How to Control Anxiety and Pain Through Meditation

By Dr. David Hanscom, PNN Columnist

Every sense in your body has a threshold that indicates danger – hot, cold, bitter, loud, bright, sharp, pressure, burning, nausea, etc. Without that immediate feedback from your senses, you could not protect yourself from whatever the danger is.   

When any physical threat is sensed, your body secretes chemicals and hormones to increase your chances of survival. They include cortisol, adrenaline and histamines. This chemical bath affects every cell in your body and you are on “high alert.” The feeling generated is anxiety and it is not a psychological reaction. 

Humans have a problem in that mental threats manifested by unpleasant thoughts are processed in similar area of the brain and cause the same hormonal response. But since we can’t escape our thoughts, we are subjected to sustained levels of these chemicals. One of the effects is increasing the speed of nerve conduction. All of our senses are heightened, including various types of pain.  

Environmental Awareness 

Being aware of your senses – known as environmental awareness –-- is a strategy that allows you to switch sensory input from racing thoughts to another sensation. It doesn’t matter which sense you choose.

I practice one that I call “active meditation” or “meditation on the run.” Being aware of your senses has a calming effect on your nervous system. Active meditation enabled me to be a calmer person and more effective in my work.  

As a retired spine surgeon with many years of experience, I was often referred complicated spine problems that required complex surgeries. Sometimes those surgeries resulted in complications for the patient. Although I was committed to having no complications from the first day I walked into the operating room, there was a point a few years ago when I faced up to the fact that I hadn’t been able to eliminate them. My own thoughts were interfering with my work.  

The most common interferences I felt during surgery were frustration, anxiety, distraction, complacency, and, especially, being in a rush to finish. They all detracted from the consistency of my performance. This led me to develop a somewhat defensive mindset. If I could get through the week without a surgical complication, it was a huge relief.  

Learning Active Meditation

Things changed when I decided to enlist the help of a performance coach to help me reduce any mistakes in surgery. That was a major turning point in my professional life. I brought my coach into the operating room and clinic so he could better understand my world. For 18 months, he and I underwent regular debriefings and coaching. I began to use active meditation in the operating room. 

This meditation model is not based on suppressing interference – for instance, if you’re frustrated, you don’t pretend otherwise – rather, you face these frustrations and then detach from them. Using tools and approaches that have been employed for centuries in the practices of meditation and mindfulness, I learned to identify any interference either before or during surgery, and then let go of it.  

This is how it worked: Each surgical morning, I woke up and assessed how I was feeling. Like everyone, my feelings ranged from calm and relaxed to tired and anxious. Then, I immediately started sensing every smell, touch and taste possible. I felt the water on my back in the shower. I smelled the coffee. I also reminded myself that although that day’s surgery is “just another case” for me, it’s one of the most important days of my patient’s life.  

I continued this process in the operating room. I carefully arranged the room, talked to each member of the surgical team, and reviewed the imaging studies. I was focused and immersed in what’s right in front of me, when previously I’d rush into the operating room at the last minute just before making the incision. 

During surgery, awareness allowed me to perform my next move at an optimum level. I felt my grip pressure on each surgical tool; noticed the shape of the contours of the anatomy; felt my shoulder and arm muscles stay relaxed; and just watched the flow of the case.  

If I felt any disruptive emotions intrude into my state of mind, I quickly practiced my environmental awareness techniques in order to re-focus. I learned to be more fully engaged on a higher percent of cases, so I could “program” myself into the “zone.” 

Since I started practicing active meditation, my complication rate in surgery noticeably decreased. For instance, from 1999 until 2003 I had an “acceptable” 9% rate of inadvertently entering the dural sac (a sack of fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord). After I started using meditation, I made this mistake only two or three times a year, which is less than one percent. 

Surgery became a wonderful experience for me. I eagerly looked forward to Monday instead of Friday. I committed to getting a good night’s sleep before my surgeries.  If I woke up “wired” and uneasy, I slowed down until I felt relaxed, no matter how many things were on my to-do list.  

I continue to practice active meditation daily. Environmental awareness is more difficult outside the operating room, in the less controlled areas of my life, but it is still my go-to active meditation.   

One tool I use to practice awareness is my “to do” list. I remind myself that this list is an expression of my life, and so I practice being aware as I go about each item. For instance, when I have an appointment with a patient, I listen to myself talk to him or her.  I feel the pen on the paper as I jot down notes.  I also practice meditative techniques. such as watching the disruptive thoughts of “need to finish up here, I have other things to do” enter my consciousness and then leave.  

I remember that my goal is to engage and enjoy every second of my “to do” list. It doesn’t always work, but it’s surprising how often it does.

Environmental awareness engages me in the present moment regardless of the circumstances. It is not positive thinking, but just switching the sensory input. With repetition, it has become somewhat automatic. It is a simple strategy that can help the quality of your life, regardless of the level of your pain.  

Dr. David Hanscom is a retired spinal surgeon who has helped hundreds of back pain sufferers by teaching them how to calm their central nervous systems without the use of drugs or surgery.

In his latest book, Do You Need Spine Surgery?, David explains why spinal surgeries are often risky and unnecessary.

This column is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

‘Injectrode’ Could Revolutionize Neuromodulation Pain Treatment

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A team of scientists and engineers has developed a flexible electrode that can be injected into the body to stimulate damaged nerves, relieve chronic pain and treat other conditions.

The so-called “injectrode” could revolutionize neuromodulation therapy by eliminating the need for invasive spinal cord stimulators and other surgically implanted medical devices.

Researchers used a liquid silicone base -- similar to surgical glue – and mixed it with small metal particles to make it electrically conductive.

When injected around a nerve and allowed to cure, the injectrode performs much like a metal wire, but remains flexible.

Current neuromodulation treatments often rely on rigid implanted devices that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, require complex surgeries to install, and often fail or need to be replaced.

IMAGE COURTESY OF NEURONOFF

"Typical implants are really stiff, and so as the body moves, they wear and tear and break down. Our liquid cures, and the result is much closer to the normal elasticity of tissue. You can actually stretch it and increase its size 150 percent to 200 percent without losing its conductivity," says co-author Kip Ludwig, PhD, a professor of biomedical engineering and neurological surgery at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“By virtue of its simplicity, the Injectrode has the potential to be less invasive, more robust, and more cost‐effective than traditional electrode designs, which could increase the adoption of neuromodulation therapies for existing and new indications.”

