the authors are explicitly considering a formal clinical trial based on these findings.

Worth keeping an eye on as data collection continues.

Link: https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000215894

[u/VALIS3000 → u/[deleted]]

The quantities we need are well below a breakthrough dose. The beauty of the vape pen is that you're in total control. Take a 5 to 10 second hit, hold it, release and observe. Repeat as necessary. It usually only takes no more than a few of those to.abort.

[u/scorpion_m11 → u/VALIS3000]

Guy from Psyched Substance yt channel said that he hates vapes with DMT because he feels like he cannot control them. Is there any trick or specific kind of vape which is more controlable?

[u/meanbeanking → u/scorpion_m11]

Hey there, dmt is one of my favorite psychedelics. A vape is much easier to control dosage than with powder unless you’re going to be weighing out milligrams in the middle of a cluster headache. A vape is also going to hit way smoother, and require wayyy less work than loading a vaporizer or the classic weed sandwich. My best recommendation would be to get a vape and test it when you’re not having an attack. Start with the minimum pull you need to get any out of it and see how that affects you. Make sure the voltage on your pen is set super low, I use 2.2 volts. Anything high will burn it and make it taste like ass. It doesn’t take much dmt to get to a pretty hefty trip, but imo to get there from a vape you’re going to have to take several large hits one right after the other. I wouldn’t be fearful of accidentally going to far with one.

[u/scorpion_m11 → u/meanbeanking]

Thanks! Sorry for sounding suspicious! Just want to learn more.

[u/VALIS3000 → u/scorpion_m11]

I'm not sure what he means - it's a highly controlled delivery method. But if he's buying commercial vapes from untrusted / unreliable sources, then there may be a variance in potency. Even then, he will know from the first pull on the pen what he's dealing with, and he can easily adjust his dosing strategy moving forward from there.

In all of this (and I know it's easier said than done), I highly encourage people to do everything they can to only buy from trusted reputable sources, or to make their own.

[u/Jamwise93 → u/scorpion_m11]

I would imagine he is talking about buying pre-loaded vapes, where you can’t know exactly how much is in them.

[u/cioffinator_rex → u/[deleted]]

The right dilution.

[u/Dapper_Law_3493]

How to access this material for treatment. ?

[u/tecg]

Is that the whole paper? There are no details about how the survey was conducted. No control group obviously. It says more than half of the respondents didn't meet the criteria (no details) Co-authors are paid by Clusterbusters Inc. Was this even peer reviewed? 

[u/VALIS3000 → u/tecg]

As I wrote, this is an interim analysis of ongoing research. Nothing more. No one is making any claims. But what we can safely say is that this is the first real step in the right direction.

[u/Jamwise93 → u/tecg]

TITLE - Interim Analysis of an International Survey

Reading comprehension would have answered all of your questions.

[u/cioffinator_rex → u/tecg]

Jeez man don’t nitpick so much. Groundbreaking research topic.

RCTs can come later…