CBD efficacy on nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson Disease anxiety & psychosis

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This is the last section of a review article Managing Psychosis in Parkinson Disease

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Results from preclinical and preliminary studies also suggest that cannabidiol (CBD) has therapeutic potential for nonmotor symptoms of PD.¹⁴ The multifaceted mechanism of action as an agonist of 5-HT1A, partial agonist of CB1 and CB2 receptors, and antagonist of the G-protein–coupled receptor GPR55 reverses the iron-induced epigenetic modification of mitochondrial DNA and the reduction of succinate dehydrogenase activity and decreases the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, IL-17, and IL-6—all of which decrease pro-inflammatory mediators resulting in neuroprotective, anxiolytic, and antipsychotic effects.¹⁴

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“Several in vitro experiments have demonstrated promising neuro- protective effects of CBD in PD models. In one of these models, using PC12 and SH-SY5Y cells treated with MPP+ [1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium], CBD increased cell viability, differentiation, and the expression of axonal [GAP-43] and synaptic [synaptophysin and synapsin I] proteins,” Ferreria-Junior and colleagues wrote,¹⁵ while acknowledging the paucity of studies that have addressed the biological bases for the purported effects of CBD on PD. “Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trials with larger samples of patients with PD are needed to elucidate the possible effectiveness and mechanisms involved in the therapeutic potential of CBD in this movement disorder. This will also include the putative effects of CBD in preventing L-dopa–induced severe [adverse] effects and preventing PD progression.”

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The endocannabinoid system serves as an important filter of excitatory, inhibitory, and modulatory inputs that act at the midbrain and terminal regions to orchestrate DA neurotransmission by controlling DA cell body firing patterns, terminal release, and effects on postsynaptic sites in the striatum.¹⁶ Beneficial effects of CBD administration have been observed prior to or immediately after induction of PD-like symptoms in animal studies, which may suggest a preventive role rather than a therapeutic one.¹⁴ In an early open-label pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of CBD on nonmotor symptoms of PD in 6 patients with PDP, psychotic symptoms significantly decreased under CBD treatment, as evaluated by the brief psychiatric rating scale and the Parkinson psychosis questionnaire.¹⁷

 

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Psychiatric comorbidities prevalent in the majority of patients with PD are associated with more disease severity, impaired QOL, and increased use of healthcare resources, with longer hospital stays and re-hospitalizations adding to the total cost burden.

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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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For My Home Page, click here:  

Welcome to my Weblog on Pain Management!

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Cannabis That Can Stop the Munchies? What is THCV?

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA

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Cannabis is legal in California for adult use as of January 1, 2018. This may be helpful to someone you know. It is a most important drug. Below you can find a few pointers that are basic to understanding what strains to try. Distributors are swamped with ten times as many buyers as last week, prices are doubled, taxes are very high, it is very expensive and you will need to test many strains before you find what works for you without making you stupid with euphoria that lasts 12 hours. Do be warned of turning the body into sofa-size obesity overnight. Munchies occur with high THC strains. To discuss below how to avoid that torture and still relieve pain or muscle spasm.

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Horvath et al at Yale in 2015 found cannabis stimulates hunger and arousal in hypothalamic neurons. Here’s the YaleNews on the multi-authored work.

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Horvath is the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Neurobiology and of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, director of the Yale Program in Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism, and chair of the Section of Comparative Medicine.

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To orient you in the quote below, cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB₁R) is one of the two known cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Others are located outside brain, throughout the body.

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“The Pomc gene encodes both the anorexigenic peptide α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and the opioid peptide β-endorphin. Hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons promote satiety. Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB₁R) is critical for the central regulation of food intake. CB₁R activation selectively increases β-endorphin but not α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone release in the hypothalamus, and systemic or hypothalamic administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone blocks acute CB₁R-induced feeding.

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Interesting. Low dose naltrexone, which is essentially long acting naloxone, may block munchies in humans? At what dose? Please comment if you take naltrexone 4.5 mg or 15 mg (anti-inflammatory doses) or 28 mg (weight loss dose) or 50 mg and above doses of naltrexone (high doses for addiction).

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One strain that is better at stopping or reducing the munchies, and that is believed due to a cannabinoid in the strain called THCV. You can always do a search for THCV.

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Cannabis is one of the few medications that can relieve some of the worst side effects of opioid withdrawal. Many patients find they need to use fewer opioid pills for pain or can stop them altogether; they need to use fewer muscle relaxants; and they can eat or sleep better if they use cannabis. Once cannabis became legal, many alcoholics were able to give up alcohol because their first preference is cannabis.

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Get a low cost recommendation for medical marijuana in minutes at home from your mobile phone. The best source for recommendation is : HelloMD.

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Cannabis may be legal in all states once tobacco companies toss some money at Congress. Could cannabis be related to the vow of Phillip Morris and a wave of big tobacco companies to stop selling cigarettes this year?

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It is dreadfully expensive and heavily taxed. All states should adopt New Mexico’s law that allows healthcare insurers to reimburse patients who have paid for medicinal cannabis. Voters…

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Cannabis is made by the body and the brain makes two of the endogenous cannabinoids. If is highly anti-inflammatory, and profoundly important mainly in the immune system but also in bone turnover. You have more cannabinoid receptors in your body than any other kind. It is as old as sponges, an ancient medicine.

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A WORTHY READ

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Mr. X – by Carl Sagan who describes his experience with marijuana at length and used it creatively for decades opening his brain to experiences he was otherwise not oriented to at all.

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MUNCHIES

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Fear the munchies. Cannabis, medical marijuana, can cause the munchies, an overwhelming desire to eat nonstop, usually all the most high calorie things your desperately fevered brain can dream of cramming in.

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Certain strains of cannabis can be life saving for those who have loss of appetite from conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, depression, inflammatory conditions, etc. But the munchies can be disastrous when you cannot afford to gain weight due to pain or disability or simply wish to develop an important standard to maintain best health which means good lean body weight. The best way to reduce inflammation is to avoid obesity, avoid sugar, avoid diabetes, heart attacks, strokes. Remember inflammation is the root cause of 90% of the conditions we die of: diabetes, cancers, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autoimmune disease, atherosclerosis, etc.

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Those with an eating disorder should scrupulously avoid those strains that are highly rated for helping anorexia, loss of appetite.

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CHOOSE STRAINS THAT STOP THE MUNCHIES

STRAINS WITH HIGH THCV  OR HIGH CBD 

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If needing high THC for pain or appetite, for example, then a strain with high THC and high THCV is Durban Poison. Read in detail about strains on leafy.com using the search function and it will find dispensaries in your area.

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If low THC is all you need, then Leafly discusses high CBD strains with low THC currently available. Google it or ask the dispensary.

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I am not going to do more than mention these three cannabinoids: THC, CBD, THCV. You can google them but do glance at my outdated 2009 cannabis website – CBD has vastly changed since then, available even at farmer’s markets and nutrition departments of groceries.

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The cannabis plant has 400 chemicals of which about 86 are known cannabinoids but we focus on just a few and hybrids have been bred to display many qualities and various percentages of cannabinoids.

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THC

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THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, can cause euphoria and is the principal psychoactive ingredient useful for pain, depression, appetite, multiple sclerosis, fatigue, stress, and many conditions including just to have fun, be giggly or creative. For the California Medical Board, a strain with 18% THC is considered high, but some strains such as Holy Grail have 27% or more THC. Some strains are noted for causing more anxiety or paranoia due to THC content. It is widely said THC is necessary for pain relief but… see CBD below.

