Geneology International

Tag: Treatment

My Pancreatic Cancer Defies the Odds, and I Believe This Alternative Treatment Helped
In September 2018, the pain in my ribs and back erupted almost overnight. I ignored it at first, sure that I had done too many abdominal exercises at the gym. When the pain persisted for a few weeks, I went to my doctor. She was a bit concerned, but all my blood and urine tests came back normal.

Two months later, the pain intensified and started waking me at night. I made an appointment with a physical therapist. Within 10 minutes of examining me, a shadow came over the therapist’s face. “I don’t want to alarm you, but this pain is not muscular-skeletal,” she told me. “You need to get a CT scan. Today.”

Later that day—the Wednesday before Thanksgiving—my husband Greg and I sat in our local hospital’s emergency department, waiting for scan results. When the ED doctor returned to my room, her tone was serious. “We found something we totally didn’t expect,” she said. “There is a suspicious mass on your pancreas that looks like cancer. I’m so, so sorry.”

A chill shivered down my entire body. From my experience as a health writer, I already knew that pancreatic was one of the deadliest types of cancer I could have.

Somehow, my brain immediately switched to medical reporter mode and I asked questions. I must have been in shock, but I managed to take extra-meticulous notes, almost as if my neatly written words let me take some control over the information I had just heard. When I look back at those pages now, I barely recognize my own handwriting.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

What is pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is the third deadliest cancer in the United States. Around three in four patients die within a year of being diagnosed. And what makes this cancer especially sneaky is that its early symptoms are so vague: Abdominal or back aches. A little stomach discomfort. Some bloating. Stuff you might feel if you ate too much at dinner. Nothing you would take seriously at all.

In addition, most common blood tests don’t detect pancreatic cancer. By the time the cancer is discovered, the tumor has usually grown quite large. It may also have spread outside the pancreas, to the liver, lungs or, more rarely, abdominal fluid that may have collected due to the cancer. This cancer is quick moving and deadly.

In my case, the pancreatic tumor was about the size of a golf ball, but had not yet spread. However, it was wrapped so tightly around several aortic and liver-related blood vessels that they were almost completely blocked. Removing the tumor surgically was next to impossible. My only option was aggressive chemotherapy. It might extend my life, but it was not expected to cure me.

Our shared future was dissolving in front of my eyes.

But I understood none of this on the night before Thanksgiving. All I knew was that my life was forever changed. I felt that our daughters, ages 17 and 21, were still too young to lose their mother without it leaving a permanent scar. My husband and I had been married 29 years and were as close as we’d ever been. Now our shared future was dissolving in front of my eyes.

At 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, I got up, unable to sleep. I padded quietly downstairs to our dining room and set the table for dinner with our extended family. I folded napkins and laid out silverware and plates. I set out bowls for mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and vegetables and tucked tiny yellow sticky notes into each dish so I’d remember which was which.

Then I gave up and dissolved onto the cool, hardwood floor. I lay down flat, my face touching the wood, and began to pray. “Please, God, give me time. Give me time to be with my daughters and Greg. Please give me more time.”

This is what it feels like to be diagnosed with cancer

Until you actually experience it, you cannot possibly know how you’ll handle the news that you might be dying. My first reaction was, quite strangely, relief. I can let up now. I don’t have to work so hard at this thing called life, because it’s almost over, I thought to myself.

I had not realized until my diagnosis how utterly exhausted I was. I’d spent the past decade dealing with the stress of caring for both of my aging parents (now deceased), my husband’s recent job loss, maintaining my own freelance writing business and worrying over various issues related to my daughters’ health and education. Looking back, I believe that this cycle of chronic stress could have encouraged the cancer to take hold. I had none of the common risk factors that could explain this deadly diagnosis.

But within days of getting this frightening news, a spark of new energy ignited inside me. I wasn’t ready to die. I was determined to use every research skill I had learned throughout my writing career to prolong my own life.

That was more than three years ago. The doctors initially told me I had about 18 months to live. Since my diagnosis, I’ve learned more than I ever expected about cancer treatment and how critical it is for us patients—not just our doctors—to take active roles in our own healing journeys.

Coping with my pancreatic cancer treatment

The most effective chemotherapy regimen for pancreatic cancer is a rigorous one called FOLFIRINOX that lasts for three days at a stretch. It required me to sit in a cancer center infusion room for eight hours, then go home with a chemo pump attached to a vein in my chest for 46 more hours. I repeated that cycle every two weeks.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

I experienced all the classic chemo symptoms: fatigue, unrelenting nausea and diarrhea, loss of appetite and a metallic taste in my mouth that made even plain water taste horrible. One of the chemo drugs caused my hands and feet to go numb, a condition called neuropathy. I couldn’t close clasps on necklaces or type accurately on my laptop. The numbness in my feet made me constantly trip when I walked.

