Ecstasy and PTSD

[Adelaide]

This is a fairly "fashionable" topic currently being discussed in the media - I've seen articles on it on several major news networks' websites over the past several months.


Their study, conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina, involved twenty-one subjects suffering from severe posttraumatic stress who have been treatment-resistant for more conventional drug treatments. The average length of time that the subjects in the study have been dealing with severe abuse was nineteen years. Of the subjects, twelve were assigned to the psychology and MDMA condition while the remaining subjects were assigned to psychotherapy only with an inactive placebo. In all cases, the MDMA or the placebo was administered during two eight-hour sessions scheduled three to five weeks apart along with weekly therapy sessions.

After the study was completed, all subjects were recruited for long-term follow up (LTFU) which extended for 17 to 74 months following the final MDMA session. On average, almost all of the MDMA subjects, who had been suffering from long-term PTSD symptoms that were resistant to other forms of treatment, showed positive and statistically significant gains. Based on these findings, the Mitthoefers and their fellow researchers argued that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy was a safe and effective treatment for severe PTSD.

According to the Mitthoefers, over 80 per cent of their subjects had improved to the point that they no longer met DSM-IV-TR criteria for PTSD following the trial compared to only 25 per cent of the control group. These gains appear to persist over time with subjects remaining symptom-free years after their final MDMA session.



Can Ecstasy (MDMA) Help Treat PTSD? - Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201212/can-ecstasy-help-treat-ptsd)

[Peter1469]

I have heard that before. I have also heard that dope does as well.

[Adelaide]

I have heard that before. I have also heard that dope does as well.

There have been studies with LSD, as well. It's funny how these research treatments are popping up, as they did several decades ago. The difference is that the understanding of the brain and CNS is so much better that now they're able to focus on what these drugs do, chemically in your brain, and try to see if that can counter or compensate for what mental illness does in the brain.

[Peter1469]

There have been studies with LSD, as well. It's funny how these research treatments are popping up, as they did several decades ago. The difference is that the understanding of the brain and CNS is so much better that now they're able to focus on what these drugs do, chemically in your brain, and try to see if that can counter or compensate for what mental illness does in the brain.

Maybe when I retire from the reserves I will give it a shot.

[Adelaide]

Maybe when I retire from the reserves I will give it a shot.

Sorry if this is too personal: do you have PTSD? I know you've mentioned war zones.

[Peter1469]

Sorry if this is too personal: do you have PTSD? I know you've mentioned war zones.

Not diagnosed.

[waltky]

If ecstasy works, then why marijuana for PTSD?...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Christie Signs Bill Approving the Use of Medical Marijuana for PTSD
Sep 15, 2016 | Gov. Christie, surprising skeptics, on Wednesday approved a bill that will allow people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana when conventional treatments fail.


Patients and their advocates had lobbied for the bill for more than a year, citing statistics that show military veterans with PTSD have a high rate of suicide. "I'm ecstatic, I'm happily surprised, I'm going to go get my card," said Don Karpowich, 57, an Air Force special operations veteran from Morristown with PTSD who has attended several demonstrations at the Statehouse over the last year to push for the bill. Christie had said at several town halls that he did not want to expand the medical-marijuana program. Two years ago his administration turned down a petition submitted by Coalition Medical Marijuana New Jersey to add PTSD to the list of a dozen ailments that qualify for cannabis use.

But a month and a half after the bipartisan bill was placed on his desk, Christie signed it with a statement explaining his reasons. Christie cited statistics of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs estimating that 20 percent of veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade suffer from PTSD. "Throughout the country, significant resources are being used to research PTSD and increase access to traditional treatments, such as psychotherapy and antidepressant medications," he wrote. "This bill would provide struggling veterans and others with the ability to use medical marijuana to treat PTSD, but only after it has been determined by a physician or psychiatrist that conventional medical therapy is ineffective."


http://images02.military.com/media/global/newscred/chris-christie-trenton-1500-15-sep-2016-ts600.jpeg
Gov. Chris Christie listens to a question from the media in Trenton, N.J.

Christie said that "requiring conventional medical therapy to be ineffective in treating PTSD before medical marijuana can be prescribed is an appropriate threshold safeguard to deter misuse." He said he will also direct the health commissioner to create new regulations to further prevent misuse, an issue he has raised in the past to explain why he does not favor expanding the program. Many patients and advocates, however, have criticized the Health Department for promulgating too many rules, saying that makes the program unwieldy and prevents people with serious illnesses from qualifying to use cannabis.