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CBD

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CBD, cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabidiol that blocks the psychoactive component of THC so that you may be able to mix with THC in order to use a stronger dose of THC for the underlying condition —  find your best ratio of CBD to THC. Or use 100% CBD. Among strains of flower sold at dispensary, I’m not sure what % CBD

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Some people are highly sensitive to THC (paranoia, panic attacks, anxiety) and cannot use any THC or only very tiny amounts of THC with higher percentage CBD.

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Some use pure 100% CBD which is said to be useful for Crohn’s Disease, PTSD, multiple sclerosis and certain seizure disorders, the severe childhood Dravet Syndrome. There is a recent single report of an adult who failed all anticonvulsants and responded to CBD alone. I have seen a patient with depression after 2 years of severe disability from 4 major chronic pain conditions, surprisingly all pain 100% relieved by CBD. It is widely said that THC is essential for pain relief but for this case not needed.

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Some dispensaries will mix liquid CBD:THC in ratios of 15mg/mL CBD to 0.1 mg/mL CBD all the way up to ratio of 15:15 or more. Use topically, under tongue or swallow. One patient dilutes and uses topically. Very expensive!!! It is the only thing helping his extremely painful autoimmune neuropathy.

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THCV

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Leafly discusses ten strains that will not make you (as) hungry. 

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After discussing high CBD strains, then turn to high THCV:

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High THCV Sativa Strains

“By now you know what THC and CBD is, but you may not be familiar with the less ubiquitous THCV, a related chemical that suppresses appetite. While most strains on the market today tend to test anywhere between 10-20% THC, what’s considered a high THCV content might only hit a high-water mark of 5%. THCV tends to be more abundant in sativa strains, and it’s possible you’ve noticed that sativas tend to provoke hunger less than indica strains. The unique metabolic effects of THCV even have researchers considering its utility in treating obesity and diabetes.”

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Durban Poison is the name of the strain with highest THC and THCV, and a good profile detailed on Leafly: Maximal effect is Energetic > happy > uplifted >> focused >> euphoric. Not everyone may have all these effects.

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Always check Leafly’s negatives for each strain and look at the bar graphs — how severe are the side effects? Note that always worst is dry mouth. Half as bad are dry eyes for this strain – at least not as bad as dry mouth; and much lower in incidence is dizzy, anxious, paranoid. Overall a very good profile for a high THC strain.

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RISKS

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Note, those with Sjogren’s Syndrome who have dry eyes are at risk for corneal transplants and who have dry mouth are at risk for all teeth crumbling, so choose and treat accordingly.

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Cannabis can increase pulse and blood pressure which can be a risk of heart attack and stroke for any age. It is especially likely if you are naive to the drug, i.e. have never used it or have not introduced it to your system for decades. Check blood pressure and pulse before use and after you feel the peak effect.

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The youngest person I found on the internet who died of heart attack caused by cannabis was a healthy 17 year old male, possibly a false report, but cardiac arrhythmias can be fatal and there are undiagnosed cardiac conditions in young athletes who may be likely to use cannabis.

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Cannabis can interfere with memory.

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The adolescent developing brain may be vulnerable to harmful effects.

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HOW TO USE IT

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Vaporize it. Avoid 4 toxins. Rapid onset, short duration of effect.

If smoking, you will inhale 4 major toxins.

Use under tongue or topically on skin.

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If you swallow cannabis, you will not feel effect for 90 to 120 minutes so allow 2 hours before you add more or you may seriously overdose. Duration of effect may be 4 to 12 hours or more – overdosing can last days.

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5 mg oral THC may be too much for a starter dose for some people, but may be average for many, and some may need 10 mg. But heavy users need far, far more: TOLERANCE DEVELOPS!!! Money down the drain. Use only as much as you need or you will develop tolerance and require more frequent and higher and higher doses to reach same effect. That can be unaffordable for the average middle class person. 

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And yes, it may appear in urine for 30 to 60 days, possibly more.

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Cannabis is still a schedule I drug. The Emperor has no clothes. Do not take it onto planes or attempt to mail it.

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Do read more about it on my cannabis website linked above. It is a drug. You will benefit from learning how to use it.

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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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Spinal Cord Stimulators – comment on RSD

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Spinal Cord Stimulators 

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 Craig’s comment

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By no means do I mean to say that I or anyone else has better insight into how to treat pain, but I am against spinal cord stimulators [SCS’s] for treatment of pain due to CRPS, and possibly against use in other situations. I demand that the billions in profit they made be put into a retrospective and prospective study of damage caused by them in order for them to give full informed consent.

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I have 3 goals writing this.

1. SCS’s

2. Craig’s experience

3. The Only Real Answer for severe pain, not damaging the system with opioids
   

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Informed consent is never given for spinal cord stimulators because it requires truth telling, something our corporations have been reluctant to do. Business ethics are not medical ethics, as we keep being reminded daily in the headlines.

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I enclose, below, a generously expressed and detailed comment by a man who had the patience to sit down and  write the painfully gory details so you can weigh-in on your decision whether to follow your pain specialist’s opinion to give you one. I don’t want anyone to feel suckered into choosing them and if I had pain I’ll admit I’d crave relief too. Anything. I’d be in line before the doors open.

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But if you have CRPS, spinal cord stimulators will create more pain. CRPS evolves unpredictably, by a will of its own. I know some very desperate patients with CRPS everywhere including face, mouth, gums, tongue, organs, trunk, limbs. Spinal cord stimulators will create more pain. Keep in mind, I don’t see the 5 year success stories even for lumbar disc pain. They don’t need me if they are pain free.

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But if you have CRPS and desperate need for pain relief because all else has failed — every known drug in highest possible doses of ketamine, propofol, opioids for weeks in ICU fail to even touch pain— there is one thing, and only one thing to do and I will set it out below. I just sent my recommendation to a patient with CRPS in extreme pain.

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My recommendation, below, is for patients who have nowhere else to turn.

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First I’ll mention the problems Craig encountered with SCS’s. He sent his comment to the opening page of this blog, so I will reproduce below. 

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I am currently undergoing a trial Medtronic SCS. I have had to have it reprogrammed 3 times since it was installed 5 days ago. I have had sensations and issues that I have addressed with my rep and my neurosurgeon. I get a severe headache when the unit is turned on. I get the constant feeling of having to urinate. I have current running through my testicles which they can not seem to program out and I am getting little pain relief. I have had to failed back surgeries, many failed injections and I have CRPS. The leads that were inserted when I was in the table covered my mid back and both legs. After I got to my feet and waited while they programmed the unit in another room. They came in and plugged it in and I no longer had coverage on the right side. My crps is in both legs, my hands, arms and face. The lyrica helped to tamp down some of the burning but I am in pain 24/7 and this was my last resort. I have scar tissue completely surrounding my S1 nerve. By the grace of God, I am on my feet, on crutches. I seem to get a look of disbelief when I tell them the unit is causing these issues or it’s not giving me the relief I was counting on. Relief, only to cause greater issues and pain. Is not relief to me. I can not wait to get this trial out of my back. I believe the leads slipped and that is why I am not getting the full coverage I had on the table. The issues I have had are as follows: severe headache, constant feeling of having to urinate, extreme joint pain, abdominal pain, sleeplessness, involuntary jerking, surges in current even when sitting still. Intense pain around the lead insertion site. Current uncomfortably running through my testicles, regardless of setting. It is my opinion there is still not a lot known about crps and I have read evidence of people have great success with these units. Everyone reacts differently. My body obviously creates a lot of scar tissue and my orthopedic surgeon created a fair amount herself. I can’t imagine even more or being forced into a chair for yet another unlucky decision. The medication helps and I have lived this far without the optimism that it would end soon. I had high hoed for this device but I don’t think it is right for me.