Ludwig and his colleagues reported their findings in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

The injectrode has been tested on laboratory animals to stimulate their nervous systems. It was used in pigs to induce heart rate changes by stimulating the vagus nerve in the neck, an approach that's shown promise for treating heart failure, hypertension, lupus and cluster headaches.

"We essentially went through the standard repertoire of electrochemical tests to show this acts like a standard wire electrode that could be used to stimulate the nerve," says co-author James Trevathan, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Ludwig's lab.

Ludwig co-founded Neuronoff, a company based on the injectrode, with Case Western Reserve University biomedical engineering professor Andrew Shoffstall, PhD, and Neuronoff CEO Manfred Franke, PhD. Neuronoff recently secured a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop the injectrode to stimulate spinal nerves as a treatment for chronic back pain.

The researchers are testing a scheme in which they inject the fluid around the nerve, then extrude a thin insulated string of the material back to just underneath the surface of the skin, where they inject more of the composite material. Then they can use a basic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit to stimulate the nerve from the surface of the skin.

"We're making a bypass from the surface of the skin to the location we want to stimulate," says Ludwig, who envisions using a robotic surgical system to install the injectrode in a procedure similar to getting a tattoo.

"As we learn more and more about how to interface with the nervous system, we're not limited to what we've implanted through an invasive surgical procedure. We can actually change how we stimulate, how we talk to the nerve, because we're essentially just routing our connection to this deep nerve back to the surface of the skin."

Spinal cord stimulators have some of the worst safety records among medical devices, according to a 2018 report by investigative journalists. Stimulators are often touted as safer alternatives to opioid pain medication, but a review of FDA data found over 500 deaths and 80,000 injuries involving stimulators since 2008. Patients reported being shocked or burned by the devices and many had them removed.  

Icy Virtual Reality Freezes Out Pain

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Everyone knows that an ice pack or cold compress can help sooth aching joints and sore muscles. Cold temperatures slow blood circulation, reducing both pain and inflammation.

Researchers at Imperial College London took that basic first aid measure a step further by using virtual reality (VR) to immerse people in scenes of an icy Arctic landscape. And just like real ice, the VR video reduced pain perception and sensitivity.

Findings from the small study, published in the journal Pain Reports, add to growing evidence that VR technology can not only distract people from their pain, but may also activate the body’s pain-fighting response.

“One of the key features of chronic pain is you get increased sensitivity to painful stimuli. This means patients’ nerves are constantly ‘firing’ and telling their brain they are in a heightened state of pain,” first author Sam Hughes, PhD, said in a press release.

"Our work suggests that VR may be interfering with processes in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, which are known to be key parts of our inbuilt pain-fighting systems and are instrumental in regulating the spread of increased sensitivity to pain.

In the study, 15 healthy volunteers were given a topical cream on the skin of their legs containing capsaicin – the spicy chemical in chili peppers that makes your mouth burn. The capsaicin sensitized the skin, making it more sensitive to pain from a small electric shock.

Participants were then asked to rate their pain on a scale of 0-100 (from ‘no sensation’ to ‘worst pain imaginable’) while looking at a still image of an Arctic scene on a computer monitor or watching this National Geographic video of Arctic exploration through a VR headset.

Researchers found that pain from the capsaicin cream was reduced following the VR immersion. The volunteers’ skin was also less sensitive to the electric shocks.  The same effect was not seen in people who only looked at still images of the polar environment.

Hughes and his colleagues plan further studies of VR to see what kind of dosing regimen works best for pain – such as 30 minutes of VR, four times a day – and if the pain relieving effects would be cumulative or remain only temporary.

“The aim of this study was to show VR has the ability to change the pathological processing associated with chronic pain,” says Hughes. “Using this approach does seem to reduce the overall intensity of the ongoing pain as well as the response we get on the skin. We think there could be changes in the body’s pain relief system’s which can affect how pain sensitivity is processed in the spinal cord.

“There are still many things to figure out, but one exciting aspect of our study is that the VR design we used is completely passive – meaning patients don’t need to use their arms. Potentially, it could mean that patients who are bed-bound or can't move their limbs, but with chronic pain, could still benefit from this approach.”

Previous studies have found that VR can make small improvements in the pain of hospitalized patients recovering from surgery or suffering from neurological, orthopedic, gastrointestinal or cancer pain.

Can Melatonin Put Your Chronic Pain to Sleep?

By A. Rahman Ford, PNN Columnist

Melatonin is popularly known as the sleep hormone. Less known is its potential to alleviate chronic pain and inflammation.

Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain. During the day the pineal gland is inactive, but at night it begins to produce melatonin and helps us sleep.

As a supplement, melatonin is widely promoted for its efficacy as a sleep aid. However, its role in reducing inflammation – a major contributor to chronic pain – may be much more important. Many chronic pain conditions are a result of underlying inflammation.

In a recent Nature article, melatonin was called a “master regulator” of inflammation. Several studies have shown that melatonin can regulate activation of the immune system, reducing chronic and acute inflammation.

Research shows that melatonin supplements can modulate inflammation by acting as powerful antioxidants and free radical scavengers. Uncontrolled free radicals in the body can lead to oxidative stress, which can cause inflammation and culminate in diseases that cause chronic pain.

There is a large body of evidence that melatonin is a potent antioxidant, even more potent than vitamins C and E.  It’s been successfully used to treat fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome, diseases associated with high levels of oxidative stress.

Melatonin is also a strong antimicrobial, and emerging research shows that some chronic inflammatory conditions may be caused by infections. One study found melatonin effective in treating certain drug-resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. Similar results were found when testing ten different pathogens, including Escheria coli and Salmonella typhinurium, with melatonin.

Melatonin and Chronic Pain

A therapeutic role for melatonin in the treatment of painful autoimmune conditions has been theorized.  A 2013 study noted that melatonin plays a role in the pathogenesis of conditions such as multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. In animal models of these diseases, melatonin supplements were found to have protective effects. A 2019 review concurred, concluding that melatonin can serve as a new therapeutic target in treating autoimmune diseases.