Some saw Christie's action as being motivated by his role as a key adviser in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. "I wonder if Trump had something to do with this," Karpowich said. Christie approved the bill only a few days before it would have become law automatically, without his signature, if he did not veto it. He said that "the mere potential for abuse by some should not deter the state from taking action that may ease the daily struggles of our veterans and others who legitimately suffer from PTSD."

MORE (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/15/christie-signs-bill-approving-use-medical-marijuana-treat-ptsd.html)

[valley ranch]

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, is a psychoactive drug

Chemicals, non biological. Usually cause long term side effects. Hemp byproducts are a little less stressful than coffee. The worst thing about hemp byproducts is: if smoked~the breathing of smoke and the fact that it is now illegal!

[waltky]

PTSD through the generations...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Generations of PTSD: Veterans Cope in Different Ways
Oct 17, 2016 — Deep in the mountains of Afghanistan, Jamie Locastro heard the sharp patter of bullets raining above him in the Korengal Valley.


A month earlier, Jamie trained with his 120-man brigade, getting used to the humidity and 120-degree weather. He joined the infantry to be like his father, Tommy. His brother, Gabriel, enlisted with the infantry six months before him and had been deployed to Iraq near the same time. He and his comrades were excited after finishing a mission, called Mountain Lion, but once they reached the Korengal Valley — which had only one way in, one way out — the exhilaration turned to terror. Jamie ducked and fell to the ground as the bullets whizzed past him, kicking up sand.

Blinded by shock, Jamie disregarded that he had been shot five times, three times in the arm, twice in the leg. He didn't notice the blood dripping down his arm as his comrades began dropping around him. He jumped up, ran over to the medic to get his hand wrapped and began firing blindly at the mountains, cursing and screaming. "I went crazy," he said. "I lost control." Once he got back to a hospital in New York, Jamie was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder immediately. The doctors told him he had a "severe case," while he babbled about "off the wall stuff." His father had been diagnosed with PTSD after being shot three times in back-to-back tours in Vietnam. While Gabriel was in Iraq, he was wounded, and would later be diagnosed with PTSD as well.


http://images05.military.com/media/people/ptsd-tbi-804-ts600.jpg
Many veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

According to ptsdusa.org, one in three returning troops are diagnosed with serious post-traumatic stress symptoms. A study from the National Comorbidity Survey showed that PTSD was significantly associated with suicidal ideation or attempt. Between 1999 and 2010, roughly 22 veterans were committing suicide per day, one every 65 minutes — a statistic important not to forget during National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. "We all have our own problems," Jamie said. "We're all messed up in some way. People cope with PTSD in all kinds of different ways." James V. Coniglio, psychotherapist and program director for the Mississippi State Hospital, served as an intelligence officer in the Vietnam War.

Ambushed twice and wounded once, visions pop in his head of things he witnessed: mutilated bodies, helicopters lifting dead soldiers, the smell of war and smoke. For a period, the backfire of a car would freeze him. "But I can't claim I saw or did what some veterans with PTSD have seen," he said. "I was able to be able. I do avoid military bases. Those things are there, but I keep myself active." Coniglio occasionally treats veterans with PTSD. One veteran, witnessing a traumatic experience in Vietnam, came back home and couldn't control his emotions. He wouldn't leave the house, which was deteriorating around him. The veteran went through a period of avoidance as he yearned to be back with his comrades.

MORE (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/17/generations-ptsd-veterans-cope-different-ways.html)

[waltky]

Another effect of PTSD...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Service Members and Vets Smoke and Drink More, Sleep Less: Report
Nov 10, 2016 | WASHINGTON – People who have served in the military smoke and drink more and sleep less than the general population, according to a report.


