Cluster attacks responsive to recreational cannabis and dronabinol.

Author(s): Robbins MS, Tarshish S, Solomon S, Grosberg BM

Affiliation(s): Montefiore Headache Center, Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.

Publication date & source: 2009-06, Headache., 49(6):914-6. Epub 2009 Feb 11.

Publication type: Case Reports

Pharmacological preparations of cannabinoid compounds have a variety of therapeutic uses in medicine, including different pain syndromes, but have not been previously reported as beneficial for cluster headache. We present a patient with cluster headache who was refractory to multiple acute and preventive medications but successfully aborted his attacks with recreational marijuana use; subsequent use of dronabinol provided equally effective pain relief. The beneficial effect may be related to the high concentration of cannabinoid receptors in the hypothalamus, which has been implicated as a site of dysfunction in neuroimaging studies of patients with cluster headache.