A review of the scientific literature on chronic pain syndromes found evidence of melatonin’s efficacy as an analgesic in several conditions including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and chronic back pain. Studies also showed melatonin’s effectiveness in treating cluster headaches ad tension headaches.

A small clinical trial of 63 females with fibromyalgia found that melatonin, alone or in combination with the antidepressant amitriptyline, significantly reduced pain when compared to amitriptyline use alone. The authors concluded that the melatonin treatment had a direct effect on the regulation of pain.

There has been some evidence that melatonin supplements can help reduce lower back pain. In a 2015 study, researchers found a significant reduction in pain intensity during movement and at rest in patients with back pain.

Melatonin has also been successful in treating migraines. In an open-labeled clinical trial of 34 patients suffering from migraine, 30 mg of melatonin given 30 minutes before bedtime was found to reduce headache intensity as well as frequency and duration, with significant clinical improvement after one month.

Although the scientific evidence is only slowly emerging, melatonin is a widely-available, inexpensive and safe supplement that may aid you in your fight against chronic pain.

A. Rahman Ford, PhD, is a lawyer and research professional. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Howard University School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal.

Rahman lives with chronic inflammation in his digestive tract and is unable to eat solid food.

The information in this column is for informational purposes only and represent the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Documentary Champions Holistic Approach to Chronic Pain

By A. Rahman Ford, PNN Columnist

A new, eye-opening documentary is challenging conventional wisdom about chronic pain treatment. Rather than treat pain as a purely biomedical issue, On a Scale of 1 to 10: The Silent Epidemic suggests a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to pain treatment that addresses the physical, social, psychological and spiritual dimensions of who we are as human beings.

According to the film’s website, the motivation to make the documentary was to show people “a different path to regain their quality of life” without the use of prescription opioids and surgery. The film features clinics and wellness centers that use new diagnostic tools, innovative research and advanced products and therapies. 

The film was produced by Citrus Pie Media Group and was written and directed by Laurent Goldstein and Executive Produced by Jennifer Unruh.

To set the inspirational tone for the film, Goldstein opens with his own personal story. As a result of a herniated disc, he had lower back pain so severe he could not walk, sit or stand without intense agony. He found his freedom from pain in chiropractic, spinal decompression treatments and a targeted anti-inflammatory regimen.

With this holistic approach, Goldstein was able to avoid surgery. His personal struggle and triumph over chronic pain, as well as the stories of other patients, motivated him to make the film.

Goldstein’s passion is particularly evident in the scenic snapshots of Canadian landscapes and seascapes that he strategically places throughout the film. They amplify and reinforce the film’s emphasis on natural modalities of healing.

The nearly two hour long documentary is well made and chock full of information, but also thoughtfully introductory in its tone, making it understandable to those new to holistic and integrative methods of healing. The film provides enough detail about what these treatments are and how they work, but not so much that it overwhelms the viewer with medical minutia and jargon.

The messages and themes in the film are compelling. Although it does get technical in some areas, the documentary is far from clinical in its presentation. On the contrary, the emotional success stories told by everyday people who have conquered their chronic pain make the film personal and relatable.

They made the conscious decision to liberate themselves from mainstream medicine because they were fed up with misdiagnosis, mistreatment and crippling financial expense.

Experts and Influencers in Alternative Health

Goldstein interviews health and wellness influencers such as psychiatrist Daniel Amen, Dr. Michael Klaper, Dr. Neal Bernard, psychologist Beth Darnall and Barby Ingle of the International Pain Foundation (iPain). Through conversation with these experts, a wide range of alternative medical approaches are discussed. These include nutrition, physical exercise, immune system function, hormone balancing, digestion, and vitamin/mineral supplementation.

Other therapies include laser therapy, stem cell therapy, medicinal herbs, sound/vibration therapy, floating therapy, light therapy, hypnosis, meditation and energy healing. All of these approaches are aimed at healing the underlying condition, not just masking the symptoms.

For example, a key focus of the film is the nutrient-deficient American diet, which is seen as a primary culprit in causing chronic pain. Meat and dairy are especially bad for human health, with one expert recommending “meat abstinence.” One pain sufferer was able to get off of all medications with a diet of fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts and seeds, and has remained medication-free for ten years.

All in all, the documentary is a thought-provoking window into the multifaceted causes of chronic pain and the novel approaches that fed-up pain sufferers are turning to. The film takes an expansive view of what pain is and challenges viewers to summon the courage to abandon preconceived notions of health and wellness, and to open themselves up to new avenues of healing.

On a Scale of 1 to 10: The Silent Epidemic will open the International Pain Summit in Los Angeles on November 14. iPain has recognized the film with its 2019 Community Impact Award.

A. Rahman Ford, PhD, is a lawyer and research professional. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Howard University School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal.

Rahman lives with chronic inflammation in his digestive tract and is unable to eat solid food.

The information in this column is for informational purposes only and represent the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Researchers Urge Caution on Ketamine Infusions

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

With many chronic pain patients losing access to opioid medication, some are turning to ketamine as an alternative. Ketamine is approved by the FDA for depression, anesthesia and post-surgical acute pain, but a growing number of clinics provide off-label infusions of ketamine to treat difficult chronic pain conditions such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).

Researchers at Duke University say doctors and pain patients should be cautious in their use of ketamine. In a study of nearly 300 patients who received ketamine infusions, over a third reported significant side effects such as hallucinations and visual disturbances.

The study findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

"Despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of ketamine for multiple uses, including general anesthesia and treatment of depression, the effects of using the drug at low doses to treat pain have not been extensively studied," said lead author Padma Gulur, MD, a  member of ASA's Committee on Pain Medicine and a professor of anesthesiology at Duke.

"Our research aimed to determine both short- and long-term side effects of low dose ketamine when used for pain treatment."

Gulur and her colleagues found 20 percent of the pain patients who used ketamine alone had side effects, while 15% experienced side effects from using ketamine in combination with other drugs.

Side effects directly linked to ketamine include hallucinations, vivid dreams, out-of-body experiences and unusual thoughts; while those who used ketamine and other drugs experienced sedation, visual disturbances and urinary dysfunction.

"More than one in three patients reported significant side effects from ketamine infusions that required ongoing monitoring or resulted in discontinuation of therapy. More research on the impact of ketamine use for pain on the population is needed," said Gulur.