When I wasn’t leaning over the toilet retching, I was researching pancreatic cancer to see if I could improve my odds of living. My research led me to make a bunch of lifestyle changes: I adopted a ketogenic diet, which some health researchers believe may help stop certain types of cancer from growing. I completely stopped eating sugar, too, to give my body every health benefit I could.

I read research by Valter Longo, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, who discovered that fasting might make chemotherapy more effective and help reduce chemo-related side effects such as nausea and mouth sores. For 48 hours before and 24 hours during each of my biweekly chemo sessions, I stopped eating and drank only water and herbal tea. I lost 30 pounds I didn’t need, then learned how to stabilize my weight during my non-fasting days.

Maintaining hope also became a key part of my treatment. I asked my oncologist to stop talking to me about survival statistics or time frames unless I specifically asked. I also began searching online for pancreatic cancer survivors. I found Marla through a work colleague and Jane through a hospital website. I emailed and talked to both women by phone about what they were doing to stay alive. I also joined a number of patient-led cancer Facebook groups.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

In addition, I meditated, prayed, underwent Reiki healing sessions, and used guided visualization to imagine my tumor being dissolved by a healing white light. Friends and family rallied around me, and set up a GoFundMe account to help Greg and me with our ongoing expenses.

After several months, new scans showed that the chemo and my extra efforts were working! Not only had the cancer stopped growing, the tumor was actually shrinking. My pain also disappeared. It looked like tumor-removal surgery might be a possibility.

The life-saving surgery just outside my reach

I set my sights on consulting one of the country’s top pancreatic surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. My health insurer initially refused to allow me to go outside my home state of Oregon for care. It took three months of vigorous appeals, and the help of a friend who worked in the insurance field, but my insurance company eventually relented. I visited the Mayo Clinic surgeon in May 2019 and he gave me a tentative OK for lifesaving pancreatic surgery.

I went home to Oregon with a few more health milestones to complete, and we tentatively scheduled the pancreatic surgery for that September. Greg and I felt like we had just won the health care lottery!

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

Unfortunately, our celebration was short-lived. Just a month later, I ended up in the hospital. It appeared that I had a life-threatening reaction to one of my chemotherapy medications and it almost stopped my heart. Two days later, coincidentally, I had emergency gallbladder surgery. During that operation, my surgeon noticed several tiny, cancerous lesions on my liver. With that, I was considered a stage 4, or “terminal” cancer patient. Because of those tiny liver tumors, the Mayo Clinic cancelled my pancreatic surgery. My family and I were heartbroken.

For several weeks after getting this news, I could barely function. It seemed that my only hope for a cure had been ripped out from under me. Then, by pure coincidence, I ran across an intriguing book: How to Starve Cancer…and Then Kill it With Ferroptosis by Jane McLelland. This book opened the door to an entirely new world of unconventional cancer treatment and to patients who were working with open-minded doctors to direct their own care.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

The beginnings of my unconventional approach

How to Starve Cancer isn’t a book about food or lack thereof. It’s actually part memoir, part geeky medical research by a London-based woman who survived stage 4 cervical cancer. McLelland’s self-studied treatment includes using a cocktail of fairly well known, nontoxic, generic drugs and natural supplements to block cancer from growing.

The FDA-approved drugs McLelland describes were originally developed for use with other medical conditions, including diabetes, high cholesterol, and ulcers. In recent years, though, researchers have found that these drugs may have anti-cancer properties. Using these drugs to treat cancer instead of their originally targeted health conditions is considered “off label” use.

As I delved into this new world, I learned that many other medical professionals and researchers were also enthusiastic about the possibility of using so-called off-label or repurposed drugs to fight cancer. Patients and medical professionals have developed entire Facebook groups devoted to helping each other understand how to use and access these prescriptions.

I knew one thing: I had nothing to lose by trying. There was no cure waiting in the wings for me.

I felt a wave of newfound hope: Could patients like me actually beat back a deadly disease like pancreatic cancer with a handful of inexpensive, often-forgotten prescription drugs? I wasn’t sure, but I knew one thing for certain: I had nothing to lose by trying. There was no cure waiting in the wings for me.

