Education / Research

Can Psilocybin Help With Migraine or Cluster Headache?

Last reviewed

Headache research is early and small, but it is some of the more surprising work in the field. People with migraine and cluster headache have few good options, so even a small signal gets attention.

Every study below links to its source so you can read it yourself.

What the studies found

Small or open-label trials

A small Yale study on migraine

Ten adults with migraine took part in a double-blind crossover study, where each person received both psilocybin and a placebo on separate occasions. In the two weeks after a single session, weekly migraine days dropped by about 1.65 after psilocybin and by about 0.15 after placebo.

Worth knowing

Ten people is a pilot. Everyone received placebo first and psilocybin second, which makes order effects possible. It is a reason to run a larger study, not a result to lean on.

Small or open-label trials

Cluster headache: promising, not settled

A small Yale trial first tested a three-dose course of psilocybin against placebo and saw about a 30 percent drop in cluster attacks that was not statistically significant. In a follow-up round, ten people all received psilocybin without knowing the dose, and weekly attacks fell from about 18 to about 10 over three weeks. Whether a stronger experience went with a bigger drop was mixed: one analysis found a link and the others did not.

Worth knowing

The follow-up round had no placebo group and only ten people, none of them representative of everyone with cluster headache. Attacks at the start of the follow-up round were about double those in the first round, which can make improvement easier to see, and everyone got psilocybin, so expectation was probably higher. The authors call for larger, longer studies.

What to keep in mind

Both studies had around ten people. That is enough to justify a bigger trial and not enough to rely on. The cluster headache follow-up had no placebo group at all.

Psilocybin can also cause headaches, which several trials report as a common effect on the day. Anyone with migraine or cluster headache should talk to a neurologist before changing anything, and should never stop a prescribed treatment on their own.

Keep reading

This page is for adults 21 and older. It summarizes published research for education only. It is not medical or legal advice, and it makes no claim that any product sold by Luna treats, cures, prevents, or helps any condition. Laws about these mushrooms vary by place, and you are responsible for knowing yours.

Research moves quickly. We last checked this page against its sources on , and we will correct it if we get something wrong.