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One of my patients with CRPS was hospitalized for weeks with recurring unusual abscesses and required repeated surgery of hand and forearm. Even before surgery, she had failed opioids, failed ketamine, and was in ICU for weeks and weeks while the same medications were still given along with Propofol and IV Tylenol. Nothing helps her extreme pain.

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Anesthesiologists on staff in ICU threw everything they had at the pain for weeks. Most anesthesia pain doctors would have probably done what they did because that is the limit of tools we have.

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When you have hit the limit of benefit from opioids, ketamine, propofol, we have nothing else that treats pain with one exception: drug holiday.

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Stop all analgesics including Tylenol that destroys the liver as severely as cancer, the severity of which was newly discovered and published yesterday.

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The receptors for these analgesic drugs have up-regulated to such an extent they have caused the situation. Again, I stress, everything that was done during the ICU admissions would be done by any anesthesiology pain specialist. Those are the only tools. They cause the problem. The same for opioid induced hyperalgesia. We used to do it with Parkinson’s drugs in the 80’s.

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The only way to rehabilitate the up-regulation of all those receptors that have now exploded in numbers, immune to anything you throw at them, is stop the drugs.  Stop all of them for weeks, maybe months, years, no one knows, you are all the human guinea pig waiting to happen. But if we restart them, how long do we wait, how quickly will it again lead to this massive hyper-excitable state of pro-inflammatory cytokines that we know have gone wild, flooding the CNS. A flooded engine will not restart.

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Ketamine at least is known to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, but the system is too busy exploding, birthing new receptors that take over, and you’ve got a 55 car pile up. Well, more like millions I’d guess. No scientist here. Clnically, when can we resume something after a drug holiday, how soon and which drug? I’d avoid opioids because they create more pro-inflammatory cytokines. Choose ketamine, because they reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, but if it works at all, stop it at first sign of tolerance, which is the need for increased dose. It becomes less effective. Walk a fine line, endure more pain because unless you do, it will no longer help. Opioids, analgesics of many kinds. 

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How do we get you through a drug holiday because we know withdrawing these drugs will trigger even more pain for possibly weeks until the system settles down?

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Pain storms, hurricanes

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This is complex regional pain syndrome where we see this insanity of pain storms. There is no other condition, unless several neuropathic pains in people with cancer, nowhere I have seen this type of pain in decades except CRPS – comparable to pain of subarrachnoid hemorrhage, blinding pain.

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No one has answers. None. One university does outpatient infusions of ketamine six hours daily for 8 to 12 weeks. Does it help? A small percentage. Outpatient, 6 hours daily, 5 days a week, staying at a hotel, 8 weeks.

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This is CRPS/RSD. No one has answers. It is futile to throw more of the drug in the system. That is my opinion. You have a choice and may choose otherwise. It is your body. You may stay on monthly opioids for decades, until you finally admit how poorly they work. A drug holiday is what we did in the 70s during my ancient training with Parkinson’s patients. They needed full 24-hour support. The American medical system has changed since then and those are not options currently available—cost.

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You need full psychological and psychiatric support.

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The Only Real Answer

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The country needs to invest $10 million to complete the clinical trials needed for an injectable, long-lasting interleukin 10 [IL-10], the anti-inflammatory cytokine. It already has full scientific and animal studies performed by and with the world’s foremost glial scientist at University of Colorado Boulder. Professor Linda Watkins has won awards from many countries. She has been the keynote speaker at the annual academy pain meetings for years. IL-10 can relieve pain for three months in animals that have intractable chronic neuropathic pain. This is not new —–NIH I’m looking at you to fund clinical trials. And those of you who care, do a Kickstarter to fund the clinical trials.

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This is the power of the innate immune system. NIH would rather fund research on the unknowns like stem cells rather than the known. It’s known for decades, NIH does not like to fund pain research. Glia are not all about pain. They are the innate immune system, the key to Alzheimer’s, neurodegenerative diseases, almost all known disease including atherosclerosis. It’s all about inflammation. We need the trials to stop giving drugs that cause inflammation, opioids —–CDC fiats are not as good as a drug that relieves pain, a drug that really works on mechanism. Where will the addicts go if the ER only has IL-10 for pain? That is one way to overspend on ER visits.  And NIH, please get us some real clinical research funding on how to use glia for our benefit. Get us some research on the entourage effect, combining medications to achieve relief especially for neuropathic pain.

Then bring on some crack negotiating teams from insurers to do some negotiation about pharmaceutical prices. Our new president has mentioned that.

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Please bring this to everyone’s attention. One way to get a grip on pain and/or depression is to build hope, help others, and energize behind a goal.

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Kickstarters work to raise tens of millions overnight. 

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IL-10 – animals have been shown to be pain free for three months, already proven in animal studies, by one of the world’s most widely acknowledged pain specialists Professor Linda Watkins, PhD. We need the final steps to fund the clinical trials in humans.

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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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This site is not for email and not for appointments.

If you wish an appointment, please telephone the office to schedule.

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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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NFL – Prevent &Treat Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, CTE – Opioids Blamed Wrongly

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Crowdfunding Needed

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Prevent and Treat

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Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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C.T.E.

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Opioids Wrongly Blamed

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Leagues may have known about this technology since 2002 publications

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Football players have demonstrated ability to influence others

and raise money for important medical causes.

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This is not about class action law suits.

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This can be imaged early and likely treated.

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It’s about science and bringing medicine into the 21st century.

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A paradigm shift began with the discovery

of the innate immune system by internationally recognized scientists in 1991.

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The clock has been turned off.

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We can change this now.

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Funding is needed for internationally recognized leaders to continue this work.

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The tragic deaths of former NFL football players from repeated concussions has led to brain damage and death from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Suicide profoundly shocks us when many players like Junior Seau at age 43 and now Tyler Sash, die at age 27. He is the youngest found to have such extensive brain damage, as bad as that seen in Junior Seau. So much can be done with state of the art science now that has been ignored.

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Disclosure: I was asked by a research institute if I would evaluate retired NFL players. I chose not to do that so that I might be free to post unbiased information that is not subject to being manipulated by either side in the ongoing appeals for compensation that must be going on with the NFL for $70 million. Tragic that this is such a fight. Even more tragic, this may be diagnosed early and treated.

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Pearls

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Fear of compensation claims after concussion injury prevents imaging of football players and veterans early, while still treatable, before severe changes and death.

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Fear of compensation claims has prevented decades of research funding by internationally recognized scientists. Could politics at NIH & the VA have turned off funding for veterans with pain and with concussion blast injuries? Does cancer and heart disease forever lock up all the research money and now it shifts to stem cells?

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It is inaccurate to say that CTE cannot be diagnosed except after death at autopsy.

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PET scan imaging of glia can show changes early, while alive.

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The ligand PK1195 must be used for PET scan to image glia, available for years in Australia, not yet in America.

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FDA approval must be obtained for the ligand PK1195 before it is used to  image glia in the United States.

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CTE can be diagnosed early.

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CTE is likely to be treatable.

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Internationally distinguished scientists have shown reversal of complete paralysis in rat models of multiple sclerosis in 2010, a so called “degenerative” neurological disease.

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Intractable pain and treatment resistant depression can be put into remission with glial modulators. Surely CTE and other neurological diseases can be approached with scientifically recognized mechanisms and treatments – even if doctors are not aware of the paradigm shift and how to modulate neuro-inflammation. See years of posting on this site since 2009 based on the most important finds in the field of neuroscience for more than 100 years: the innate immune system, glia, neuro-inflammation, and ability to use glial modulators, to modulate intractable conditions that are known to lead to suicide and/or death.

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Paradigm shifts in all fields including medicine, fail to be recognized.

