Ketamine’s effects tied to opioid system in brain

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Stanford announces:

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Ketamine’s antidepressive effects

tied to opioid system in brain

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“Ketamine’s antidepressive effects require activation of opioid receptors in the brain, a new Stanford study shows. The surprising finding may alter how new antidepressants are developed and administered in order to mitigate the risk of opioid dependence.”

 

 

…”The study enrolled adults with treatment-resistant depression, meaning their condition had not improved after multiple treatment efforts. Twelve participants received infusions of ketamine twice — once preceded by naltrexone, an opioid-receptor blocker, and once with placebo. Neither the study participants nor the researchers were told whether active drug or placebo was administered during each test. The researchers found that ketamine reduced depressive symptoms by about 90 percent for three days in more than half of the participants when administered with a placebo, but had virtually no effect on depressive symptoms when it was preceded by naltrexone.”

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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It is not legal for me to provide medical advice without an examination.

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It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

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Comments are welcome.

This site is not for email, not for medical questions, and not for appointments.

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For My Home Page, click here:  Welcome to my Weblog on Pain Management!

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Please IGNORE THE ADS BELOW. They are not from me.

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Have You Been a Victim of Felony Fraud Criminal Charges by Workers Compensation Insurer Because of Disabling Pain?

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No one can see pain and neuropathic pain is especially difficult to treat. It may be even more difficult because there may be no visible abnormality on X-ray or any test, e.g. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). CRPS  is further unusual as it may flare profoundly for a time and may even go into remission then flare some time later.

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But many forms of pain including chronic spine pain can flare hours later or the next day. Your walking may appear normal, but you know that limit beyond which you dare not step a foot more or revenge of the body will occur and you will be unable to function possibly for days. No doubt you’ve learned that limit may vary with the weather, or you may have good days and bad, able to walk longer or function better on good days.

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Sub rosa films are important to prevent insurance fraud. Some who claim total disability have been filmed  playing soccer, water skiing, etc. Others with legitimate total disability claims have been filmed during brief periods showing their gait appears normal. They can walk. But only for minutes.

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Abuse may exist on both sides. But it took 43 years for me to discover that pain is not an accepted medical condition for Social Security Disability even when completely disabling.

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Your comments of your personal experience would be invaluable for others. Did you experience fraud and abuse by insurers who deny medical care based on brief sub rosa films, then become victimized by criminal felony charges that produced years of extremely costly litigation?

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As long as felony criminal charges are pending, neither Medicare nor Tricare nor Social Security Disability payments can be made. No insurance, no care and litigation expenses that go on for 5 to 10 years or more in a person unable to work.

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It is important to expose fraud on all levels. If you have been a victim of Worker’s Compensation insurance fraud accused of felony misrepresentation, please comment below.  Name names of the companies.

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Perhaps there is a pattern.

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Would you be able to pay for adequate legal representation if you were unable to work or receive medical care?

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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It is not legal for me to provide medical advice without an examination.

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It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

~~

Comments are welcome.

This site is not for email, not for medical questions, and not for appointments.

~~~~~

For My Home Page, click here:  Welcome to my Weblog on Pain Management!

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Please IGNORE THE ADS BELOW. They are not from me.

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Soothamide (PEA) Cream Helps Psoriasis & Seborrheic Dermatitis

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I have posted on PEA (palmitoylethanolamide) for several years on this site – use the search function top left above photo and type in PEA. No prescription is needed. Before it was available in the US, patients ordered it from the Netherlands where it is sold as PeaPure. One whose neuropathic pain was finally relieved by it, ran out, flew to the Netherlands just to pick up an emergency supply and flew back immediately. Thankfully Vitalitus began offering PEA capsules in the US a few years ago, and then made the 2% cream called Soothamide, which I have also posted on this site. It may even relieve the neuropathic pain of Complex Regional Pain  Syndrome (CRPS).

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Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA, or PeaPure in Netherlands) is nontoxic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and has no side effects. Your body makes it; plants make it. Years ago the publications on it were extensive. A Nobel Prize winner published on it in the early 90’s. When taken in capsule form for CRPS, I have seen it take 6 or 8 weeks to be effective, but when it relieved pain, it lowered pain from very severe to mild in a patient bedridden for 6 years. I have seen the cream relieve neuropathic pain instantly in a couple minutes in some with CRPS. I have seen the cream fail to relieve CRPS pain in one patient, who then wiped the remainder of the cream along the lumbar spine of her dad who had been groaning with pain, who had instant relief. And I have published on its use for vulvodynia, discussing its autocoid mechanism.

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Skin conditions can be their own constant day and night torment. A patient reports almost complete immediate relief from the itch of psoriasis and seborrhea (around eyes and all over scalp). Itch can be a form of neuropathic pain besides more common causes such as allergy. The rash, the bleeding crusted itchy skin of those two conditions is treated by prescription steroid creams that can thin the skin, and thin skin itself can predispose to bleeding, further discomfort, and frankly did not help this patient. If you use steroid creams, it must be applied 3 or 4 times a day and use gloves or caution where you rub your fingers — risk thinning the delicate skin near eyes and nether regions as weeks and weeks drag on. Soothamide worked quickly, not needing 3 or 4 applications per day.

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Instantly the itch was markedly better. And overnight! the rash was markedly improved. The patient had had some mild relief from the bleeding itchy scabs on scalp with T/Sal shampoo but not great, for weeks and weeks. Before that, DHS Zinc shampoo helped only mild “dandruff”, did not touch the crusts and itch. Aloe Vera helped the itch for a few hours. Steroid creams were no help for itch, for 4 months scratching the delicate skin around eyes with hard scratchy cloth almost like a dry loofah sponge. Soothamide 2% took away the itch around eyes immediately though it can easily get into eyes when washed or when rubbing the eyes, it does not burn. It is truly very soothing.

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It’s also a remarkable moisturizer, absorbs very quickly, is not greasy, and for those whose other skin conditions are unusually thickened, it would likely be worth a try.

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I see Vitalitus now also sells CBD, that is cannabidiol, the cannabinoid from the marijuana plant that has no psychotomimetic properties – does not make you “high”. GW Pharmaceuticals’s “Epidiolex”, their CBD, recently received FDA approved for epilepsy. Imagine! a Schedule I drug received FDA approval! hmmm, must not be deadly after all. Wait til the DEA kills that idea. Does congress make sense when they dictate medicine?

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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It is not legal for me to provide medical advice without an examination.

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It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

~~

Comments are welcome.

This site is not for email, not for medical questions, and not for appointments.

