Headache in chronic cocaine users: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Chronic cocaine use frequently seems to worsen or induce headache with migraine or migraine-like characteristics, probably owing to a serotoninergic and dopaminergic system impairment. In headache sufferers, especially those with migraine headaches, clinicians should enquire into possible cocaine use.

Cocaine-Induced Headache: A Review of Pathogenesis, Presentation, Diagnosis, and Management

“…Cocaine is an extremely vasoactive drug that has a disastrous influence on the central nervous system [5]. Headache may occur due to damage to the serotoninergic and dopaminergic system [6]. In chronic cocaine users (CCUs), a headache occurs due to synaptic depletion of dopamine and serotonin causing a condition called "empty neuron", a classical migraine biochemical feature [7].…”

“…One of the most widely recognized manifestations after cocaine use is headache [6]. Headache occurs in 90% of cases of CCUs [7].…”

Illicit substance use among persons admitted to probation polyclinic of a regional mental hospital in the Eastern Anatolia, Turkey

“… 3 Worldwide, approximately 14-21 million people (0.3-0.5% of the population aged 15-65 years) use cocaine. 4 The extend of illicit substance use has been increasing in the United States of America and Europe over the past few years. 5 , 6 Unfortunately, substance use prevalence in Turkish youth has been increasing seriously.…”

O036. Cocaine and headache: a 2-year follow-up study in chronic cocaine users and literature review

“…In a previous study we encouraged clinicians to carry out a more in-depth investigation on cocaine use in all headache suffers, especially those with migraine, as headache occurs in a very high proportion of CCU (90%), mostly showing migraine or migraine-like characteristics, while cocaine-induced headache, as classified by the ICHD criteria [ 7 ], seems exceedingly rare (2.2%). Moreover, we pointed out that CCU sometimes use cocaine as an acute remedy for the headache attack, even though improvement occurs very rarely (17.2% of cases) [ 8 ]. Recently, it has been described that patients with intractable cluster headache who tried cocaine, being dissatisfied with conventional treatments in terms of efficacy and/or tolerability, referred a full or partial improvement in 30.8% of cases [ 9 ].…”

“…The present study was aimed to evaluate the modification of the clinical characteristics of headache in CCU after a 2-year follow-up period. We contacted by phone the 80 patients previously enrolled [ 8 ] attending the Cocaine Addiction Service of the Drug Addiction Service, 20th District, Rome. Of these 80 patients, 60 (still followed by the Drug Addiction Service) were enrolled and interviewed by the same physicians of the previous study.…”