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CTE gives opioids a bad name and misled Taylor Sash and likely others from the diagnosis of CTE that caused years of severe forgetfulness and behavior changes. He may have chosen suicide by opioid.

 

 

 

FACT:

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Trauma such as concussion or infection or stroke triggers inflammation in the brain:  “cytokine storm”

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Inflammation kills brain cells

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Inflammatory cytokines (inflammation) are produced by glia that has been activated by trauma or other causes such as infection, stroke, etc.

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Activated glia produce neuroinflammation and cell death.

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Inflammatory cytokines produce pain and “degenerative” neurological and psychiatric disorders including dementia, depression, anxiety, delirium and death.

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Neuro-inflammation in brain has been found in teens with early signs of schizophrenia, in rats made depressed, and rodents with chronic pain.

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Glia have been detected in life, in vivo, with PET scan imaging, by internationally-recognised radiologist working at Imperial College London, now based in Australia.

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PET scans require a ligand, PK1195, approved for years in Australia – must be approved by FDA in the United States before it can be used here.

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There is good clinical data and publications in animal models to show that damage in brain and spinal cord produced by activated glia can be reversed.

E.g., In 2010, total paralysis has been completely reversed in a rat model of multiple sclerosis by internationally-recognised glial researcher who, in 1991, transformed the understanding of glia that comprise 85% of the brain, since then known to be the innate immune system.

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Publications have shown that patients with major depressive disorder and patients with chronic low back pain have memory loss and brain atrophy.

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Opioids cause pain by stimulating production of inflammatory cytokines that are known to damage neurons in brain and spinal cord – and must be tapered off. We have better treatment for pain.

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Insurance carriers routinely deny payment for recognized medications and procedures to relieve pain.

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CDC is planning a nationwide experiment to radically limit opioids.

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Treatment with glial modulators that reduce neuroinflammation has been shown clinically to relieve treatment resistant major depressive disorder, PTSD, bipolar depression and intractable pain. They are neuroprotective.

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We need to be able to flag players off the field early and intervene with treatment such as glial modulators either before, during or after repeated injury.

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GOALS

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1.  PK1195, a ligand for PET scans, must be tested and approved by FDA. Approval is mandatory for all medications or substances injected into vein or body.

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It simply “tags” the PET scanner to image glia, the cells of the innate immune system that are activated by trauma, infection, stroke, etc.

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2. Do serial PET scans using PK1195 to image glia in NFL players and veterans after blast injury.

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Trauma from concussion is causing cytokine storm, killing brain cells –> ultimately end stage dementia, anxiety, depression, suicide

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3. Flag that player off the field. Follow glial changes during treatment to determine if able to return or if permanent, but prior to end stage damage.

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4.  Treat with glial modulators preventively, early, middle, and/or late

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This subject will be continued. My apologies for lack of time to delete and edit. Days pass by quickly to post brief comments. Time is limited. Please send comments, below.

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

It is not a substitute for medical advice,

diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Relevant comments are welcome.

If any questions, please call the office to schedule an appointment.