I printed off medical research papers about a few of the drugs and their potentially cancer-fighting properties and excitedly took them to my next chemotherapy appointment. When I showed them to my oncologist, Rui Li., M.D., Ph.D., her reaction was swift and firm: She absolutely refused to prescribe any of the drugs and scared me into thinking I might seriously harm myself by trying them.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

Now, I’m not normally a rule breaker. I was a teacher-pleasing student in school. I wait for green lights at crosswalks. And I have no delusions that I, a layperson, understand cancer better than someone who has graduated from medical school. But at this point, I had a terminal cancer diagnosis. My husband Greg and I both agreed that we didn’t want to look back later with regret and say, “If only we had tried those off-label drugs.” I consulted two other doctors, who both agreed that the off-label drugs I was considered were, indeed, safe. That was all the reassurance I needed.

My journey with off-label drugs for pancreatic cancer

I felt really uncomfortable doing so, but I decided not to tell my oncologist what I had decided. Instead, I consulted Dave Allderdice, N.D., FABNO, a naturopath in my hometown who specializes in working with cancer patients.

With Allderdice’s help and Greg’s full support, I slowly added off-label drugs to my many daily supplements. The naturopath prescribed one drug at a time. I’d take it for two weeks, then he’d review my blood work and check on side effects. As each drug proved safe, we added another, and then another. I bought an acrylic jewelry sorter to store the dozens of pills I took three times a day.

Some of my fellow patients accessed these same off-label drugs a different way: through a group of experts that have organized themselves through a group called the Care Oncology Clinic (COC). Based in both the United Kingdom and the United States, these doctors’ primary goal is meeting virtually with cancer patients who want to try this experimental approach.

The only reasons I didn’t use the COC were 1) I had already found a local provider who could help me, and 2) cost. The prescription drugs cost the same no matter who prescribes them, but COC doctors charge consulting fees. Still, if this had been my only way to access the drugs, I absolutely would have consulted a COC practitioner.

Every month when I picked up the off-label drugs at our local pharmacy, I worried that my oncologist, Dr. Li, would somehow get an alert about my new prescriptions. It never happened. And when the medical assistant asked me at my biweekly chemotherapy appointments about any new prescriptions I was taking, I bit my tongue hard (figuratively) and said, “Nope. Nothing new.”

Within a couple of months, my naturopath Allderdice and I could both see that my body was tolerating the prescriptions well. My biweekly blood tests looked good. My tumor continued to shrink. Even my oncologist, Dr. Li, was surprised and pleased about my progress. Every time we got a new, more positive scan, she beamed. “You are doing so well! Your progress is really unusual for pancreatic cancer,” she said.

A handful of fellow pancreatic patients I met on Facebook were also experimenting with off-label prescriptions and supplements. We began sharing notes on side effects, sympathetic doctors and new research. Other patients shared protocols that included dietary changes, cannabidiol, high-dose Vitamin C infusions, and complementary therapies like spending time in hyperbaric oxygen chambers and infrared saunas.

My online pancreatic pals were, and still are, intense researchers, unfailing optimists, and strong advocates for their own health. I felt like I had truly found my tribe. None of us wanted to belong to the cancer club. But if we had to undergo this challenge, we agreed that we were going to do it on our own terms—and share our findings with each other along the way.

Coming clean with my doctor

After about a year of trying the off-label drugs for cancer, I felt the need to be honest with my oncologist. It was a risky move. Several other patients I knew from my Facebook groups had already been “fired” by their oncologists for trying alternative treatments without their doctor’s knowledge.

Courtesy of Teri Cettina

At a regular chemotherapy appointment, I finally blurted out to Dr. Li: “You know those off-label drugs we talked about, the ones you weren’t excited about?” I asked her. “Well, I’ve actually been taking them for a while. I feel badly not telling you sooner, but this was something I had to do.”

My oncologist’s face immediately registered displeasure. “What? Which drugs? What dosages? Who prescribed these drugs?” she demanded to know. I answered all of her questions. I could see from her queries that her main concern was for my safety. My doctor pulled up my blood-test history on her computer, and I showed her how my key tests had remained steady or even improved while I embarked on the experimental drug regimen.

After our discussion, Dr. Li seemed reassured that I wasn’t a crackpot. However, for the next several weeks, I worried about getting a call or letter that she was refusing to treat me as a patient because I had taken my health into my own hands. That doesn’t mean she fully supports my regimen. “I don’t think the many supplements are the key contributing factors for Teri’s current health,” she says. “It is impossible to identify which supplements really helped.” She adds, “From a scientific view, I do not encourage patients to [take non-prescribed supplements or medicine] without participating in clinical trials.”