People who have served in the military smoke and drink more and sleep less than the general population, according to a report released Thursday by the United Health Foundation. The study, based off a survey of approximately 60,000 veterans and service members annually from 2011 through 2014, also found higher rates of coronary heart disease, heart attack and cancer. Researchers said they'll deliver the results to the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and other health care providers in the hopes that it will help with treatment. "We owe it to these people to see if anything can be done, if we could identify opportunities to improve," said Richard Migliori, senior adviser to the United Health Foundation, an offspring of insurer United Health Group. "I think we found some meaningful things here."


http://images05.military.com/media/news/service/marine-smoking-600x400.jpg
A Marine smokes a cigarette after an attack at Patrol Base Bracha in the Garmsir district of Helmand province, Afghanistan

The findings show 25.2 percent of servicemembers and veterans who are 18 to 39 years old smoke, compared to 20.7 percent of the general population of the same age range. Approximately 20 percent of servicemembers and veterans drink excessively, while 18.1 percent of others do. Drinking excessively was defined by the report as either binge drinking, having five or more drinks in one sitting, or heavy drinking, which means having more than two drinks each day.

Service members and veterans are 39 percent more likely than others not to sleep enough. "Since we found issues with sleep, smoking and alcohol use, we know we may be dealing with an area of stress – these are all stress related," Migliori said. "The good things about those findings, those are things that can be immediately worked on. Physicians should be focusing on those particular behavious as they engage their patients." Smoking and drinking could be a direct cause of the higher rates of coronary heart disease and cancer in people with military service, Migliori said. Servicemembers and veterans are 62 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease and 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack, the study found.

MORE (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/11/10/service-members-vets-smoke-and-drink-more-sleep-less-report.html)

See also:

Opiate Addiction and Veterans: How to Get Help
With more than half of veterans who participated in conflicts in the Middle East reporting they experience chronic pain, it's no surprise that many are prescribed opiates to help them manage their pain -- but that can lead to opiate addiction.


The widespread use of opiates is creating dangerous consequences. Today, veterans aretwo times more likely than non-veterans to suffer a fatal overdose from opiates. For veterans and their partners, this news is extremely unsettling. Without medication to manage chronic pain, life can be greatly negatively impacted. Chronic pain can affect the ability to find and keep employment, it can lead to depression and other mental health disorders, and it can cause strain on relationships. But an opioid addiction can have similar effects and could even result in a fatal overdose. If you or your partner are suffering from an opiate addiction, you do not have to deal with it alone. Here are a few tips to help you get the assistance you need.

Know the Signs of Opiate Addiction

Opiates are dangerous when overused, but they can be helpful when they're carefully prescribed and used. When you know the signs of addiction, you can begin addressing the problem as soon as possible. As a spouse or partner, you're in a special position to note these signs as you spend so much time with your loved one. Keep an eye out for a mixture of physical as well as behavioral changes. For example, if your partner is having physical health issues, such as drowsiness, poor coordination and increases in pain along with mood swings, reduced social activity, bouts of euphoria etc., they may have developed an addiction to their pain meds.


http://images03.military.com/media/benefits/veteran/prescription-drugs.jpg

Understand the Implications of a Dual Diagnosis

If your spouse or partner has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, opiate use could be dangerous for them. Because so many veterans return with chronic pain, the Department of Veterans Affairs commonly prescribes opiates; however, opiates can exacerbate symptoms of PTSD. And veterans with PTSD are more likely to suffer negative consequences, includingoverdoses. If your loved one has PTSD, it may be necessary to avoid opiates and seek other pain relief options.

Recognize the Signs of an Overdose

If an overdose has taken place, it's imperative that you seek medical help as soon as possible. If someone is a heavy opiates user, signs of an overdose may be difficult to distinguish from their regular behavior. However,certain behaviors, including someone being unconscious and/or unresponsive, being unable to speak, experiencing difficulty breathing, or having a pale or clammy face, should warrant immediate medical attention.

Know How to Get Military-Specific Help (http://www.military.com/spouse/military-life/wounded-warriors/opiate-addiction-and-veterans-how-to-get-help.html)

[waltky]

Ecstasy One Step Closer to Approval as PTSD Treatment...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/fingerscrossed.gif
Ecstasy One Step Closer to Approval as PTSD Treatment
Dec 20, 2016 | The Iraqi interpreter wanted a ride in the Humvee after a long mission outside Baghdad in April 2007. Already crowded with armor-clad soldiers, Army Spc. Tony Macie told him he'd have to wait for more vehicles to return to Patrol Base Dog to pick him up.