This site is not email for personal questions.

~~~~~

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

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Be the change you wish to see – or walk away. Money at NIH

 

 

A Turning Point

 

$$$$$ MONEY $$$$$

 

at NIH

 

May not come this way again

 

NIH developing

5-year NIH-wide Strategic Plan

 

 

 

Donate to organizations, below

They can provide feedback to NIH via the

RFI Submission site

 

 

 

John C. Liebeskind, 1935 – 1997, distinguished scholar and researcher, past president of the American Pain Society, had the radical idea that pain can affect your health.

 

Research decades ago by an Israeli team at UCLA and others had shown “that pain can accelerate the growth of tumors and increase mortality after tumor challenge.” Decades ago Professor Liebeskind lectured all over the country: Pain kills.

 

He wrote an editorial in 1991, summarizing a life’s work:

 

“Pain and stress can inhibit immune function.”

 

 

Quoting John Bonica, the father of modern pain management, he wrote:

 

“Bonica has long argued that the term ‘chronic benign pain’ (used in distinction to pain associated with cancer) is seriously misleading.  Chronic pain is never benign, he contends; “it is a ‘malefic force’ that can devastate its victims’ lives and even lead to suicide.”

 

 

Liebeskind continues, “It appears that the dictum ‘pain does not kill,’ sometimes invoked to justify ignoring pain complaints, may be dangerously wrong.”

 

Pain mediates immune function

 

Importantly

 

  Opioids mediate the suppressive effect of stress on natural killer cells,

 

 published in 1984, immune system.

 

Alcohol increases tumor progression, 1992, immune system.

 

It used to be news.

He did not live to see change.

 

People just want to go on doing what they’re doing.

They want business as usual.

 

 

After 1991, we saw the great discoveries of neuroinflammation, pioneered by Linda Watkins, PhD, the early understanding of the innate immune system, its involvement in chronic pain and depression, and a few weeks ago, a British team showed neuroinflammation in teens with early signs of schizophrenia and DNA markers.

 

 

Major Depression has the same neuro-inflammation found in chronic pain, often responding to same medications, in particular glial modulators – immune modulators. Now, perhaps early schizophrenia will respond to glial modulators, reducing inflammation seen on scan in teens, before they become homeless and burned out by antipsychotic drugs

 

Inflammation out of control destroys neurons

 

Fire on the brain

 

 

We must be the change we wish to see

 

It’s not just the Bern. It’s been starting. Forces are finally coming together. We want change. It’s been too much. Too long.

 

We won’t take it anymore.

 

I figure if I tell you about it, you might just mention it to someone to pass it on. That is all. One small action may lead to change. Activate inputs to the NIH strategic plan.

 

 

~ Action needed ~

 

Prices of drugs becoming unaffordable

No new drugs for pain or major depression

Research to repurpose existing drugs

Expose the politics destroying our compounding pharmacies

 

Above all

The #1

Major Priority:

Request NIH to solicit priority call for research on

Glial modulators of the

Innate immune system

 

 

Why?

 

Glia modulate

chronic pain, major depression

and almost every known disease

 

Glia are your innate immune system

 

Inflammation kills

 

 

 

 Stress kills. Inflammation kills.

 

 

Pain kills

 

In the 1970’s, Professor Liebeskind and an Israeli team at UCLA injected cancer cells to two groups of rats that had sham surgery. Cancer spread much faster and killed far sooner in the group with poor treatment of surgical pain.

 

 

~ Pain kills ~

 

He lectured all over the country

 

Forty five years ago

 

 

I’m gonna be dead before I see this country do anything but unaffordable opioids and the magical ineffective trio of gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta to treat chronic pain. The devastating, blind, nationwide emphasis does nothing to address the cause: inflammation, the innate immune system gone wild.

 

 

Innate immune system in action

 

Untreated pain suppresses the hormone systems too.

 

Untreated depression – same inflammation kills lives.

 

Where’s the money?

 

We are the change we wish to see. It’s pitiful I am so lazy. Suddenly, too late, we may need something, but, aha, no new drugs in the pipeline.

 

 

 

~ Make a joyful cry to NIH ~

 

They are soliciting input from professional societies

 

If your condition has failed all known drugs for pain or major depression, then make a joyful cry to NIH, now, before they give away all that nice new $$$$$money$$$$$.

 

 

Follow and join

 

American Pain Society

 

 

International Association for Pain

celebrating 40 years of pain research

 

 

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association

help for CRPS/RSD  

 

 

 

The key to CRPS/RSD pain will apply to all forms of chronic pain, in particular the most difficult form, neuropathic pain. RSDSA funds research into all forms of chronic pain, not only Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS/RSD). Their scientific board members are not funded by opioid money.

 

 

 

Exactly

what is the annual cost of care

as fraction of GDP

for the growing population of Americans on opioids

for one year, for lifetime?

 

 

People are dying from prescription opioids and those who need them find they don’t work well enough. Prescriptions opioid costs must be a huge fraction of the medical costs in the United States GDP. You are required  to see a doctor every single month each year, often lifelong, just for one opioid, 12 months a year x 30 years x tens of millions of people and increasing – a growth industry. Not even counting $600 a day for the opioid, what the cost of monthly visits for 30 years? Not counting the army of DEA, FDA, CDC agents watching the opioids like a hawk. We all have to be sharp, addiction is growing. Addiction aside, deaths from prescription opioids are shaking up the CDC forcing urgent change this coming month.

 

 

 

Opioids do not work well for chronic pain

We need better

It’s not just the $600/day price

They just don’t work

 

 

donate

 

 

Raise a joyful noise at NIH now or write back at us readers with comments and better suggestions. Tell others what you’d like to see. Which politicians do you know would be most interested in this at national levels and organizations?

 

You may never see this change unless you do it now. Other forces will get this new money.

 

 

Turning point now

May not return

 

 

We are at a turning point and we will fail to catch the sail that’s coming fast to carry all research money in their shiny big stem cell direction. They never look back.

 

 

There is so many medications we can use today, FDA approved drugs that can be re-purposed and applied to recent cutting edge science. Someone must pay to do the work to study this.

 

 

Re-purpose old drugs

 

 

Stanford just showed a popular generic drug improved recovery of stroke paralysis in mice to begin at 3 days rather than 30. Old drug, new purpose, of course more years of testing to confirm in humans. Brilliant team applying new science.

 

 

Request
NIH to solicit a

Special Invitation

for 30 good protocols to

repurpose old drugs

 

 

Hundreds of old drugs, already approved, could be involved in mechanisms we have recently learned about. Speak up or money will go to shiny new stem cells. None for chronic pain or major depression. No company will find this profitable – it must be funded by NIH. A popular generic sleeping pill can bring astonishing return from stroke paralysis.

 

 

Congress has not opened this new money to NIH in many long years. How often will there be extra money?

 

 

donate

 

 

Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Principal Deputy Director, NIH, solicits you to

Review the NIH Strategic Initiative Plan and their

Request for Information (RFI) and the NIH website

and provide your feedback via the RFI Submission site

 

 

This is for “stakeholder organizations (e.g., patient advocacy groups, professional societies) to submit a single response reflective of the views of the organization/membership as a whole. We also will be hosting webinars to gather additional input. These webinars will be held in early to mid-August.

 

 

 

Be the change you wish to see

Donate to those organizations

to solicit the change you wish to be

 

 

 

Happy New Year

Rejoice!

There’s money at NIH

 

 

 

 

 

 

The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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

Relevant comments are welcome.

If any questions, please schedule an appointment with my office.

This site is not for email.

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

 

 

 

 

Ketamine – small doses work in depression and bipolar disorder

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Everyone is very edgy right now with depression. Media is sensationalizing, which is the worst thing to do. I even hesitate to write this now.

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Ketamine really does work

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Small doses may be all that’s needed. Even large doses are safe.

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Two Cases

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I hate to play on emotion that is strong right now, but Robin Williams might be alive today if his doctors prescribed ketamine nasal spray.

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Every one, doctors and patients alike, worry about ketamine. It sells newspaper headlines and distorted media coverage that then overtakes the life saving stories of its profound safety when used under good medical supervision. Experience helps.

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Two cases from yesterday and today really must be shared. These two patients would not be alive today if they did not have ketamine nasal spray for their depression.

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I don’t mean to say every one will respond to these extremely tiny doses, but it’s always exciting to hear the effective dose is simply so small.

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These details would make good case reports if time permitted, but there is never enough time. I wanted simply to say a few things now because these two patients were seen.

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**1**

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In May 2014, saw a fifty-ish woman who is now responding to 20 mg (4 nasal sprays) given as one dose every 48 hours. She has been treated at well known university psychiatry departments, failed ECT 9 or 10 times – memory loss was so bad she got lost in her own neighborhood. Received IV ketamine once or twice weekly for one year before I saw her.

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Diagnoses:  dysthymia as long as she can remember, and 25 years of Major Depressive Disorder, PTSD, anxiety, etc. Olympic level athlete —

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**2**

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Second patient now in late teens, Juvenile Bipolar Disorder/Fear of Harm phenotype, profound thermoregulatory changes respond in seconds to ketamine, dose of 10 mg nasal spray every 3 days. That’s it! Temperature responds in seconds, and the depression responds in 10 minutes in her case. She was so violent before treatment that she had been hospitalized 7 times in 2-1/2 years. Doing very very well. And the low dose naltrexone, by the way, is involved in thermoregulation.

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I should mention, no side effects whatsoever. I have never seen toxicity. I watch kidney and bladder function meticulously, and patients with massive pain on very high doses have never had any organ toxicity.

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NEURO-INFLAMMATION AND GLIA – brain on fire.

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I mention Olympic athlete because so many people I see with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – the pain that so often leads to suicide, seems to occur more often in top level athletes, either state or national level, professional or sponsored in their teens. Yes, they occur in others, but there is a striking predominance in athletes for unknown reasons.

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Glia are triggered by trauma, then they become activated and produce pro-inflammatory cytokines. Inflammation is out of balance. Ketamine profoundly reduces the pro-inflammatory cytokines, and so does low dose naltrexone. I write about these mechanisms with more frequency that anything else. This is what we must address – the brain is essentially “on fire.” And this inflammation, these pro-inflammatory cytokines, are involved in almost every known disease: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, chronic pain, major depressive disorder, cancer, autoimmune disease, and atheroscloerosis.

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Inflammation kills. Unfortunately this new research on glia and inflammatory diseases, these diseases could be called gliopathies, all based on new research since the turn of the century. We now know glia are your innate immune system in brain and spinal cord. They need a balance the anti-inflammatory cytokines with the pro-inflammatory cytokines. Inflammation may be lifesaving when you have caught a virus, but not as a steady diet. Give the brain a break or it leads to hyperexcitable glutamate that triggers calcium flooding into the neuron, cell death, brain atrophy and memory loss. Seen in people with Major Depression and those with chronic low back pain.

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Do doctors know about the innate immune system? or the receptor that won the Nobel Prize 2 and 1/2 years ago? or glia?

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Answer: no.

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Papolos et al have published Clinical experience using intranasal ketamine in the treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder/fear of harm phenotype