Patients like me don’t have the luxury of waiting a decade or more for clinical trials to finish.

But here’s what I kept reminding myself: Stage 4 cancer typically is a death sentence. There is no such thing as stage 5. If a doctor has already told a patient that they cannot cure them, shouldn’t the patient be free to experiment with other, untested treatment options?

Ideally, of course, patients would wait for drug or other treatment regimens to go through exhaustive clinical trials and become part of the standard treatment for their cancer. But pancreatic patients like me—and many others with fast-moving cancers—simply don’t have the luxury of waiting a decade or more for clinical trials to finish and report their results.

Besides that, there is the possibility that unusual approaches like using off-label drugs, cannabis or natural supplements may never get the public attention they might rightfully deserve. Pharmaceutical companies can’t patent or repackage these treatment options and sell them at a nice profit. And if oncologists like mine are suspicious of using anything besides chemotherapy or radiation, how will patients ever learn about other options?

Two weeks after I revealed my drug experiment to my oncologist, we met again. I asked her point-blank: “Are you going to fire me as a patient?” Dr. Li laughed and shook her head. To her great credit, she said she would never get insulted if I got better using drugs someone else had prescribed. “I still don’t completely agree with the idea of these drugs, but I cannot argue with how well you’re doing,” she said. “And I do believe that stage 4 cancer patients should have a right to experiment with their own care.”

Living with cancer—and hope

I’ve now been taking my cocktail of off-label drugs and natural supplements for more than two years. I’ve long since passed my original “expiration date” of 18 months. If I’m fortunate enough to live for two more years—to the five-year survival mark—I’ll be one of only 10 percent of pancreatic cancer patients to survive that long.

I wish I could say that I’m miraculously cured, but I’m not. A tiny remnant of the cancer remains in my pancreas, and rogue tumor cells are likely still circulating throughout my bloodstream. But I have gotten precious extra time on this earth with my friends and family—which is what I prayed for during the predawn hours of Thanksgiving in 2018.

I’ve also learned for myself — and have shared with anyone who will listen — how important it is for patients to research and work alongside their doctors to get the best possible care. I no longer believe that being a polite, rule-following patient is the way to live. That’s especially true if you have a health condition that takes the lives of significantly more people than it spares.

Years ago, I watched a movie called “The Edge.” Anthony Hopkins stars as a wealthy but sheltered businessperson who must make his way out of the Alaskan wilderness (with costar Alec Baldwin) after a freak plane crash.

Hopkins’ character has a single book about survival skills. But that volume encourages the billionaire to repeat a simple phrase whenever he and Baldwin’s character verged on losing hope: “What one [person] can do, another can do.”

I have repeated that same phrase to myself throughout my pancreatic cancer journey. If just one patient can survive this cancer or live a longer-than-expected life—and I know several who have—another person can do the same. Maybe that person can be me.

Signs & Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer
- Unexplained middle back or stomach pain: A pancreatic tumor can press on the spine, nerves, or nearby organs.
- Stomach bloating: You might be gassier than usual or feel that your stomach is swollen. These symptoms are caused by trouble digesting your food.
- Unintended weight loss: Pancreatic cancer can impact the way your body digests and absorbs nutrients from your food. You may lose weight without trying.
- Yellow skin or eyes: Pancreatic tumors can block the bile that moves from your gallbladder to your small intestine. When this happens, yellowish bilirubin from your bile builds up and is visible in your eyes or skin. You may also have itchy skin, pale-colored stools or dark urine.
- Poop problems: You could suddenly develop ongoing diarrhea, constipation or both.
- Late-onset diabetes: People who become diabetic when they’re 50 or older may be experiencing an early symptom of pancreatic cancer. Someone who already has diabetes and suddenly has trouble controlling their blood sugar should also be evaluated for pancreatic cancer.
February 13, 2022
Efficacy and alternative treatment options
Acupuncture is an choice healthcare therapy that entails inserting small needles into precise points on a person’s physique. This method may well handle selected pains and ailments, with some experts stating it could assist with irritable bowel syndrome.

Acupuncture aims to stability a person’s strength. Some assert this can aid raise a person’s well-becoming, address pain, and treatment some illnesses.

Acupuncture originates from regular Chinese medicine. Investigate suggests the observe is helpful in treating particular styles of soreness.

Nevertheless, the National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Wellbeing states that there is constrained proof suggesting acupuncture efficiently treats illnesses other than ache.