No Humvees arrived, but a dump truck weighed down with explosives did. The detonation reduced the base to a pile of bricks. Survivors radioed: "broken arrow," a distress signal for units in danger of being overrun by the enemy. A mushroom cloud plumed overhead. Macie's unit sped back to pull the dead and wounded out of the rubble. It took days. Two U.S. troops were killed, along with two interpreters -- including the one Macie told to wait. Did Macie kill him? The question surged through Macie's brain circuitry in the twin, almond-shaped amygdalae, which regulate emotions, memories and fear. His mind braced for an imminent attack as adrenaline flooded neural receptors nearly every day during his 14-month tour, and continued once he returned home. "My brain wasn't able to shut off. It was going a million miles a minute. You need it on a deployment. But it's not normal at home," said Macie, whose job as a forward observer for artillery strikes meant his mind would never stop processing where he and fellow soldiers were at all times.

Macie, now 29, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by the Army when he left in 2008 with a medical discharge following back injuries he sustained in Iraq. He was anxious and depressed and had trouble sleeping. Macie tried to drown those feelings with alcohol and a cocktail of painkillers and antidepressants prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He received disability compensation for PTSD, along with numerous modes of therapy offered by the agency. Nothing helped. But there was one long shot: MDMA, known more broadly as the illegal party drug Ecstasy.


http://images05.military.com/media/offduty/leisure/ecstacy-pills-600x400.jpg

In late November, the Food and Drug Administration approved a large-scale Phase 3 trial to evaluate the use of MDMA in treatment of PTSD, which is the final step before possible approval as a prescription drug. The second phase of the drug trials, which started in 2000, began to include veterans in 2010. Like the other veterans involved in the study, Macie was selected because of his chronic-resistance PTSD, which is severe enough that treatments fail to reduce symptoms. The results have excited advocates searching for new ways to treat mental health injuries. Two-thirds of the 107 participants in Phase 2 of the trial no longer meet the criteria for having PTSD a year after they completed therapy, according to researchers who analyzed data a year after patients finished the trial.

Some of the 27 veterans involved in the trial describe MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a cure, not a treatment. War transformed Macie's brain. But four years ago, Macie took a single dose of MDMA and felt his PTSD symptoms begin to lift as he went through eight hours of difficult psychotherapy, where the deepest traumas of his deployment rose to the surface. Most of the patients in Phase 2 opted for the standard three treatments. Macie said what he needed came sooner. "I didn't need more than one dose," Macie said. "I got the message."

Unlikely advocate (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/12/20/ecstasy-one-step-closer-approval-ptsd-treatment.html)

[waltky]

Clinical Trial for PTSD Treatment with Ecstasy Ingredient Soon to Begin...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/fingerscrossed.gif
Trial for PTSD Treatment with Ecstasy Ingredient to Open Soon
Jan 26, 2017 | A program for a treatment that uses an ingredient found in Ecstasy to treat PTSD may begin processing applications next month.


An experimental program for a drug treatment that uses an ingredient found in Ecstasy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder will likely begin processing applications in June, officials said. With the Food and Drug Administration's approval, a California-based nonprofit has used low doses of the drug, known as MDMA, in a series of trials in an attempt to offer a cure for PTSD. Two-thirds of the 107 patients who took part in the Phase 2 trials, which started in 2000, no longer met the criteria of having PTSD a year after their MDMA treatment was completed, officials running the study said. The much larger Phase 3 study received FDA approval late last year. Depending on the size of the trial, which is still awaiting the FDA's direction, 230 to 400 new participants will be exposed to doses of MDMA or a placebo during three in-patient sessions with medical researchers.

The trials will be conducted by the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, based in Santa Cruz, California, and will cost the organization about $25 million, said Brad Burge, a spokesman. If approved by the FDA, the drug could be available for inpatient-only prescription use as early as 2021. Critics have worried that the use of MDMA to treat PTSD or publicity about the treatment could result in higher illegal Ecstasy use and attempts to self-medicate with the street drug. Burge, however, emphasized that Ecstasy and MDMA are not the same drug. While Ecstasy sometimes includes MDMA, Ecstasy can also be found without any MDMA in the compound -- and there's no way for a casual user to tell the difference. "We really don't want to encourage people to go out and use Ecstasy and think of that as therapy," he said.


http://images05.military.com/media/people/ptsd-tbi-804-ts600.jpg
Many veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

