PSSD Forum

I’ve been dealing with daily migraines/head pain, when I shake my head it hurts, for a little over a year now. It all started when I crashed from ginger a partial 5ht1a agonist. My guess is too much 5ht firing in the dorsal raphe as a result of downregulated 5ht1a receptors. Serotonin, particularly in the dorsal raphe, is mostly responsible for migraine development. L dopa has been helping a little with head pain. It supposedly reduces 5ht in the raphe.

Ghost wrote:Headache or migraine. The brain has no pain receptors. Brain surgeons don't numb it for surgery.

Pain is not the right word to describe it. I have lower back disc issues. That is pain. These feels more like chronic swelling or inflammation of the brain. It varies in severity but it is always there. If I understand the symptoms of POTS, I would say it closely aligns to that. Dizziness, brain fog, high blood pressure, forgetfulness, exercise intolerance (i used to work out everyday and cant even walk a mile), blurred vision especially if I exercise. The only thing that alleviates all of the above is laying down for prolonged periods of time and sleeping. Now, a neurologist did a table test on me, looking for dysautomina and it was inconclusive. Thoughts?

Spins wrote:Has anyone found anything that helps with the feeling of pressure in your head and the feeling of your brain aching? My neck even aches and will get stiff. My brain kinda feels like it's in a clamp all day. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Head pressure/tension is a very common symptom I often encounter in post-drug patients, and had suffered from myself at some point. It's not true pain as the brain has no pain receptors. It's more along the lines of a psychological "paresthesia", for lack of a better term.

It is a symptom of impaired opioid signalling, I've come to discover. Low oxytocin, low mu opioid signalling, or low phasic dopamine can trigger/worsen this symptom. High dose Naltrexone can even trigger it in a normal person.

To ease it, you can increase oxytocin indirectly (i.e. benzos, fenugreek, or a serotonin/dopamine releaser) OR you can improve mu opioid signalling, such as with tobacco/hookah smoking (I don't endorse this dangerous activity - just noting that tobacco smoking can increase beta-endorphin release modestly).

To treat it in a more permanent manner, look into improving limbic integrity in order to boost baseline mu signalling. (neurogenesis)

Mesolimbo wrote:

Spins wrote:Has anyone found anything that helps with the feeling of pressure in your head and the feeling of your brain aching? My neck even aches and will get stiff. My brain kinda feels like it's in a clamp all day. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Head pressure/tension is a very common symptom I often encounter in post-drug patients, and had suffered from myself at some point. It's not true pain as the brain has no pain receptors. It's more along the lines of a psychological "paresthesia", for lack of a better term.

It is a symptom of impaired opioid signalling, I've come to discover. Low oxytocin, low mu opioid signalling, or low phasic dopamine can trigger/worsen this symptom. High dose Naltrexone can even trigger it in a normal person.

To ease it, you can increase oxytocin indirectly (i.e. benzos, fenugreek, or a serotonin/dopamine releaser) OR you can improve mu opioid signalling, such as with tobacco/hookah smoking (I don't endorse this dangerous activity - just noting that tobacco smoking can increase beta-endorphin release modestly).

To treat it in a more permanent manner, look into improving limbic integrity in order to boost baseline mu signalling. (neurogenesis)

What would be a good example of a dopamine release? Like an agonist? Premipexole?

Spins wrote:What would be a good example of a dopamine release? Like an agonist? Premipexole?

No, tonic dopamine agonists are the opposite of releasers. Amphetamine is a good example.

Hello Spins,

Do you think this is due to the Clomid that you started? or you have been feeling this even before clomid?

I'm also tendences to headache- in eyesocked/terporary zone+ nausea and hiperalgesia, hypersensitive to sound, light this state is similar to influenza.

Brian cook wrote:Hello Spins,

Do you think this is due to the Clomid that you started? or you have been feeling this even before clomid?

No, I had this long before the clomid. In fact, I had a day or 2 in the last 2 weeks since I've been on it where this crap has gone away and I felt amazing. However, at least at the moment, I am back to normal in that department. I quickly realized that this is one of my most debilitating symptoms because in those couple days where it was gone, i saw glimmers of living somewhat normally again.

Do you feel a pressure on your forehead?

So I took one pill of trazodone and I'm haveing a crash - it supposed to help with my depression without affecting my pssd but it did. I completly lost my orgasm sensation from like 5% down to 0%. Will I be back to my pssd baseline or now its my new permament baseline?