This post appears to be like at whether acupuncture can assist with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) indicators.
IBS refers to a team of signs that take place collectively, the most prevalent of which are:

stomach discomfort

diarrhea

constipation

bloating

the emotion of an unfinished bowel motion

whitish mucus in the stool

Some men and women with the condition declare that acupuncture has been pretty beneficial in assisting reduce IBS-relevant signs and symptoms. On the other hand, many others with IBS say it offers no reduction from these signs and symptoms.

One older 2010 research involving 230 people today with IBS gave some participants acupuncture and other individuals a “sham” treatment, or placebo acupuncture. The study also provided a management group that obtained no procedure at all.

The researchers uncovered no variance in effects concerning those who received the acupuncture and those who acquired the placebo acupuncture.

However, both of those groups of contributors professional a lot more symptom reduction than the handle team. This review may perhaps advise that optimistic benefits from acupuncture are due to the placebo effect.

Acupuncture practitioners could debate this summary, arguing that there is no way to supply “sham acupuncture.” This is since the outcomes of acupuncture are systemic and much less dependent on the precise locale of the needle insertion.

They may perhaps also argue that any insertion of an acupuncture needle is acupuncture, so any results of sham acupuncture are the results of the observe alone. As a result, concluding that these positive success are due to the placebo influence could be inaccurate and basically reveal that acupuncture works.

A 2014 critique of many managed trials concludes that acupuncture properly treats IBS signs and symptoms. The research confirmed that the apply helped relieve signs or symptoms such as stomach suffering, bloating, and the feeling of incomplete bowel movements.

The evaluation authors extra that there have been some limitations in the overview, that means they could not advise acupuncture as a first-line procedure for IBS. They also mentioned that there was no evidence of the very long time period rewards of acupuncture for persons with this situation.

1 2017 examine in contrast acupuncture with common Western medications for dealing with diarrhea involved with IBS. The analyze divided 61 IBS sufferers into two groups. A single team received abdominal acupuncture, and the other team received pinaverium bromide tablets.

The success confirmed that acupuncture was a extra effective remedy than Western medicine. It stated that acupuncture efficiently relieved stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, inadequate stool output, and stool abnormalities.

An additional 2020 study in comparison acupuncture with standard medicine: polyethylene glycol 4000, or pinaverium bromide. The examine observed that acupuncture was a far more efficient treatment for the indications of IBS than this medication.
Acupuncture points are certain parts of the human body where by acupuncture practitioners location their needles.

Under are some acupuncture points that these practitioners may use when managing folks with IBS.

Yin Tang (GV29): This pressure place lies among the eyebrows.

Bai Hui (GV20): This pressure place is on the top of the head.

Tai Chong (LR3): This force place sits on the foot concerning the initially and 2nd metatarsal bones.

Zu San Li (ST36): This tension point is beneath the kneecap, in between the two bones of the decreased leg.

San Yin Jiao (SP6): This pressure place lies four finger-widths previously mentioned the optimum level of the ankle on the within of the leg.

Tian Shu (ST25): This force stage sits on either facet of the navel on the stomach.
Below are some other different remedies for persons with IBS.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy consists of using hypnosis to handle particular signs and symptoms or well being circumstances.

According to the International Basis for Useful Gastrointestinal Conditions (IFFGD), quite a few scientific scientific tests have shown that the practice can proficiently deal with people with IBS.

The IFFGD states that hypnotherapy for IBS entails progressive leisure, comforting imagery, and sensations that concentrate on the individual’s indications. The corporation adds that hypnotherapy has led to persons encountering advancements in well-getting, quality of daily life, bloating, belly pain, constipation, and diarrhea.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a strategy of doing the job with persons to take a look at interactions involving their ideas, feelings, and behaviors. The tactic appears to be like at how these interactions impact a person’s nicely-getting.

IBS is a persistent situation that is tough to treat. Psychological procedures enjoy a part in the two the growth and the routine maintenance of the problem. Some research have demonstrated that CBT can assistance present substantial and very long-long lasting improvements to IBS signs.

Leisure methods

Specific mental well being difficulties, these as depression, anxiousness, and somatic symptom disorder, can lead to IBS or worsen its signs.

For that reason, individuals with IBS may possibly wish to use leisure techniques to enable command some indications of IBS.

According to the IFFGD, some of the next relaxation strategies could aid a man or woman with this problem:

diaphragm breathing strategies

muscle rest tactics

visualization of positive imagery

Nutritional alterations

A person’s diet program can have an effect on their IBS indications. Some food items may perhaps worsen these symptoms, so a human being with the ailment may desire to avoid them.