Guidelines from the ASA, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, and the American Academy of Pain Medicine only support ketamine infusions for CRPS and short-term acute pain. There is weak or no evidence from clinical trials to support ketamine infusions for spinal cord injury pain, neuropathic pain, phantom limb pain, postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia, cancer pain, ischemic pain, migraine headache or low back pain.

“Excluding CRPS, there was no evidence supporting ketamine infusions for intermediate or long-term improvements in pain," the guidelines warn.

The FDA recently approved a ketamine-based nasal spray to treat depression, even though 2 out of 3 short term trials failed to prove its effectiveness. The Spravato nasal spray was effective in a longer trial, but only when taken with a conventional antidepressant.

Because of the risk of abuse and side effects, Spravato can only be administered in a doctor’s office, where patients can be observed for two hours after taking a dose. A single dose will cost about $900. Spravato is not recommended for pain.

There is some debate in the medical community about whether ketamine is an opioid, because it acts on opioid receptors in the brain. Stanford researchers urge caution about the long-term use of ketamine until more can be learned about possible side effects such as addiction. Some depressed patients taken off ketamine have shown signs of withdrawal and became suicidal.  

A recent review of ketamine found that it was a “superb drug” for short-term medical procedures that require anesthesia and was relatively safe as a treatment for chronic pain.

“There is a wealth of evidence indicating the value of ketamine in the treatment of severe pain including conditions such as trauma, fractures, abdominal and flank pain, low back pain, and extremity pain,” said lead author Jorge Palacios, MD, an anesthesiologist at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia, CA.  

“It is safe and effective to use in combination with injectable nonsteroidal pain medications as well as opioids and has gained greater acceptance as concern has grown with regard to opioid use.”

Is Laughing Gas the Best Medicine for Labor Pain?

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A century ago, nitrous oxide – more commonly known as laughing gas -- was widely used in American hospitals to relieve labor pain during childbirth. But laughing gas fell out of favor as more Caesarean sections were performed and women opted more often for epidural injections for pain relief.  

Nitrous oxide is still commonly used in Europe and Australia to manage labor pain, and is beginning to regain popularity in the U.S. The inhaled anesthetic gas helps reduce anxiety and makes patients less aware of their pain, but does not eliminate it. 

“Nitrous oxide is easy for patients to use, relatively inexpensive, and will attract more patients looking for a birthing center, or more homelike type of delivery experience,” says Barbara Orlando, MD, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Orlando and her colleagues reviewed the medical records of nearly 2,000 women who used nitrous oxide during labor in five large university hospitals.

Many gave laughing gas high marks for pain control. The mean patient satisfaction rate for nitrous oxide was 7.4 (on a scale of 0 to 10). Their babies also had no adverse health effects.

Curiously, however, nearly 70 percent of the women who tried nitrous oxide switched to an epidural or another pain management method.  

“The high patient satisfaction rate and safety profile that we found should motivate other institutions nationwide to offer nitrous oxide as a pain management option to women in labor,” said Orlando, who presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

“Although nitrous oxide did not prevent women in labor from requesting other pain management options like an epidural, we received positive feedback from patients who said they like laughing gas as an option to manage their pain.”

Epidurals injections allow mothers to stay awake and alert throughout delivery. But they are not without risks. A poorly placed needle can damage the spine permanently, as Dawn Gonzalez discovered a few years ago.

“The blind insertion of the epidural during birth is basically playing roulette for spinal damage. Normally birthing mothers are told the only side effect possible during epidurals is a spinal headache that lasts a few days,” said Gonzalez, who developed adhesive arachnoiditis, a chronic and disabling inflammation of her spinal nerves.  

The ASA has defended the use of epidurals, calling them “one of the most effective, safest and widely used forms of pain management for women in labor.”

In a large study of over a quarter million epidurals, the risk of complications was found to be low. An “unrecognized spinal catheter” – what Dawn Gonzalez experienced – occured in only one of every 15,435 deliveries. She thinks there are better odds and safer alternatives.

“Laughing gas, Lamaze, hypnotism, meditation, water birthing and even some medications are the absolute safest and most effective forms of labor pain relief. Every woman deserves to know that when she opts for any kind of invasive spinal anesthesia, the risks are very grave and by far much more common than anybody realizes,” Gonzalez said.

Study Finds Mindfulness Reduces Pain and Despair

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

“Mindfulness” may as well be a four-letter word to chronic pain patients. Many have tried mindfulness meditation – a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) – and found it does not relieve their pain.

“The quackery continues,” one reader told us. “This is a modern-day lobotomy experiment.”

“I have tried CBT and mindfulness. They made me feel much worse emotionally, paradoxically enough, and made me more acutely aware of the pain,” another patient said.

“We have ALL been through almost every other treatment you can think of including psychological therapy, mindfulness, yoga, etc. before given opiates. We still use these to help cope, but they do not really help much when all you want is to die to stop the pain you are in,” another patient wrote.

A new study at the University of Utah provides some intriguing evidence that mindfulness can enhance the quality of life, while also reducing pain and the need for opioids.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, looked at data from four experiments involving 135 adults who took opioids daily for chronic pain.

Participants were randomly assigned to two groups that participated in eight weeks of support group therapy or eight weeks of a meditation program called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), which was primarily designed to treat addiction. Patients in the MORE group were asked to focus on rewarding experiences, such as watching a beautiful nature scene.

At the beginning and end of the study, researchers collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data from the participants, using electrodes on the face and scalp to track their eye movements, smiles, frowns, changes in heart rate, and brain function.

Researchers say patients in the MORE group had fewer cravings for opioids and became more responsive to pleasant images by using mindfulness. They also reported significantly less pain, more positive emotions, enhanced joy and more meaning in life compared to patients in the therapy group.

IMAGE COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

"Previous research shows that prolonged use of opioids makes our brains more sensitive to pain and less receptive to the joy one might normally experience from natural rewards, like spending time with loved ones or appreciating a beautiful sunset," said lead author Eric Garland, PhD, an associate dean for research at the University of Utah College of Social Work.

“This blunted ability to experience natural positive feelings leads people to take higher and higher doses of opioids just to feel okay, and ultimately propels a downward spiral of opioid dependence and misuse. Because of this downward spiral, scholars are increasingly referring to chronic pain and opioid misuse as 'diseases of despair.'"

