Medicine/Healing

…a compelling case for the use of magic mushrooms in pain relief

Indeed, in April [2024], the Yale School of Medicine published the results of the first randomised control study of psilocybin for pain relief. Although it enrolled just 10 CH [Cluster Headache] sufferers, half of those who received psilocybin as opposed to a placebo reported a reduction in attacks. Precisely how psilocybin interrupts the cycle of headaches is an open question. Brain scans suggest…

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Medicine/Healing

Homegrown trips: desperate for PTSD Relief, veterans turn to each other for DIY psychedelic treatments

A deployment in Afghanistan left her with a traumatic brain injury, a shattered ankle, and a broken vertebra. Like many veterans, she obliged when VA doctors prescribed pain and sleep medication to help numb constant physical pain. But the antidepressants and sedatives she was also taking for PTSD, anxiety, and depression barely touched the gnawing…

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Medicine/Healing

VA funds first study on psychedelic-assisted therapy for Veterans

…the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will fund a study on Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted, or MDMA-assisted, therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder among Veterans. This is the first VA-funded study for psychedelic-assisted therapy since the 1960s. The study is scheduled to take place at the Providence VA Medical Center in Rhode…

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Medicine/Healing

FDA gives long awaited green light to veterans cannabis trial for PTSD

The FDA is permitting a large cohort of American veterans to smoke medical cannabis in a study aimed at gaining insights for combatting PTSD. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has been pushing for this since 2021. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, announced… that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…

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Medicine/Healing

Healthcare workers back psychedelics but lack crucial knowledge, study finds

The research… from Johns Hopkins University, surveyed 879 healthcare providers, shedding light on current attitudes, knowledge levels, and concerns… The vast majority of respondents, 93%, endorsed the potential of psilocybin and 76% supported the promise of MDMA in clinical settings. However, self-reported knowledge did not align with objective assessments. While participants rated their understanding of psilocybin’s…

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Medicine/Healing

…medical use of psychedelic mushrooms…

Lauren Dayton said she has suffered from cluster headaches, also known as suicide headaches, for more than a decade, and this is the only treatment that’s worked. “I have had no hope with this painful disease – none – until citizen science led me this way,” Lauren said. New Jersey Senate Budget Committee approved the…

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Medicine/Healing

Psilocybin shows greater long-term benefits over SSRI for depression

A direct comparison between the experimental psychedelic drug psilocybin and a standard SSRI antidepressant shows similar improvement of depressive symptoms, but that psilocybin offers additional longer-term benefits… Lead researcher Mr. Tommaso Barba (Ph.D. candidate from Imperial College, London) said, “This is the first work to compare the long-term effects of these two drugs in the…

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Medicine/Healing

Psychedelics could treat some of the worst chronic pain in the world

Here’s another… under-studied prospect of psychedelics: a world without severe chronic pain. And… around the internet or psychedelic conferences, a whole subterranean trove of similar stories opens up. An estimated 51 million Americans suffer from chronic pain – excruciating conditions like migraines, phantom limb pains, or fibromyalgia – and often go without effective treatments. But psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD seem to…

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Medicine/Healing

The VA’s high hopes for psychedelics

Why the VA matters: It’s the largest health system in the country and serves a population with disproportionately high rates of PTSD. The VA announced in January [2024 that it would fund research into psychedelics like MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and psilocybin as potential treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. While outside groups have…

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