Common foodstuff that might result in IBS difficulties include things like:

beans

cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli

alcohol

chocolate

espresso

sodas

dairy merchandise
Health care gurus could counsel the following adjustments to enable with IBS:

modifying eating plans

increasing actual physical action

lessening stressful lifetime predicaments as significantly as attainable

bettering the volume of sleep a human being will get

A healthcare expert may also recommend using medications to address sure symptoms of IBS. The next medicines may possibly address IBS with diarrhea:

loperamide

rifaximin

eluxadoline

alosetron, even though this is only available to girls and has exclusive warnings and safeguards

The next medications may possibly address IBS with constipation:

fiber nutritional supplements

laxatives

lubiprostone

linaclotide

plecanatide

Physicians might prescribe further medications to treat any abdominal suffering because of to IBS:

antispasmodics

antidepressants

coated peppermint oil capsules

Health care gurus could also recommend that a man or woman with IBS will take probiotics. These characteristic reside microorganisms, most commonly bacteria, that can gain a person’s health.

Folks can use probiotics to stability their intestinal flora, recognised as the intestine microbiome. Probiotics can assistance digest foods, wipe out disorder-producing cells, or develop vitamins.

Some reports exhibit that probiotics can assist boost the signs of IBS.
If a individual thinks they may well have IBS, they should really get hold of a medical doctor. A health care professional can provide a prognosis and devise treatment techniques if required.

To diagnose IBS, medical practitioners usually review indicators, healthcare and loved ones historical past, and conduct a bodily test. Medical practitioners might purchase blood or stool tests to rule out other overall health difficulties in some scenarios.

If a man or woman by now has IBS and they practical experience a unexpected worsening of symptoms, they may possibly also wish to seek advice from a health care provider.

An unique with IBS may possibly want to seek health-related notice if they knowledge:

stomach agony or cramping that is far more serious than anticipated

fuel that is powerful-smelling, unpleasant, or in any other case various from regular

mucus in the stool

critical diarrhea or constipation
Acupuncture is a professional medical procedure that originates from regular Chinese medicine. It consists of inserting needles or applying pressure to specified points on the overall body.

IBS is a lengthy expression gastrointestinal disorder that can trigger abdominal agony, diarrhea, constipation, and bloating.

Some proof states acupuncture can support relieve IBS symptoms, whilst some study also displays that this may possibly be thanks to the placebo result.

On the other hand, quite a few remedies are out there to take care of the varying indications of IBS.

A individual can also use other ways to deal with IBS indicators, these types of as hypnotherapy, CBT, peace tactics, and dietary modifications.
February 8, 2022
Spinal Headache: Pre-Procedure Information and Treatment
A spinal headache is head irritation caused by a leak of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which surrounds the brain and spinal wire. CSF safeguards the brain and spinal cord and allows remove waste products and solutions. If the CSF gets to be far too small, it results in a minimize in strain all around the brain and spinal twine, thereby creating soreness.

This post delivers an overview of spinal complications, methods that lead to them, indications, possibility variables, and treatment.

Peter Dazeley / Getty Visuals

Strategies That Result in Spinal Headaches

The most widespread result in of a spinal headache is a treatment termed a lumbar puncture, or spinal faucet. A lumbar puncture is a procedure that calls for inserting a needle into the spine to retrieve CSF or supply anesthesia.

The most popular causes a individual would have to have a lumbar puncture are to exam the CSF for ailment or to get an epidural (anesthesia) for childbirth.

Other disorders that may possibly lead to a CSF fluid leak contain head or face injuries, or ruptured cysts on the spinal cord.

Symptoms

Classic signs and symptoms of a spinal headache are:
- Tight head ache, specially at the front of the head
- Headache that will become worse when sitting up or standing
- Neck stiffness
- Listening to reduction
- Sensitivity to light-weight
- Nausea or vomiting
Risk Factors

Components that may possibly set a person at higher danger of owning a spinal headache involve:
- Being feminine
- Youthful age
- Being pregnant
- Very low entire body mass index (BMI)
- Possessing multiple lumbar punctures
- Previous medical background of persistent problems
Determining possibility elements with your healthcare service provider just before getting a lumbar puncture or spinal anesthesia is vital so that professional medical team can be prepared.

Untreated Spinal Head aches

If left untreated, a spinal headache can result in critical complications these as bleeding in the mind, seizures, or bacterial infections.