Garland developed MORE as a mindfulness therapy to promote positive psychological health while simultaneously addressing addiction, pain and stress. MORE teaches mental training techniques to help people find meaning in the face of adversity, while simultaneously alleviating physical and emotional pain by cultivating positive feelings and experiences.

"MORE teaches people to better notice, appreciate and amplify the good things in life, while also deriving meaning and value from difficult situations," said Garland.

Previous studies on mindfulness using MRI imaging found that changes in the brain do occur during meditation, making people less sensitive to pain. Meditation activated brain regions associated with the self-control of pain, while deactivating regions that process sensory information.

You can take a free 20-minute guided meditation at Meditainment.com. The online mindfulness program takes you into a “secret garden” of your own imagination, designed to help your pain seem less important.

Low Dose Naltrexone a ‘Game Changer’

By Alex Smith, Kaiser Health News

Lori Pinkley, a 50-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., has struggled with puzzling chronic pain since she was 15.

She has had countless disappointing visits with doctors. Some said they couldn’t help her. Others diagnosed her with everything from fibromyalgia to lipedema to the rare Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Pinkley has taken opioids a few times after surgeries, but they never helped her underlying pain. Recently she joined a growing group of patients using an outside-the-box remedy: naltrexone. It is typically used to treat addiction to opioids or alcohol, in pill form or as a monthly shot.

As the medical establishment attempts a huge U-turn after two disastrous decades of pushing long-term opioid use for chronic pain, scientists have been struggling to develop safe, effective alternatives.

When naltrexone is used to treat addiction in pill form, it’s prescribed at 50 milligrams. But chronic pain patients say it helps their pain at doses of less than a tenth of that.

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) has lurked for years on the fringes of medicine, and its zealous advocates worry it may be stuck there. Naltrexone, which can be produced generically, is not even manufactured at the low doses that seem best for pain patients.

Instead, patients go to compounding pharmacies or resort to DIY methods — YouTube videos and online support groups show people how to turn 50 mg pills into a low-dose liquid.

Some doctors prescribe it off label even though it’s not FDA-approved for pain.

University of Kansas pain specialist Dr. Andrea Nicol recently started prescribing LDN to her patients, including Pinkley. Nicol explained that for addiction patients it works by blocking opioid receptors — some of the brain’s most important feel-good regions. So it prevents patients from feeling high and can help patients resist cravings.

At low doses of about 4.5 mg, however, naltrexone seems to work differently.

“What it’s felt to do is not shut down the system, but restore some balance to the opioid system,” Nicol said.

Some of the hype over low-dose naltrexone has included some pretty extreme claims with limited research to back them, like using it to treat multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain or even using it as a weight-loss drug.

In the past two years, however, there’s been a significant increase in new studies published on low-dose naltrexone, many strengthening claims of its effectiveness as a treatment for chronic pain, though most of these were small pilot studies.

Dr. Bruce Vrooman, an associate professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, authored a recent review of low-dose naltrexone research.

Vrooman said that, when it comes to treating some patients with complex chronic pain, low-dose naltrexone appears to be more effective and well-tolerated than the big-name opioids that dominated pain management for decades.

“Those patients may report that this is indeed a game changer. It may truly help them with their activities, help them feel better.”

— Dr. Bruce Vrooman

“Those patients may report that this is indeed a game changer,” Vrooman said. “It may truly help them with their activities, help them feel better.”

So how does it work? Scientists think that for many chronic pain patients the central nervous system gets overworked and agitated. Pain signals fire in an out-of-control feedback loop that drowns out the body’s natural pain-relieving systems.

They suspect that low doses of naltrexone dampen that inflammation and kick-start the body’s production of pain-killing endorphins — all with relatively minor side effects.

Drug Companies Not Promoting LDN

Despite the promise of naltrexone, its advocates say, few doctors know about it. The low-dose version is generally not covered by insurance, so patients typically have to pay out-of-pocket to have it specially made at compounding pharmacies.

Advocates worry that the treatment is doomed to be stuck on the periphery of medicine because, as a 50-year-old drug, naltrexone can be made generically.

Patricia Danzon, a professor of health care management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that drug companies don’t have much interest in producing a new drug unless they can be the only maker of it.

“Bringing a new drug to market requires getting FDA approval, and that requires doing clinical trials,” Danzon said. “That’s a significant investment, and companies — unsurprisingly — are not willing to do that unless they can get a patent and be the sole supplier of that drug for at least some period of time.”

And without a drug company’s backing, a treatment like low-dose naltrexone is unlikely to get the promotional push out to doctors and TV advertisements that has made household names of drugs like Humira and Chantix.

 “It’s absolutely true that once a product becomes generic, you don’t see promotion happening, because it never pays a generic company to promote something if there are multiple versions of it available, and they can’t be sure that they’ll capture the reward on that promotion,” Danzon said.

The drugmaker Alkermes has had huge success with its exclusive rights to the extended-release version of naltrexone, called Vivitrol. In a statement for this story, the company said it hasn’t seen enough evidence to support the use of low-dose naltrexone to treat chronic pain and therefore is remaining focused on opioid addiction treatment.

Lori Pinkley said it’s frustrating that there are so many missing pieces in the puzzle of understanding and treating chronic pain, but she, too, has become a believer in naltrexone.

She’s been taking it for about a year now, at first paying $50 a month out-of-pocket to have the prescription filled at a compounding pharmacy. In July, her insurance started covering it.

“I can go from having days that I really don’t want to get out of bed because I hurt so bad,” she said, “to within a half-hour of taking it, I’m up and running, moving around, on the computer, able to do stuff.”

A recent review by British researchers found that LDN is safe to use and more clinical studies are needed on its potential uses. PNN readers have shared their positive experiences using LDN to treat Interstitial Cystitis and fibromyalgia.

The LDN Research Trust includes a list of LDN-friendly doctors and pharmacies on its website.

This story is part of a partnership that includes KCUR, NPR and Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service covering health issues. KHN is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

How Awareness Can Help Calm Your Pain

By Dr. David Hanscom, PNN Columnist

Anxiety and anger are major aspects of the chronic pain experience. In this state, your mind is full of racing thoughts and vivid imagery, and it’s hard to focus on anything but you and your pain.

