Headaches brought on by substances and the proper medication to take to cure them?

[Akashik]

How does one know if it is safe to take Tylenol , Aspirin, Motrin, Advil etc. when swiy gets a pounding headache from a "recreational substance" ?

( swim took some ephedrine and his head was pounding quite insanely, swim wasnt sure what to take to safely stop the headache, in fear of an adverse reaction to the ephedrine or any other future substances.)

Is there a scientific way / analysis to find out ?
i.e, analyzing the molecules and atoms etc. between the substances??

* SWIM KNOWS NOTHING about CHEMISTRY/ SCIENCE RELATED * other than some highschool classes he attempted to attend back in the day

ALSO, for future reference is there a way to educate ones self specifically on knowing WHY adverse ( negative side effects) happen in the human body and HOW to properly prevent / cure them?

* Swims feeling he might get some smart ass responses here* please try to be merciful !

[Coconut]

As long as there are no known adverse reactions between substances, it's mostly a simple case of finding out why the headache occurs in the first place.

For example, ephedrine is a vasoconstrictor, causing the blood vessels to narrow and increase blood pressure; this can bring on a hypertensive headache.

The easiest solution is to reverse the process by lowering blood pressure. There are many easily available vasodilators which achieve this, such as ethanol, sildenafil (Viagra) and theobromine (a metabolite of caffeine which is also found in chocolate).

Similarly, migraines and cluster headaches, which are largely caused by over-dilation of blood vessels, can be alleviated through the administration of vasoconstrictors such as ergotamine (which is a common, legal treatment), LSA, LSD or psilocin (not so legal).

Manipulating blood pressure to keep it in normal range and alleviate headaches is a simple process but can be very dangerous if one goes overboard and has a cardiovascular condition.

[Akashik]

Thank you Coconut for the informative reply.
Some very interesting information.

Though swim is sorry to say, my questions are not fully answered.
How does one educate themselves "Specifically" on these things ( drug interactions on the human body and between other substances )

Is it all just a matter of "learning it through school/ when your young" kinda thing?
Or a matter of intense research and experimentation on ones self?

* Its just that swim is very interested in this field, but swim is an art student ( which means hes not very good in science/math....so he thinks) and swim has exams now and other stuff but he doesnt want to lose his interest in this field and let it pass *

Akashik added 466 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

no responses

common swiys , swim needs some feedback!

[Coconut]

I just sit around during my spare time on this forum, Erowid and Wikipedia. Start off by learning the positive/negative effects of SWIY's favourite drugs and how to alleviate/potentiate them. If you have nothing better to do with your time (like so many of us here), you'll find that the knowledge seeps in quickly.

[RoboCodeine7610]

( swim took some ephedrine and his head was pounding quite insanely, swim wasnt sure what to take to safely stop the headache, in fear of an adverse reaction to the ephedrine or any other future substances.)

The headache was probably caused by an escesively high blood pressure and the smartest move would have been to fix the problem, instead of killing the pain.

A moderate antihypertensive drug like propanolol would have probably helped.

[Potter]

ephedrine is more likely then not the cause for the headache, it can be pretty brutal on the body compared to other stimulants.

Make sure not to take anything containing caffeine, while my favorite methylated xanthine can do wonders for headaches caused by vaso-constriction, it will make the body effects of the ephedrine considerably worse.