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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
As growing numbers of people are using cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new UCL study reports that prescriptions are not backed up by adequate evidence.
The systematic review, published in the Journal of Dual Diagnosis, finds that the active components of cannabis, called cannabinoids, may hold promise as a treatment for PTSD, particularly for reducing nightmares and helping people sleep, but more research is needed to determine whether these drugs should be used in routine clinical practice.
"There has been a recent surge of interest in the use of cannabinoids to treat PTSD, particularly from military veterans, many of whom are already self-medicating or obtaining prescriptions in some American states," said the study's lead author, Dr Chandni Hindocha (UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit).
"The lack of evidence supporting cannabis as a PTSD treatment is striking given the vast interest in it, and the large unmet need for better PTSD treatments," she said.
PTSD is a potentially debilitating condition affecting roughly 1% of the UK population, typically consisting of re-experiencing a traumatic event through intrusive memories, flashbacks or nightmares, and often involves hyper-reactivity (a state of constant vigilance) and insomnia.
Psychotherapies (talking therapies) including trauma-focussed cognitive-behavioural therapy have been shown to be effective for PTSD. However, not everyone can access talking therapies and they do not work for everyone, so many people still need to take prescribed medications. Existing drugs approved for PTSD do not work for everyone, and can have side effects, so researchers say there is an urgent need to identify new treatments.
A growing number of people have turned to cannabinoids, which is an approved treatment for PTSD in most states in the USA that permit medical cannabis.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday September 05 2019, @02:13AM (10 children)
Asking for personal reasons: what qualifies as "strong 'forget' medicine?" I've had untreated c-PTSD for a long, long time now, and am wondering if there's anything that can make existence less of a horrifying ordeal than it is.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @02:24AM (2 children)
Mirtazipine before bedtime for sleep, but it doesn't help much when you wake up the next day and the nightmare starts all over again. It's chronic PTSD here too. Ever read "Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events"? That was me in real life.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday September 05 2019, @02:35AM (1 child)
Interesting. Mirtazipine isn't something I'd feel comfortable using though, based on the chart of receptor affinities I found for it on Wikipedia (I can't access Clinical Pharmacology when not at work, so...yeah).
It has weirdly high affinity for the alpha-adrenergic receptors, most of the 5-HTP family, and it absolutely loves the histamine H1 receptor too. I would guess the serotonin receptor activity is what's responsible for the reported weight gain and the H1 affinity for the sedation. The article says it has low affinity for the muscarinic receptors, but 670 is still high enough that I'd be wary of using it.
Overall, and assuming I ever get any goddamn health insurance (yes, you are talking to a pharmacy tech with no health insurance, because AMERICA!), I may look into this as a drug of last resort. So far I'm doing nothing whatsoever except trying to eat healthy, sleep enough, and drink lots of tea.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @02:50AM
I also went to a 5 week anxiety treatment program, it really helped.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @06:56AM (4 children)
You need someone you trust absolutely and can tell anything to. You take rohypnol and they walk you through the traumatic memories a few times. The way memory works is remembering things is like a read-wipe-rewrite cycle. This is why peoples memories drift - the rewriting is not perfect. Each cycle reinforces the bad memory. The rohypnol blocks the rewrite and decreases the impact of the memories.
Depending how bad and how long ago you might need a few cycles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @03:21PM (1 child)
There's special cases where conventional therapy does not work... like having PTSD, emotional amnesia, and having an eidetic memory that brings it all back in detail.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @12:53AM
You won't completely wipe the memories but you can greatly reduce the impact and stop the self-reinforcing that is a major part of PTSD.
Of course, it's all a bit fuzzy and situation dependent. That's why the need for a trusted friend. It's like LSD research, people having trips in company with happy friends kept reporting amazing insights and mental development while people strapped to tables in laboratories kept reporting bad trips.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @07:29PM (1 child)
or instead of trying to block the rewrite of the memory you can learn to cope with/accept it via mdma and or mushrooms(or both at the same time?).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @02:30AM
You will not completely erase a memory this way. Rohypnol will completely stop you forming new memories, hence its use as a rape drug. But it will decrease the intensity of the targeted memories and reduce their impact. It can go as far as making the memories seem more like something you read about than a trauma you lived through.
That's why the need for a trusted friend. You have to tell them everything that's relevant and they have to keep you on track recalling the same things over and over through the drug session.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 05 2019, @08:50PM
Several ideas (mostly non-chemical) for treating PTSD are in "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
From the Amazon summary: ""Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children. Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives."
Good luck. For an example from the book, getting good sleep can help, because that is when the brain tends to process trauma do de-emotionalize it. See also the book "Why We Sleep".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @07:27PM
try l-theanine? it certainly helps with regular stress.