They block your awareness of other’s needs. It becomes a challenge for friends, family, and coworkers – anyone – to connect with you. If you’re touchy and constantly on edge, it’s exhausting for others to be in your presence.

Having a good support system is an important part of your recovery from chronic pain because positive relationships have a calming effect. But now you are driving people away.

Awareness is a powerful and necessary tool in breaking through this barrier. What you are not aware of can and will control you.

I have found it helpful to look at awareness from four different perspectives: environmental, emotional, judgement and ingrained thought patterns.

Environmental awareness is placing your attention on a single sensation – taste, touch, sound, temperature, etc. What you are doing is switching sensory input from racing thoughts to another sensation. This is the basis of mindfulness – fully experiencing what you are doing in the moment.

I use an abbreviated version that I call “active meditation,” which is placing my attention on a specific sensory input for 5 to 10 seconds. It is simple and can be done multiple times per day.  

Emotional awareness is more challenging. It often works for a while, but then it doesn’t. When you are suppressing feelings of anxiety, your body’s chemistry is still off and full of stress hormones. This translates into physical symptoms.

Allowing yourself to feel all of your emotions is the first step in healing because you can’t change what you can’t feel. Everyone that is alive has anxiety. It is how we survive.

Judgment is a major contributor to creating mental chaos in our lives. Dr. David Burns in his book “Feeling Good” outlines 10 cognitive distortions that are a core part of our upbringing. Some of them include:

• Labeling yourself or others

• “Should” thinking – the essence of perfectionism

• Focusing on the negative

• Minimizing the positive

• Catastrophizing

• Emotional reasoning

Becoming aware of these errors in thinking allows you to substitute more rational thought patterns.

Ingrained thought patterns are the most problematic to be aware of. Recent neuroscience research has revealed that thoughts, concepts and ideals become embedded in our brains and are just as real to you as the chair you are sitting in.

That is why people engage in aggressive behavior when their belief systems are challenged. We are all programmed by our past. Your thoughts and beliefs are your version of reality.

Becoming Aware of Your ‘Unawareness’

The first step in becoming aware is realizing that you are unaware. This never ends because there will always be areas of our thinking and behavior that are not consistent with the needs of the situation. 

When I look back on my life’s journey, one of the most disturbing aspects of it is realizing the extent of my unawareness. For instance, when I was in my full-blown obsessive mode, I didn’t have a clue. I recall one time when a friend referred to my “obsessive nature.”  I didn’t know what the word really meant and was certain it didn’t apply to me.

How can you tap into your unawareness? One way is to look for cues in certain behaviors and attitudes, which may mean we’re out of touch with how we’re feeling.  Some examples: 

• Having a rigid opinion about almost anything: religion, politics, someone’s character, etc.

• Being told you are stubborn or “not listening”

• Interrupting someone to offer an opinion before you’ve heard theirs

• Insisting on being right.

• Thinking about something besides what you are doing.

• Judging yourself or others negatively or positively.

• Feeling anxious or angry

• Giving advice when not asked for it

• Thinking you are wiser than your children

• Acting on impulse.

This list is infinite. If one or more resonates with you, it’s probably time to take a step back so that you can respond appropriately to a given person or situation. This is the essence of awareness.

Another clue of unawareness -- not listening -- is one that I discovered with others’ help. My weakness in this area became readily apparent when I attended a parents’ meeting at my daughter’s school.

I will preface this story by saying that I had always considered myself a good listener. It was one of my major personal identities. My wife has not always agreed with that viewpoint. Of course, I did not listen to her.

At the parents’ meeting, we did an exercise where we had to write down on a piece of paper a characteristic that another parent could “work on.”  We could write to two parents anonymously.

Most parents received one or two slips of paper. I received twelve (out of 18) that all said the same thing: “David, you don’t know how to listen.”  

That was a very difficult moment for me. I found it extremely hard to not become defensive. But how could I disagree with 12 people?  I came to accept that they were right, especially in retrospect. It was a trait that I truly could not see. I simply had to trust a group of people who I knew did not have an agenda and had my best interests at heart. 

After that meeting, I came to realize how not listening had interfered with my general awareness. It’s one of the central tenets of awareness: You cannot be aware if you cannot listen.

Practicing Awareness

Understanding and practicing awareness is the first step in reprogramming your brain. It’s the easiest technique to explain and the most difficult to consistently use. Environmental awareness is the foundational first step and spending as much time as possible doing “active meditation.” Regardless of where you are in your journey, being fully aware of stimuli coming into your brain will help calm you down.

When you are ready for the second level of emotional awareness, simply watch your emotions pass by and then pull yourself back into seeing, hearing and feeling, as quickly as possible. It is a little challenging, as emotions often evoke powerful reactions. Training yourself to be with these feelings instead of fighting them is a learned skill and may require some support from a professional.

The third level – judgement -- is a lifetime journey. The key is to be persistent in not judging yourself or others. A good starting point is understanding than whenever you place a positive or negative judgment on someone else, you have simply projected your view of yourself onto the other person. As you become aware of these cognitive distortions, you will be able to regain control of your life.

Remember that in the fourth level of ingrained patterns, it is impossible to see yourself through your own eyes. This is where resources such as psychologists, good friends, spouses, children, and seminars have to be utilized. The key is being willing to listen.

Becoming aware of everyone and everything around you is much more interesting and enjoyable than merely expressing and reinforcing your own views on life day in and day out.  

Dr. David Hanscom is a spinal surgeon who has helped hundreds of back pain sufferers by teaching them how to calm their central nervous systems without the use of drugs or surgery.

In his book Back in Control, Hanscom shares the latest developments in neuroscience research and his own personal history with pain.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.

Study: Virtual Reality Can Relieve Severe Chronic Pain

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) may finally be on the verge of going mainstream. For the first time, research has shown that VR can help relieve a variety of pain conditions and is most effective for severe chronic pain.

 "I believe that one day soon VR will be part of every doctor's tool kit for pain management," says Brennan Spiegel, MD, director of Health Service Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Spiegel is lead author of a new study published in PLOS ONE, which looked at the effectiveness of VR in 120 hospitalized adult patients suffering from neurological, orthopedic, gastrointestinal or cancer pain. All of the patients were being treated with opioid medication and had a pain score of at least three on a 1 to 10 pain scale.