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Ketamine administration was associated with a substantial reduction in measures of mania, fear of harm and aggression. Significant improvement was observed in mood, anxiety and behavioral symptoms, attention/executive functions, insomnia, parasomnias and sleep inertia. Treatment was generally well-tolerated.

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Dr. Papolos’ video on treatment points out, ketamine nasal spray is off-label

for Bipolar Disorder. And I add, ketamine is off-label for pain and for major depression.

He posts this:

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PUBLIC WARNING

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Public Warning: Ketamine is a controlled substance.

Administered improperly, or without the guidance of a qualified doctor,

Ketamine may cause injury or death.

No attempt should be made to use Ketamine

in the absence of counsel from a qualified doctor.

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“Off label” means it is FDA approved for another purpose, but he prescribes it for Juvenile Bipolar Disorder. I would add that in qualified hands, ketamine is one of the safest medications we have in our formulary.

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More later, as time permits.

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PUBLIC WARNING

reprinted with permission of Demitri Papolos, MD
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Ketamine is a controlled substance.
Administered improperly, or without the guidance of a qualified doctor,
Ketamine may cause injury or death.
No attempt should be made to use Ketamine
in the absence of counsel from a qualified doctor..

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

It is not a substitute for medical advice,

diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

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Please understand that it is not legal for me

to give medical advice without a consultation.

If you wish an appointment, please telephone my office.

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

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Neuroimmunology’s Future – Bioelectronics Treats TNF Diseases – Will replace drug industry

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This is an earth changing, once in a century paradigm shift in medicine.

TNF Alpha Diseases

Bioelectronics reduces TNF alpha

Inflammatory Diseases treated without drugs.

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A novel therapy, never done before, is now in clinical trials with Rheumatoid Arthritis patients and it is working well  – with no medication. Electrical stimulation is reducing TNF-alpha, the inflammatory cytokines that underlie many diseases including pain, cancer, autoimmune diseases and major depression. This is a completely new field of medicine reported by The New York Times Magazine. I strongly recommend reading the entire article as I have only a small clip below.

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Several of the foremost neuroscientists are involved with this, starting with the research of Kevin Tracy in 1998 who proved that stimulating the vagus nerve with electricity would alleviate harmful inflammation. He is a neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y.

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Today researchers are creating implants that can communicate directly with the nervous system in order to try to fight everything from cancer to the common cold. “Our idea would be manipulating neural input to delay the progression of cancer,” says Paul Frenette, a stem-cell researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx who discovered a link between the nervous system and prostate tumors….

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“The list of T.N.F. diseases is long,” Tracey said. “So when we created SetPoint” — the start-up he founded in 2007 with a physician and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston — “we had to figure out what we were going to treat.” They wanted to start with an illness that could be mitigated by blocking tumor necrosis factor and for which new therapies were desperately needed. Rheumatoid arthritis satisfied both criteria. It afflicts about 1 percent of the global population, causing chronic inflammation that erodes joints and eventually makes movement excruciating. And there is no cure for it.

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In September 2011, SetPoint Medical began the world’s first clinical trial to treat rheumatoid-arthritis patients with an implantable nerve stimulator based on Tracey’s discoveries. According to Ralph Zitnik, SetPoint’s chief medical officer, of the 18 patients currently enrolled in the ongoing trial, two-thirds have improved. And some of them were feeling little or no pain just weeks after receiving the implant; the swelling in their joints has disappeared. “We took Kevin’s concept that he worked on for 10 years and made it a reality for people in a real clinical trial,” he says….

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…The biggest challenge is interpreting the conversation between the body’s organs and its nervous system, according to Kris Famm, who runs the newly formed Bioelectronics R. & D. Unit at GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s seventh-largest pharmaceutical company. “No one has really tried to speak the electrical language of the body,” he says. Another obstacle is building small implants, some of them as tiny as a cubic millimeter, robust enough to run powerful microprocessors. Should scientists succeed and bioelectronics become widely adopted, millions of people could one day be walking around with networked computers hooked up to their nervous systems. And that prospect highlights yet another concern the nascent industry will have to confront: the possibility of malignant hacking. As Anand Raghunathan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, puts it, bioelectronics “gives me a remote control to someone’s body.”

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Glaxo has also established a $50 million fund to support the science of bioelectronics and is offering a prize of $1 million to the first team that can develop an implantable device that can, by recording and responding to an organ’s electrical signals, exert influence over its function. Instead of drugs, “the treatment is a pattern of electrical impulses,” Famm says. “The information is the treatment.” In addition to rheumatoid arthritis, Famm believes, bioelectronic medicine might someday treat hypertension, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, infertility, obesity and cancer. “This is not a one-trick pony.”

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…The subjects in the trial each underwent a 45-minute operation. A neurosurgeon fixed an inchlong device shaped like a corkscrew to the vagus nerve on the left side of the neck, and then embedded just below the collarbone a silver-dollar-size “pulse generator” that contained a battery and microprocessor programmed to discharge mild shocks from two electrodes. A thin wire made of a platinum alloy connected the two components beneath the skin. Once the implant was turned on, its preprogrammed charge — about one milliamp; a small LED consumes 10 times more electricity — zapped the vagus nerve in 60-second bursts, up to four times a day. Typically, a patient’s throat felt constricted and tingly for a moment. After a week or two, arthritic pain began to subside. Swollen joints shrank, and blood tests that checked for inflammatory markers usually showed striking declines.

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Koopman told me about a 38-year-old trial patient named Mirela Mustacevic whose rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed when she was 22, and who had since tried nine different medications, including two she had to self-inject. Some of them helped but had nasty side effects, like nausea and skin rashes. Before getting the SetPoint implant in April 2013, she could barely grasp a pencil; now she’s riding her bicycle to the Dutch coast, a near-20-mile round trip from her home. Mustacevic told me: “After the implant, I started to do things I hadn’t done in years — like taking long walks or just putting clothes on in the morning without help. I was ecstatic. When they told me about the surgery, I was a bit worried, because what if something went wrong? I had to think about whether it was worth it. But it was worth it. I got my life back.”

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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

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

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Prostate Cancer – Exercise Cuts Inflammatory Cytokines IL-6 & IL-8, reduces psychological distress

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American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) in Chicago yesterday report on exercise reducing psychological distress. Whether cancer outcome will be impacted is not yet known and will require study but inflammation may impact cancer progression.

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The usual treatments change metabolism, cause weight gain, “loss of lean muscle mass, change[s] lipids, increase[s] rates of diabetes, and it thins bones.”

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Exercise is even more critical in those undergoing hormone therapies.

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This was a small randomized study for seven weeks.

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Patients receiving usual care experienced a 0.08 log10 increase in pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 production, while patients treated with an exercise program experienced a 0.03 log10 decrease in IL-6 (P<0.05), said Charles Kamen, PhD, research assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

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In his oral presentation … Kamen and colleagues observed a similar relationship with another pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-8. In the control patients, the researchers noted a 0.03 log10 increase compared with a 0.04 log10 decrease among the exercise group, Kamen said.

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Using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the research team determined that psychological distress decreased 5.17 points among the exercise group but increased 2.43 points in the patients who were in the usual control group (P=0.02).

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“This study supports the use of exercise for cancer patients for reducing psychological distress and suggests a potential biological mechanism by which this improvement occurs, namely by reducing systemic inflammation,” Kamen said in his presentation….

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The POMS scores were overall significantly in favor of the exercise group, and the subscales all trended in favor of exercise, except for the anger subscale in which there was virtually no change, Kamen said.

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Radical experiment in managing pain without narcotics – Validation of years of work

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Read this story in the New York Times Business Day, May 10, 2014.

 

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It is the story of one veteran who had severe injuries. His wife now says when she sees other patients: “I can go in there and I can immediately spot people that are on narcotics or on drugs.”

 

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A Soldier’s War on Pain

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Many thanks from my heart to Barry Meier for his research into these rare pain specialists who are managing pain without narcotics, and the story of how this veteran did it.

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This validates so much of the work I’ve been toiling over since the turn of the century. This has nothing to do with blame. There is a whole new paradigm to the understanding of treating pain. But the article mentioned only those things my patients have failed, that were done before use of opioids. Physical therapy alone dates back to Greek culture and Hippocrates’ influence as the father of Western medicine and in Europe during the 1500’s. But another point was made and is important to emphasize: these therapies don’t work while someone continues taking opioids.

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Where are we now and what are the questions?

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-Only a few doctors are mentioned. We need more.

-Physicians are taught the first thing: Do no harm. But we are in a very difficult place right now. We are taught to use opioids. Little attention has been paid to research on how to treat patients once off opioids, after they have failed gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, opioids, Elavil.

-Patients don’t know that when asking for more opioids, they are actually creating more pain.

-There is less pain when you taper off opioids. That alone is often enough to help, but often more must be done.

-Who does better with a new approach?

-Insurance companies must be taught not to tie doctor’s hands with denials.

-Do we need to allow PA’s and NA’s to write their own opioids without doctor’s supervision?

-Or do we need to teach everyone, doctors and patients included, how to treat pain without opioids?

-None of us has the data that gives us greater certainty. Until then trillions of dollars are wasted creating disability and pain unknowingly.

-No I am not taking away grandmum’s small dose that she has been on for years and has been shown to improve function.

-Acute pain definitely and usually requires treatment with opioids. But chronic pain? How long do we prescribe opioids in the acute situation before we taper?

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Monster in the system – personal doctor ratings

Translation: job and hospital ratings – by the insurance system and the internet’s phoney doctor “ratings” — all those ratings partly depend on giving opioids and that colors the patient’s opinion of the doctor.

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Doctors who push opioids are more highly rated by patients. Is that what we want as a society?