Remedy

In some conditions, spinal head aches are treatable with nonsurgical methods, like:
- Lying down and resting
- Consuming water or obtaining IV (intravenous) hydration
- Ingesting caffeine
- Steroids
Medicines could also aid with spinal headaches, together with:
- Antinausea treatment, these as Zofran (ondansetron)
- Ginger for nausea
- About-the-counter (OTC) medications, this kind of as Advil or Motrin (ibuprofen)
- Opiate analgesics
Some individuals struggling from a spinal headache may possibly also locate aid in complementary different medicine (CAM) therapies, this sort of as acupuncture or visualization methods.

Individuals often use a mix of the over treatment plans for the ideal soreness relief.

Blood Patch for Spinal Headache Agony

If the spinal headache lasts for additional than one or two times, your health care provider could advocate an epidural blood patch (EBP).

This procedure involves injecting a tiny total of the patient’s have blood into the place where by the CSF leak is. This process might enable seal the leak, enabling cerebrospinal stress to restore to normal and do away with the headache.

Summary

A spinal headache is prompted by a leak of cerebrospinal fluid, a protecting fluid that surrounds the mind and spinal cord. The most common result in of a spinal headache is a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Common signs or symptoms include things like head discomfort, neck stiffness, listening to loss, sensitivity to gentle, nausea, and vomiting. The good thing is, there are many remedies for a spinal headache, including an epidural blood patch process.

A Term From Verywell

Spinal complications can be very agonizing. If you working experience 1, you may well really feel overwhelmed and desperate for relief. Luckily there are treatments readily available, even for persistent spinal headaches. If you are not able to uncover relief, talk to your health care service provider about agony-relieving medication solutions or an epidural blood patch treatment.
Frequently Questioned Thoughts

When would a health care provider advise a blood patch for a spinal headache?

If a spinal headache from a CSF leak lasts for a lot more than 1 or two times and is not responding to conservative ache-relieving alternatives, your health care service provider may perhaps suggest an epidural blood patch (EBP).

How can expecting women of all ages stay away from epidural headache pain?

Acquiring an epidural can increase the hazard of getting a spinal headache. If you get a spinal headache, your healthcare service provider may recommend that you drink loads of fluids (primarily individuals that involve caffeine), lie down, and choose ibuprofen or other ache medication.

If you have chance factors—such as young age, small BMI, or a earlier health care record of serious headaches—talk with your service provider so that employees can be organized to handle a spinal headache in advance.

Are there any lengthy-expression results of spinal problems?

A spinal headache can bring about severe complications, this sort of as bleeding in the brain, seizures, or infections, if remaining untreated.
February 7, 2022
Depression responds to transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment in studies : Shots

Eleanor Cole, Ph.D., demonstrates the treatment on trial participant Deirdre Lehman in May 2019 at the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab.

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

hide caption

toggle caption

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

Eleanor Cole, Ph.D., demonstrates the treatment on trial participant Deirdre Lehman in May 2019 at the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab.

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

After 40 years of fighting debilitating depression, Emma was on the brink.

“I was suicidal,” said Emma, a 59-year-old Bay Area resident. NPR is not using her full name at her request because of the stigma of mental illness. “I was going to die.”

Over the years, Emma sat through hours of talk therapy and tried numerous anti-depression medications “to have a semblance of normalcy.” And yet she was consumed by relentless fatigue, insomnia and chronic nausea.

Depression is the world’s leading cause of disability, partly because treatment options often result in numerous side effects or patients do not respond at all. And there are many people who never seek treatment because mental illness can carry heavy stigma and discrimination. Studies show untreated depression can lead to suicide.

Three years ago, Emma’s psychiatrist urged her to enroll in a study at Stanford University School of Medicine designed for people who had run out of options. On her first day, scientists took an MRI scan to determine the best possible location to deliver electrical pulses to her brain. Then for a 10 minute block every hour for 10 hours a day for five consecutive days, Emma sat in a chair while a magnetic field stimulated her brain.

At the end of the first day, an unfamiliar calm settled over Emma. Even when her partner picked her up to drive home, she stayed relaxed. “I’m usually hysterical,” she said. “All the time I’m grabbing things. I’m yelling, you know, ‘Did you see those lights?’ And while I rode home that first night I just looked out the window and I enjoyed the ride.”

The remedy was a new type of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) called “Stanford neuromodulation therapy.” By adding imaging technology to the treatment and upping the dose of rTMS, scientists have developed an approach that’s more effective and works more than eight times faster than the current approved treatment.