“There’s been decades of research testing VR in highly controlled environments — university laboratories, the psychology department and so on,” Brennan told MobiHealthNews. “This study is really letting VR free and seeing what happens. What I mean by that is it’s a pragmatic study where we didn’t want to control every single element of the study, but literally just see [what would happen] if we were to give it to a broad range of people in the hospital with pain; how would it do compared to a control condition already available in the hospital?”

Half of the patients were given VR goggles with a variety of relaxing and meditative experiences to choose from. They were advised to use the headsets three times a day for 10 minutes — and as needed for breakthrough pain – for three days.

The other participants were instructed to tune their hospital room TVs to a health and wellness channel that offered programs on guided-relaxation, yoga and meditation.

Several times a day, nurses asked all the patients to rate their pain on the pain scale.

The study found that on-demand use of VR resulted in a small but statistically significant improvement in pain scores compared to the TV group, with patients in the VR group averaging 1.7 points lower on the pain scale. VR patients with the most severe baseline pain of 7 or more reduced their pain scores three points lower than the TV group.

"This is our largest and most ambitious VR study to date," Spiegel said. "Our results support previous research that VR can meaningfully reduce pain using a nonaddictive, drug-free treatment for people experience a range of different pain conditions."

In the previous study, patients who watched a 15-minute nature video had a 13% drop in their pain scores, while patients who played an animated game had a 24% decline.

Spiegel says the current study showed that VR can do more than just distract the mind from pain, but may even block pain signals from reaching the brain by overwhelming the brain with visual and audio stimulation.  

Several patients found VR so helpful in managing their pain that they now use it regularly at home. One of them is 70-year old Joseph Norris, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, who suffers from chronic pain in his spine, back and hips. Norris started using VR six months ago, and today uses his VR headset once a week to help relax and distract. 

"VR is a tool I use to successfully divert attention away from my pain, and it helps me reinforce my breathing pattern," he said.

There remains a great deal of skepticism about VR, particularly among older patients. Spiegel and his colleagues evaluated nearly 600 patients for the study, but many chose not to participate.

“Patients expressed varying degrees of skepticism, fear, sense of vulnerability, concern regarding psychological consequences, or simply not wanting to be bothered by using the equipment. We believe it is important for the digital health community to recognize that despite the great promise of health technology, clinical realities can undermine expectations,” he wrote.    

Spiegel and his research team are currently involved in a study following patients using VR in their homes for 60 days.

Medicare to Cover Acupuncture in Pilot Program

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

A week after a federal report documented a significant decline in opioid prescriptions among Medicare beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken a tentative step to cover acupuncture as an alternative treatment for chronic low back pain.

Under a CMS proposal, patients enrolled in clinical trials of acupuncture sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or in studies approved by CMS would be covered under Medicare’s Part D program. CMS has been collaborating with the NIH in studying acupuncture as a treatment of chronic low back pain in adults 65 years of age and older.

In a statement, CMS acknowledged that while “questions remain” about acupuncture’s effectiveness, interest in the therapy had grown in recent years as a non-drug alternative to opioids.  

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese form of treatment that involves the insertion of fine needles into various points on the body to alleviate pain and other symptoms.

“Chronic low back pain impacts many Medicare patients and is a leading reason for opioid prescribing,” said CMS Principal Deputy Administrator of Operations and Policy Kimberly Brandt. “Today’s proposed decision would provide Medicare patients who suffer from chronic low back pain with access to a nonpharmacologic treatment option and could help reduce reliance on prescription opioids.”

Currently, acupuncture is not covered by Medicare. CMS is inviting public comment on the proposal to gather evidence and help determine if acupuncture is appropriate for low back pain. Comments will be accepted through August 14.

“Defeating our country’s epidemic of opioid addiction requires identifying all possible ways to treat the very real problem of chronic pain, and this proposal would provide patients with new options while expanding our scientific understanding of alternative approaches to pain.” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

Spending on Opioids Peaked in 2015

Medicare Part D spending on opioid prescriptions has been falling for years. It peaked in 2015 at $4.2 billion and now stands at its lowest level since 2012, according to a report released last week by the HHS Office of Inspector General.

The decline in opioid prescriptions appears to be accelerating. Last year, 13.4 million Medicare beneficiaries received an opioid prescription, down from 14.1 million in 2017.

SOURCE: HHS OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

The Inspector General identified over 350,000 Medicare patients as receiving high amounts of opioids, with an average daily dose great than 120 MME (morphine milligram equivalent) for at least three months. The CDC opioid guideline recommends that daily doses not exceed 90 MME.  

The report highlighted the case of an unnamed Pennsylvania woman who received 10,728 oxycodone tablets and 570 fentanyl patches in 2018. Her average daily dose was 2,900 MME. She received all of her opioid prescriptions from a single physician.

The report said there were 198 prescribers who “warrant further scrutiny” because they ordered high doses of opioids for multiple patients.

“Although these opioids may be necessary for some patients, prescribing to an unusually high number of beneficiaries at serious risk raises concerns. It may indicate that beneficiaries are receiving poorly coordinated care and could be in danger of overdose or dependence,” the report found.  “Prescribing to an unusually high number of beneficiaries at serious risk could also indicate that the prescriber is ordering medically unnecessary drugs, which could be diverted for resale or recreational use.”

Under a new federal law, CMS is required to identify and warn “outlier prescribers of opioids” on an annual basis about their prescribing patterns. Medicare insurers could also require high-risk patients to use selected pharmacies or prescribers for their opioid prescriptions.

FDA Clears Ear Device for IBS Pain

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first medical device to treat abdominal pain in patients 11-18 years of age with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

The IB-Stim device is made by Innovative Health Solutions and is only available by prescription. It uses neuromodulation to stimulate cranial nerves around the ear to provide relief from IBS, a condition affecting the large intestines that causes abdominal pain and discomfort during bowel movements.

The battery powered device is placed behind the patient’s ear — much like a hearing aid — and emits low-frequency electrical pulses that disrupt pain signals. It is intended for use up to three consecutive weeks.  

“This device offers a safe option for treatment of adolescents experiencing pain from IBS through the use of mild nerve stimulation,” said Carlos Peña, PhD, director of the FDA’[s Office of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices.

The FDA reviewed data from a placebo controlled study published in The Lancet that included 50 adolescent patients with IBS. During the study, patients were allowed to continue using medication to treat their abdominal pain. Most had failed to improve through the use of drugs.