~~~~~

For My Home Page, click here:  Welcome to my Weblog on Pain Management!

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Please IGNORE THE ADS BELOW. They are not from me.

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Cannabidiol (CBD) FDA Approved for Epilepsy – May Help Pain, Mood – Costs Review

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Epidiolex from GW Pharmaceuticals, is a cannabidiol (CBD) recently approved by FDA for treatment of epilepsy. Others have found CBD helpful for pain, migraine, and mood disorders. CBD is one of the more than 80 known cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, the marijuana plant. It has no psychoactive effect, that means it does not make anyone “high”. But urine drug tests will be positive for marijuana and anyone may risk losing their job if their employer checks – some drug tests do not specify marijuana.

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Medications can be prescribed off-label by your doctor for conditions other than the FDA approved epilepsy in this case, and hopefully covered by healthcare insurance. Below are costs of the Epidiolex brand reviewed by O’Shaughnessy’s newsletter, the newsletter originally for California cannabis doctors.

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FDA approval means CBD now has accepted medical use and should be no longer classified as Schedule I, though the ruse will likely be continued by congress.

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“GW Pharmaceuticals has announced its pricing stategy for Epidiolex, the CBD extract recently approved by FDA. In a Wall St. Journal interview, GW’s Justin Gover emphasized that the cost will be similar to other anti-epileptic drugs such as Onfi —$32,500/year. An officer of the Epilepsy Society expresses gratitude that GW didn’t set a much higher price.

Here’s Dale Gieringer’s back-of-the-envelope comparison of Epidiolex and a homegrown equivalent:

At $32,500 per year, Epidiolex, the new FDA-approved CBD drug, is a costly medication.  The standard dosage of Epidiolex is from 5 to 25 mg of CBD per kg bodyweight per day, which works out to 250 – 1,250 mg of CBD per day for a 100-pound patient (on the heavy side for pediatric cases).   Using high-potency flowers of 15% CBD, this works out to 1.67 to 8.33 grams of cannabis per day, or 1.2 – 6 pounds of cannabis per year.    At a price of $150/ounce, an equivalent amount of 15% CBD cannabis flowers would cost $2880 – $14,400 per year.   Another example of the high cost of FDA-regulated medication.   – D.G.

Here’s Peter Loftus in the August 8 Wall St. Journal:

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC said it plans to charge about $32,500 per patient annually in the U.S. for its new treatment for rare forms of epilepsy, the first prescription drug derived from the marijuana plant.

Chief Executive Justin Gover said in an interview Wednesday that the company set the price to be in line with other brand-name epilepsy drugs, such as H. Lundbeck A/S’s Onfi. He noted that the FDA designated the product an “orphan drug,” meaning it treats rare conditions, and that some other orphan drugs carry higher prices.

“We wanted to make sure we were pricing Epidiolex in such a way where the means to access this medication would be consistent with branded epilepsy drugs these patients already use,” he said.

Out-of-pocket costs for patients taking Epidiolex could range from $5 to $10 a month for those in state Medicaid programs to as high as $200 a month for some private insurance plans, Julian Gangolli, president of the company’s North America unit, said on a conference call with analysts Tuesday. Uninsured patients may qualify for receiving the drug free.

Dr. Jacqueline French, chief scientific officer of the Epilepsy Foundation, said there are low-cost generic epilepsy drugs on the market, but many patients with the rare forms of the disease have already tried them and the drugs didn’t help much.

Dr. French said Epidiolex improved symptoms for many children in clinical trials, and she is happy the price isn’t significantly higher.

The company expects to make the drug available after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assigns it a controlled-substance classification, a decision expected by late September. GW Pharmaceuticals will distribute the drug through specialty pharmacies that ship directly to patients and caregivers.

FDA approval of a CBD extract means that cannabidiol now has an acknowledged medical use and therefore doesn’t fit a key criterion of Schedule I status. DEA rescheduling is supposed to follow as day follows night. Logically, the DEA resked should apply to cannabidiol, the molecule. But fixisin.com says CBD will remain on Sked I, with an exception created for CBD in an FDA-approved pharmaceutical.”

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

.

It is not legal for me to provide medical advice without an examination.

.

It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

~~

Comments are welcome.

This site is not for email, not for medical questions, and not for appointments.

~~~~~

For My Home Page, click here:  Welcome to my Weblog on Pain Management!

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Please IGNORE THE ADS BELOW. They are not from me.

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