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 Patients can’t be faulted.

How can they know better?

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Doctors do what they are trained to do, unaware that the opioids they prescribe actually cause more pain,  reinforcing the demand to give more opioids.

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I see better pain relief without opioids

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I will add much more on this page in the next few days, and even later adding remarkable case reports, and covering other medications seldom used, often compounded, but I wanted to get this out urgently. This is such a vast area. We all need to learn from those who are doing this work.

 

Low dose naltrexone (LDN), novel anti-inflammatory treatment for chronic pain

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A review of the clinical use of low dose naltrexone appeared today by Younger, et al. from Stanford (see e-Pub below).

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Naltrexone is one of the most important medications I have prescribed, alone or in combination with other medications for intractable chronic pain and/or treatment resistant Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder. It has been most extensively used anecdotally and off label since 1985 for treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.

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Naltrexone acts on two receptors in the central nervous system: (1) the opioid receptor and (2) the TLR4 receptor on glia.

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(1) The opioid receptor is blocked by naltrexone. Naltrexone cannot be given to someone who uses opioid analgesics because it would cause a severe or unpleasant opioid withdrawal reaction. But in low dose, it can do better than opioids for relief of intractable pain. I would like to see it tried for pain, alone or in combination, before any opioid is started. And if on opioids, taper slowly off opioid in order to see how superior low dose naltrexone is. See case reports elsewhere on this site.

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Low dose naltrexone is quite different than its use in high dose where it is FDA approved for addiction to alcohol and opiates. Naltrexone reduces craving. However, in high dose, it blocks the endorphins, the opiates that your brain produces, thus causing pain and depression.

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(2) The TLR4 receptor was discovered by Bruce Beutler, MD, working at Scripps Research Institute. He won the Nobel Prize in 2011 for that profound work. The TLR4 receptor is found on the microglial cell in the central nervous system. The microglia far outnumber nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. I discussed a small portion of the vast science of the importance of glia, your innate immune system and inflammatory cytokines, here. This research on glia, the innate immune system, is new, largely in the last 10 to 15 years.

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One of the mechanisms by which opioids create pain is that opioids trigger glia to release pro-inflammatory cytokines, i.e. opioids create a neuroinflammatory response in a manner similar to endotoxin from bacteria. Opioids upset the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines to create more pain. Naltrexone does the opposite by its action on the glial TLR4 receptor reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines and relieving pain.

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Inflammation kills! Glia and/or the inflammation produced by glia are involved in many pathological processes: Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, ALS, MS, chronic pain, depression, autoimmune disease, cancer, atherosclerosis. The TLR4 receptor is necessary for death or destruction of oligodendrocytes and myelin, as occurs in multiple sclerosis. Does that mean low dose naltrexone may play a role in modulating these conditions?

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See reviews by distinguished Professor Linda Watkins, PhD, and Mark Hutchinson, PhD, on glia, neuroinflammation and the neuroimmunopharmacology of opioids. Besides glia, Watkins and Hutchinson have recently discovered Toll-like expression of neuronal receptors in pain states.

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For access to articles on glia, cytokines and the TLR4 receptor, see the RSD Syndrome Association library of key publications. And donate to them. They have supported key research in pain when NIH gave less than half of 1% to pain research in 2006, now far less since the deadly the recession of 2008 and the ever threatened fight over funding the national debt.

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Being interested in glia, and treating so many patients with Major Depressive Disorder who had failed other treatments, I did a review of depression and glia and found the same increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines in depression that are found in chronic pain. Since low dose naltrexone is anti-inflammatory, i.e. it modulates or resets the balance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines that are produced by glia, I felt it important to try in Major Depressive Disorder. Besides, I had seen its profound effect on so many different forms of intractable pain for many years. Use of LDN has never been associated with toxicity and rarely any side effects.

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My patient had severe suicidal ideation with Major Depressive Disorder for more than three months, unchanged after treatment at a psychiatric center where she had stayed almost four weeks. She began with 4.5 mg in the office and 25 minutes later, on the drive home, her appetite returned! She walked in the house and her dad was astonished – she no longer walked like she was 105 years old! She had the energy to do her laundry and cook for the family for the first time in more than three months.

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Another person for whom I prescribe naltrexone for Major Depression, wrote to me saying Massachusetts General, a Harvard Hospital, was starting clinical trials of low dose naltrexone for Major Depressive Disorder. Other new clinical trials of low dose naltrexone can be found here.

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Jared Younger, PhD, from Stanford first published on the use of naltrexone in fibromyalgia – see my discussion here.

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Today in PubMed, ahead of print, Dr. Younger et al. publish a review of low dose naltrexone, a glial modulator.

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The use of low-dose naltrexone (LDN) as a novel

anti-inflammatory treatment for chronic pain

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Authors  Younger J, Parkitny L, McLain D.

Journal

Clin Rheumatol. 2014 Feb 15.  [Epub ahead of print]

Affiliation

Abstract

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) has been demonstrated to reduce symptom severity in conditions such as fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and complex regional pain syndrome. We review the evidence that LDN may operate as a novel anti-inflammatory agent in the central nervous system, via action on microglial cells. These effects may be unique to low dosages of naltrexone and appear to be entirely independent from naltrexone’s better-known activity on opioid receptors. As a daily oral therapy, LDN is inexpensive and well-tolerated. Despite initial promise of efficacy, the use of LDN for chronic disorders is still highly experimental. Published trials have low sample sizes, and few replications have been performed. We cover the typical usage of LDN in clinical trials, caveats to using the medication, and recommendations for future research and clinical work. LDN may represent one of the first glial cell modulators to be used for the management of chronic pain disorders.

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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

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

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Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) – Boosting Its Anti-inflammatory Immune Response

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Discovery could lead to new immune-response drugs for allergies, illnesses and injuries

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Improved spinal cord injury & inflammation in mice

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Medical news November 17, 2009, announced that “UC Irvine pharmacology researchers have discovered a way to boost levels of a natural body fat that helps decrease inflammation, pointing to possible new treatments for allergies, illnesses and injuries related to the immune system.”

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“For decades, it has been known that this fat, called palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), is a potent anti-inflammatory substance that reduces both allergic symptoms and occurrences of rheumatic fever, but researchers understood little about how PEA works.”

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I”n a study appearing online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences at UCI, and colleagues found that levels of PEA are tightly regulated by immune system cells. In turn, PEA helps control the activity of these cells, which are called into action to fight infection, disease and injury in the body.”

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They found a protein, an enzyme that breaks down molecules that control cell inflammation and deactivates PEA. They then created a novel compound that prevents the breakdown.

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“When given to rodents, the compound increased the levels of PEA in their immune cells and reduced the amount of inflammation elicited by an inflammatory substance. Furthermore, when administered to the spinal cords of mice after spinal cord injury, the compound decreased inflammation associated with the trauma and improved the recovery of motor function.”

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UCI is collaborating with the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa to develop a range of immune-response drugs. 

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Source: University of California – Irvine

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Refer an earlier post on PEA here.

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Palmitoylethanolamide is sold as PeaPure, a food supplement, available from the Netherlands and imported by a local pharmacy here. I have submitted a paper for publication on the treatment of vulvodynia and proctodynia with PeaPure and a topical cream. That source will be posted once it is accepted.

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I have been seeing some exciting responses to treatment of intractable pain with PeaPure. I invite others who use it to add comments below so that we may all learn from your experience.

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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

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Please understand that it is not legal for me

to give medical advice without a consultation.

If you wish an appointment, please telephone my office.

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

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Treatment for Pain Could Last Months: Botox & Tetanus Chimera Injection

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Professor Bazbek Davletov now at Sheffield University, UK, reports his research that is featured on the cover of the October 2013 journal Bioconjugate Chemistry. He hopes the drug will cost around £1,000 a year, making it cheap enough for use on the NHS. It is authored by a 22-person team from 11 research institutes, including Lincoln University UK based Dr Enrico Ferrari.

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Dr Ferrari joined the School of Life Sciences in October last year from the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where he took part in the development of a new way of joining and rebuilding molecules in the research group of Professor Bazbek Davletov who was then at the MRC.

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Taking components of clostridium botulinum and clostridium tetani neurotoxins – known as Botox and tetanus toxin – they re-joined the molecule proteins using a ‘protein stapling’ technology targeting central neurons without unwanted toxic effects.

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Science Daily announcement:

‘Chimera’ Protein Could Lead to Drug Treatments for Chronic Pain

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Lincoln University, UK, heralds this promising discovery:

Scientists synthesise new ‘chimera’ protein which could herald future drug treatments for chronic pain

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“Scientists have manufactured a new bio-therapeutic molecule that could be used to treat neurological disorders such as chronic pain and epilepsy.”

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The molecule was able to alleviate hypersensitivity to inflammatory pain.

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“Dr Ferrari, who is one of the lead authors of the study, said: “The toxins were split into parts so they were unable to function. Then later they were reassembled using a ‘zipping’ system so they can operate in a safe way. The re-engineered chimera toxin has very similar characteristics to Botox and is still able to block neurotransmission release, but the paralytic effect is a lot less. We then added a tetanus molecule which targets the chimera to where the pain signals travel towards the central nervous system.””

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“Dr Ferrari added: “Many painkillers relieve the pain temporarily and have various side effects. The selling point of this molecule is that the pain relief could last up to seven months….””

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only.

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

