Richard Andrew Sewell M.D with the Department of Psychiatry, West Haven Veterans Affairs Hospital, West Haven, CT and others have just published an article in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs titled:
Indoleamine Hallucinogens in Cluster Headache: Results of the Clusterbusters Medication Use Survey
Cluster headache is one of the most debilitating pain syndromes. A significant number of patients are refractory to conventional therapies. The Clusterbusters.org medication use survey sought to characterize the effects of both conventional and alternative medications used in cluster headache. Participants were recruited from cluster headache websites and headache clinics. The final analysis included responses from 496 participants. The survey was modeled after previously published surveys and was available online. Most responses were chosen from a list, though others were free-texted. Conventional abortive and preventative medications were identified and their efficacies agreed with those previously published. The indoleamine hallucinogens, psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and lysergic acid amide, were comparable to or more efficacious than most conventional medications. These agents were also perceived to shorten/abort a cluster period and bring chronic cluster headache into remission more so than conventional medications. Furthermore, infrequent and non-hallucinogenic doses were reported to be efficacious. Findings provide additional evidence that several indoleamine hallucinogens are rated as effective in treating cluster headache. These data reinforce the need for further investigation of the effects of these and related compounds in cluster headache under experimentally controlled settings.
Schindler EA, Gottschalk CH, Weil MJ, Shapiro RE, Wright DA, Sewell RA.
J Psychoactive Drugs. 2015 Nov 23:1-10. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 26595349
Just as psilocybin can be "comparable to or more efficacious than most conventional medications" for cluster headaches, psilocybin may be the best medication available for PTSD. Researchers will not know this if they do not run any Clinical Trials utilizing psilocybin to treat PTSD.
Unfortunately the study was published posthumously for Dr. Sewell who died in 2013 following surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Hats off to this heroic researcher and condolences to his friends and family.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Groundbreaking Psilocybin Documentary Unravels New Perspectives On Life & Death
"Could psilocybin hold the key to understanding our life and death, and relationship to both? The growing numbers of people that have experienced these compounds profess this - and much more." PRNewswire
PRNewswire has announced the release of the new documentary A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin. The full documentary is no longer available from YouTube. However, the video can be rented or purchased from this website.
On a personal note, I do not make any money from this website and have spent many thousands of dollars on travel, books, and articles as well as time to read and digest information to post. This is not my profession and I do not get any tax breaks. When you watch your daughter struggle with cancer for 3 years before passing, you come to realize it is not about the money. There is an important message here and it is a shame to have someone put a monetary value on it. When you attempt to turn spiritually into a business it dissipates.
Most cancer patient already face a huge financial burden so lets give them a break.
The documentary profiles two cancer patients, both now deceased, who had experienced profound benefit from participating in the psilocybin trials being conducted at Johns Hopkins, UCLA and NYU. A 'normal' volunteer from the 2006 Johns Hopkins psilocybin study is also profiled as well as some of the psilocybin researchers from Hopkins, NYU, UCLA, Purdue, and the Imperial College of London.
"Putting words to it cheapens the experience". These words were spoken by Matt Meza as he was trying to explains his psilocybin experience as part of a cancer patient trial. Those words sum up the documentary for me. It is obvious the volunteers have gone through a life changing experience, one of a spiritual nature, not an intellectual one, so it can not be described in words. Spiritual experience tend to evade verbal descriptions. An excellent book that echos these sentiments is Swami Satchadananda's Beyond Words, a classic by a Spiritual Teacher espousing ageless wisdom.
Considering the very positive effect psilocybin appeared to have on the 'normal' volunteer's marriage, there is a distinct possibility that psilocybin may be very effective as an adjunct to couples therapy. Of course this is just an N of 1, but still....
An earlier post provides a link to a panel discussion that occurred following the initial screening (14 April 2015) of the documentary 'A new understanding: the science of psilocybin'. The panel primarily consisted of the same psilocybin researchers in the documentary.
Coming to the conclusion that psilocybin would be as effective for PTSD as it is for patients with a life threatening diagnosis is logical since both deal with a profound existential crisis. Since the etiologies are similar, effective treatments may share the same similarity.
Overall, I recommend this documentary for anyone who may be experiencing a life threatening illness or for anyone who may someday be facing an imminent death or even a non-imminent death. Too bad it's not freely available as those experiencing life threatening existential crisis do not need yet another obstacle to overcome.
On a personal note, I do not make any money from this website and have spent many thousands of dollars on travel, books, and articles as well as time to read and digest information to post. This is not my profession and I do not get any tax breaks. When you watch your daughter struggle with cancer for 3 years before passing, you come to realize it is not about the money. There is an important message here and it is a shame to have someone put a monetary value on it. When you attempt to turn spiritually into a business it dissipates.
Most cancer patient already face a huge financial burden so lets give them a break.
The documentary profiles two cancer patients, both now deceased, who had experienced profound benefit from participating in the psilocybin trials being conducted at Johns Hopkins, UCLA and NYU. A 'normal' volunteer from the 2006 Johns Hopkins psilocybin study is also profiled as well as some of the psilocybin researchers from Hopkins, NYU, UCLA, Purdue, and the Imperial College of London.
Considering the very positive effect psilocybin appeared to have on the 'normal' volunteer's marriage, there is a distinct possibility that psilocybin may be very effective as an adjunct to couples therapy. Of course this is just an N of 1, but still....
An earlier post provides a link to a panel discussion that occurred following the initial screening (14 April 2015) of the documentary 'A new understanding: the science of psilocybin'. The panel primarily consisted of the same psilocybin researchers in the documentary.
Coming to the conclusion that psilocybin would be as effective for PTSD as it is for patients with a life threatening diagnosis is logical since both deal with a profound existential crisis. Since the etiologies are similar, effective treatments may share the same similarity.
Overall, I recommend this documentary for anyone who may be experiencing a life threatening illness or for anyone who may someday be facing an imminent death or even a non-imminent death. Too bad it's not freely available as those experiencing life threatening existential crisis do not need yet another obstacle to overcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)