Burge hopes that the Trump administration's statements of support for veterans and deregulation of the FDA will transfer to supporting the MAPS drug trials and faster approval of the treatment as a prescription drug. In the past, the Department of Veterans Affairs has not supported the MDMA studies or other research surrounding the use of marijuana to treat PTSD, but Burge says his organization sees veterans as a key demographic for the study and treatment. He said if the drug trials are successful, the ability to treat and cure PTSD could save the government millions over time. "It's just absolutely crucial for us to be able to reach veterans and military families with this," he said. "This is both a promising treatment in the form of its application where it's just a few administrations, but it’s also extremely economical."

He added, "Just look at PTSD veteran disability payments -- they're huge, and the cost savings for taking people off of their prescription opiates through just a few administrations of MDMA could save the VA and Defense Department billions of dollars." Patients wishing to take part in the drug trial can visit the MAPS website and sign up for its newsletter, Burge said. That list will be used to notify those interested when the application process for the Phase 3 trials opens.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/26/trial-ptsd-treatment-ecstasy-ingredient-open-soon.html

[Ethereal]

Just another example of the government impeding progress and eggheads researching something which millions of people already know from firsthand experience.

[Ethereal]

After intensive research, scientists have come to the conclusion that a drug called "ecstasy" makes veterans feel good. Amazing!

[Ethereal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bVYgYW6410

[resister]

Go natural, Pcsilocybin mushrooms, show great promise.

[Ethereal]

Go natural, Pcsilocybin mushrooms, show great promise.
I'll take both... :cool2:

[resister]

I'll take both... :cool2:I'll stick to beer and moderate weed. I ate big gobbs of shrooms 3 times a week in my early twentys, not saying i'm sworn off though.

I have a blast just hunting shrooms for others, easter egg hunt comes to mind, or fossils,though you cant trip on those:laugh:

[Ethereal]

I'll stick to beer and moderate weed. I ate big gobbs of shrooms 3 times a week in my early twentys, not saying i'm sworn off though.

I have a blast just hunting shrooms for others, easter egg hunt comes to mind, or fossils,though you cant trip on those:laugh:

Are you able to find them in the wild?

[resister]

Are you able to find them in the wild?
Absolutely, in cow pastures, growing directly from dung, staining blue within 30 seconds of bruising or cutting.
Nightime temps above 65 or so and rain or lots of humidity.

Do your home work before hunting. Mistaken ID's can be fatal.

[Ethereal]

Absolutely, in cow pastures, growing directly from dung, staining blue within 30 seconds of bruising or cutting.
Nightime temps above 65 or so and rain or lots of humidity.

Do your home work before hunting. Mistaken ID's can be fatal.
You mean they sprout at night under those conditions or just that they sprout generally when night reaches those conditions?

[resister]

You mean they sprout at night under those conditions or just that they sprout generally when night reaches those conditions?
Not at night per se. When conditions are right, here in Fl. about 85 % of the year, They have a life cycle of about 3 days, start to finish. I used to hunt Pscilocbe Cubensis AKA purple ringers.

Different species grow all over the place, if you are up north, you may find "liberty bells" Pscilocybe Scemantillica, growing in pastures, but not a cophrofelius (dung) species, a few months a year. ( Disclaimer, my latin spelling is not to be relied apun )

[Ethereal]

Not at night per se. When conditions are right, here in Fl. about 85 % of the year, They have a life cycle of about 3 days, start to finish. I used to hunt Pscilocbe Cubensis AKA purple ringers.

Different species grow all over the place, if you are up north, you may find "liberty bells" Pscilocybe Scemantillica, growing in pastures, but not a cophrofelius (dung) species, a few months a year. ( Disclaimer, my latin spelling is not to be relied apun )
So what happened when Old MacDonald caught you foraging on his cow pastures?

[resister]

So what happened when Old MacDonald caught you foraging on his cow pastures?That is part of doing homework, scope the place out, some pastures are too much risk, move on. Some can be done, day or night. Some are best hunted at dawn or dusk.

Only ever got chased once in about 10 years of hunting.

[rcfieldz]

What's best for PMS?
just asking...

[Ethereal]

What's best for PMS?
just asking...
Premenstrual syndrome? Foot rubs and chocolate? Not sure.