~~~~~

Please understand that it is not legal for me

to give medical advice without a consultation.

If you wish an appointment, please telephone my office.

.

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

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Bipolar Disorder Treatment Resistant – Responds to Oxytocin & Ketamine

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The patient is a Spanish speaking octogenarian who has Treatment Resistant Bipolar I Disorder with rapid cycling. In manic phases, she becomes aggressive and takes chances. Three of her siblings committed suicide in their late teens and early 20’s. The only time she has not been depressed was for eight months while caring for her dying husband ten years ago, and again, briefly, when she woke from coma 1-1/2 years ago after her most recent of many suicide attempts. She has been profoundly suicidal and lives alone with 24/7 caretakers. Her family lives one block away and keep most of her medications at their home.

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She has bilateral heel pain and longstanding pain of both knees after total knee replacement. She sleeps six hours per night, often waking three times to void, and does not nap. No daytime sleepiness. She was blinded in one eye, and has partial sight in the other due to macular degeneration dry type. She weighs 57 kg.

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Medications: She has failed every known medication. Cymbalta helped knee pain but caused her to become more depressed. Recent lithium toxicity led to the dose being lowered though blood levels were low, and she began using a walker one week ago due to vertigo. Lamotrigine was dropped from 400 to 200 mg/day, and Namenda 5 mg was started for knee pain. Azilect was discontinued eight days ago.

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On examination, she had a very flat affect. She was very attentive and responded appropriately to questions translated for her. Her daughter and son-in-law demonstrated very tender care.

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Treatment

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The patient was given a small dose of oxytocin, a hormone made in the brain. Within one hour, she mentioned wanting Italian food — a clear sign to family that her depression was beginning to respond. Ketamine nasal spray was then discussed and a total of 10 mg was tested with no change in blood pressure or heart rate. Walking the long corridor to the elevator, she commented that pain was much better. The family indicates that if her depression responds to this, it will be the first time in more than fifty years.

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The next day, family reported that instead of sleeping her usual six hours, she slept well, from 10:30 pm to 9:00 am. Symptoms began at 9:15 am. At 11:10 am, she was anxious, depressed, with suicidal ideation and knee pain was 6 on a scale of 10.

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At 11:55 am, oxytocin was given and at 12:07 pm, 20 mg ketamine was given intra-nasally. By 12:15 am, depression, anxiety, suicidality and pain were zero. There was no change in blood pressure or pulse. Relief lasted almost five hours.

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 At 4:30 pm, the caretaker reported she was crying profoundly for 10 minutes. At 5:00 pm, anxiety was rated 8, depression 10, suicidal ideation 10, pain 0. Ketamine 20 mg was given at 5:50 pm, and by 6:05 she reported no anxiety, depression or suicidality and no pain.

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She returns tomorrow for her second visit. As we go forward, we will see duration of effect. She begins low dose naltrexone today after I advised her to stop tramadol a few days ago. She had been taking tramadol, a partial opioid, for pain of both knees and heels.

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In my experience prescribing ketamine for more than eleven years, it is one of the safest medications I have ever prescribed.

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My focus is on neuroinflammation and glia in the setting of chronic pain. There is tremendous overlap in pain systems and depression with strong evidence for the role of inflammation in both conditions. Ketamine is reported to be profoundly anti-inflammatory and acts more on glial receptors than its well known effect on the NMDA receptor.

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That led me to prescribe another anti-inflammatory glial modulator for depression, low dose naltrexone (LDN). LDN antagonizes the Toll-Like Receptor 4 , the glial receptor that is a major component of the innate immune system in the brain and spinal cord. LDN has helped many of my patients who had intractable pain and a case report will be added soon that details the rapid response to LDN for a person with severe suicidality.

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A review of inflammation and glia in depression was published by Yale psychiatrists in 2008 and discusses this in much greater detail.

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Patients with Treatment Resistant Bipolar Disorder have reported that ketamine and oxytocin each help depression, but the combination works far better than would be predicted. It is hoped that persons with depression will benefit as much from addition of LDN that has helped so many with intractable pain who need ketamine much less because it is so effective. Of course these are preliminary observations after only several months, but they have been deeply rewarding. Much more work needs to be done, but in my opinion, these are a few of the key medications that have brought the greatest benefit to persons who have either pain or depression.

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Third Visit

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At her third visit last week, I sent the patient back long distance under the care of her psychiatrist with instructions to continue ketamine nasal spray and oxytocin. She apologized that she had not told the truth about her response to the medications. She had reported 100% improvement because she wanted to make her family feel better. Overall, she downgraded the rating of her depression as moderately better, and felt she was not 100%, because she still did not want to be alive. I pointed out that does not mean she is depressed, simply that she does not wish to be alive, an entirely different matter. As she spoke, she was smiling throughout the meeting.

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Her family reported that she had been swimming, had walked one block to their home over the weekend, and today they tell me she has been swimming again, and plans to swim tomorrow.

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To be continued.

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The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for

medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

.

~

Please understand that it is not legal for me

to give medical advice without a consultation.

If you wish an appointment, please telephone my office.

~

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

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