IB-Stim treatment resulted in at least a 30% decrease in pain after three weeks in 52% of the treated patients, compared to 30% of patients who received the placebo. Six patients reported mild ear discomfort and three had an allergic reaction caused by an adhesive at the site of application.

IMAGE COURTESY OF INNOVATIVE HEALTH SOLUTIONS

Innovative Health Solutions is not disclosing any details about the potential cost of an IB-Stim or where it will be available.

“We are still working to finalize our pricing structure,” Ryan Kuhlman, National Director of Innovative Health Solutions, said in an email. “There are many factors that go into the final contract price with a hospital and will likely vary from hospital to hospital. We do want to make this treatment available and affordable as we work towards favorable insurance coverage.”  

The FDA reviewed the IB-Stim through a regulatory pathway for low- to moderate-risk medical devices. Clearance of the device creates a new regulatory classification, which means that similar devices for IBS may be cleared if they are substantially equivalent to an approved device. Similar ear devices have been cleared by the FDA to treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal and for use in acupuncture.

IBS is a group of symptoms that include chronic pain in the abdomen and changes in bowel movements, which may include diarrhea, constipation or both. A 2018 study found that hypnosis relieves pain in about a third of IBS patients.

The Hidden Benefits of Glucosamine

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Do you take glucosamine supplements to reduce joint pain and stiffness? You’re not alone if you do. According to a 2007 survey, nearly 20 percent of U.S. adults take glucosamine to prevent or treat pain from osteoarthritis, back pain and other conditions.

The evidence to support the use of glucosamine for joint pain is thin, but a large new study in The BMJ suggests regular use of the supplement can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers at Tulane University analyzed 7 years of extensive health data for almost half a million adults aged 40 to 69 enrolled in the UK Biobank study. Those who regularly took glucosamine were about 15% less likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke.

Glucosamine occurs naturally in the fluid around joints and plays an importantly role in building cartilage. Glucosamine is extracted from shellfish and is often combined in supplements with chondroitin, a similar substance that is also found in joints.

People who took glucosamine in the BMJ study were more likely to be women, older, more physically active, have healthier diets and take other supplements.

Over the course of seven years, 2.2% of those who did not use glucosamine had a heart attack or stroke, compared to 2.0% of people who did use glucosamine. People who used glucosamine were also less likely to die from a heart attack or stroke, 0.5% vs. 0.7% of those who didn’t use the supplement.

The difference doesn’t appear to be significant, but when adjusted for risk and other factors, it means that glucosamine users had a 22% lower risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.

For smokers, the benefits of regular glucosamine use were even greater. They had 37% less risk of having coronary heart disease compared to smokers who didn’t use the supplements.

Researchers didn’t establish the reason why glucosamine lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but they believe the supplements help reduce inflammation – one of the main factors involved in the development of heart disease, as well as chronic pain.

“Several potential mechanisms could explain the observed protective relation between glucosamine use and CVD diseases. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) study, regular use of glucosamine was associated with a statistically significant reduction in C reactive protein concentrations, which is a marker for systemic inflammation,” researchers reported. “Other mechanisms might also be involved, and future investigations are needed to explore the functional roles of glucosamine in cardiovascular health.”

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) downplayed the study findings, pointing out the cardiovascular benefits of glucosamine are “quite small.”

“If you want to reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, it would be much better to concentrate on living a healthy lifestyle, rather than paying for glucosamine supplements,” the NHS said.

Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics and Chronic Pain

By Roger Chriss, PNN Columnist

The recent news that Denver has decriminalized “magic” mushrooms is the latest sign of growing interest in the use of psychedelics. Whether it’s microdosing mushrooms to stimulate the mind or using them to treat depression and chronic pain, psychedelic drugs are having a moment.

Magic mushrooms are any of roughly 200 different types of fungi that produce psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance. Other psychedelics include LSD, DMT, ayahuasca and ibogaine. For reasons of chemistry and cultural baggage, DMT is generally avoided, LSD is used with extra caution and psilocybin is getting the most attention in clinical studies.

Preliminary research has found positive outcomes for psychedelic therapy in smoking cessation,  anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and refractory depression. And there are promising findings on psychedelics for cluster headaches and phantom limb pain.

A 2015 review in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs reported that for patients with cluster headaches, psilocybin and other hallucinogens “were comparable to or more efficacious than most conventional medications.”  

In a 2006 Neurology review, researchers interviewed 53 cluster headache patients who used LSD or psilocybin. Most reported success in stopping cluster attacks and extending periods of remission.

And a 2018 Neurocase report described positive results for one patient with intractable phantom pain who combined psilocybin with mirror visual-feedback.

Obviously, these studies are very preliminary. Patient self-reports on drug use outside of clinical settings have limited value as evidence of efficacy. And case reports are by definition too small-scale to generalize from.

Fortunately, more clinical trials are underway for psilocybin and LSD. Last year the FDA approved a “landmark” psilocybin trial for treatment-resistant depression. And the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies is also working to promote robust clinical research.

Of course, psychedelics are not without risks. As described in detail in the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule, patients need to be screened and monitored before, during and after psychedelic therapy.

Michael Pollan, author of “How to Change Your Mind”, told The New York Times that psilocybin has risks “both practical and psychological, and these can be serious.”

There are also risks of conflating the pop culture phenomenon of microdosing to clinical benefits obtained under medical supervision.

The “betterment of healthy people” through microdosing is enthusiastically endorsed in books like “A Really Good Day” by Ayelet Waldman. But a 2018 placebo-controlled study on LSD microdosing found no “robust changes” in perception, mental acitivty or concentration.

The microdosing trend could stymie serious research and bias public opinion about psychedelics — just as it did in the 1960’s.

The potential for psychedelic therapy in the management of chronic pain disorders is two-fold. First, psychedelics may represent a safe and effective way to manage otherwise intractable disorders like cluster headaches and phantom limb pain. Second, psychedelics may help address the depression, PTSD and anxiety that often contribute to or accompany such disorders.

It is to be hoped that more research on psychedelics comes quickly.

Roger Chriss lives with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and is a proud member of the Ehlers-Danlos Society. Roger is a technical consultant in Washington state, where he specializes in mathematics and research.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.