Posted by Flash (212.140.94.128) on July 26, 2000 at 08:05:23:
In Reply to: Why Imitrex may not work sometimes posted by Miguel on July 26, 2000 at 00:16:06:
This is completely without any foundation. It's just a guess. I feel like an amatuer next to pinky, Q and Miguel, and I'm glad that these guys are around that can make sense of my demeted ramblings with some real science! OK then, so try this little theory for size:
LSD and Psilocybin and metabolised by the body. Psilocybin is certainly metabolised into either Psilocilin, Psilocin or both. LSD? Does it also produce Psilcilin or Psilocin as metabolates? Anyhow whatever it certainly has an Indole Ring structure, as does Serotonin.
Serotonin isn't just found in the brain either - it's produced there but also acts on other organs... I know for a fact that both the heart and bowel are implicated here - they also have HT receptors, although different kinds. I guess this might explain why some CH medications that act as HT agonist or antagonists, and Prozac which I believe is an HT reuptake inhibitor or something, can all cause cardiovascular damage.
To go off on one of my favourite tangents, CH is classified as a syndrome, I think this means it has symtoms with no obvious cause. In other words it's not an illness, it won't (usually) kill you, it's just sore. There are two other syndromes that according to some sources go hand in glove with CH. MPVS and IBS. Some sources that I can't be bothered to find links for suggest that people who suffer from one, and more likely to be afflicted by one or both of the other as well. A kind of unholy trinity. MPVS is a cardiac syndrome, and IBS is a bowel syndrome. Futhermore these also tend to hit their sufferers in cycles. I have all 3. It's not that much of a bummer, the CH was worst. The MPVS can be controlled with exercise, and I should really stop drinking if I want to be rid of IBS. Fuck that.
Anyway back on track again. Serotonin is produced in the brain and sent to other organs via the blood. I sure it comes out of the pituitary gland. Psilo and LSD usually enter via the digestive tract and get into the blood. Perhaps any substance with an Indole Ring structure like Serotonin has is allowed to cross the blood/brain barrier. Does this sound feasible? Whadaya think?
I'll shut up now ;)
Flash
PS pne more thing, I don't think there are huge quantities of Serontonin present in the brain anyway. If they tracked it would most of it show up in the liver? Now here is an even more far fetched fantasy, maybe in CH brains the Serotonin has a hard time escaping from the brain into the blood, and the LSD or Psilo leaves the door open for it. Who knows... I doubt that the last bit is the case but it just came to me this second.