A coil placed on top of Emma’s head created a magnetic field that sent electric pulses through her skull to tickle the surface of her brain. She says it felt like a woodpecker tapping on her skull every 15 seconds. The electrical current is directed at the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that plans, dreams and controls our emotions.

“It’s an area thought to be underactive in depression,” said Nolan Williams, a psychiatrist and rTMS researcher at Stanford. “We send a signal for the system to not only turn on, but to stay on and remember to stay on.”

Williams says pumping up the prefrontal cortex helps turn down other areas of the brain that stimulate fear and anxiety. That’s the basic premise of rTMS: Electrical impulses are used to balance out erratic brain activity. As a result, people feel less depressed and more in control. All of this holds true in the new treatment — it just works faster.

A recent randomized control trial, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, shows impressive results are possible in five days of treatment or less. Almost 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of patients crossed into remission — meaning they were symptom-free within a month. This is compared to about 13{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of people who received the placebo treatment.

For the control group, the researchers disguised the treatment with a magnetic coil that mimicked the actual treatment. Neither the scientist administering the procedure nor the patients knew if they were receiving the real or sham treatment. Patients did not report any serious side effects. The most common complaint was a light headache.

Stanford’s new delivery system may even outperform electroconvulsive therapy, which is the most popular form of brain stimulation for depression, but while quicker, it requires general anesthesia.

“This study not only showed some of the best remission rates we’ve ever seen in depression,” said Shan Siddiqi, a Harvard psychiatrist not connected to the study, “but also managed to do that in people who had already failed multiple other treatments.”

Siddiqi also said the study’s small sample size, which is only 29 patients, is not cause for concern.

“Often, a clinical trial will be terminated early [according to pre-specified criteria] because the treatment is so effective that it would be unethical to continue giving people placebo,” said Siddiqi. “That’s what happened here. They’d originally planned to recruit a much larger sample, but the interim analysis was definitive.”

Nolan Williams demonstrates the magnetic brain stimulation therapy he and his colleagues developed, on Deirdre Lehman, a participant in a previous study of the treatment.

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

hide caption

toggle caption

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

Nolan Williams demonstrates the magnetic brain stimulation therapy he and his colleagues developed, on Deirdre Lehman, a participant in a previous study of the treatment.

Steve Fisch for Stanford Medicine

Mark George, a psychiatrist and neurologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, agrees. He points to other similarly sized trials for depression treatments like ketamine, a version of which is now FDA-approved.

He says the new rTMS approach could be a game changer because it’s both more precise and kicks in faster than older versions. George pioneered an rTMS treatment that was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for depression in 2008. Studies show that it produces a near total loss of symptoms in about a third of patients; another third feel somewhat better and another third do not respond at all. But the main problem with the original treatment is that it takes six weeks, which is a long time for a patient in the midst of a crisis.

“This study shows that you can speed it all up and that you can add treatments in a given day and it works,” said George.

The shorter treatment will increase access for a lot of people who cannot get six weeks off work or cover child care for that long.

“The more exciting applications, however, are due to the rapidity,” said George. “These people [the patients] got unsuicidal and undepressed within a week. Those patients are just clogging up our emergency rooms, our psych hospitals. And we really don’t have good treatments for acute suicidality.”

After 45 years of depression and numerous failed attempts to medicate his illness, Tommy Van Brocklin, a civil engineer, says he didn’t see a way out.

“The past couple of years I just started crying a lot,” he said. “I was just a real emotional wreck.”

So last September, Van Brocklin flew across the country from his home in Tennessee to Stanford, where he underwent the new rTMS treatment for a single five-day treatment. Almost immediately he started feeling more optimistic and sleeping longer and deeper.

“I wake up now and I want to come to work, whereas before I’d rather stick a sharp stick in my eye,” said Van Brocklin. “I have not had any depressed days since my treatment.”

He is hopeful the changes stick. More larger studies are needed to verify how long the new rTMS treatment will last.

At least for Emma, the woman who received Stanford’s treatment three years ago in a similar study, the results are holding. She says she still has ups and downs but “it’s an entirely different me dealing with it.”

She says the regimen rewired her from the inside out. “It saved my life, and I’ll be forever grateful,” said Emma over the phone, her voice cracking with emotion. “It saved my life.”

Stanford’s neuromodulation therapy could be widely available by the end of this year — that’s when scientists are hoping FDA clearance comes through. The technology is licensed to Magnus Medical, a startup with plans to commercialize it

Williams, the lead researcher at Stanford, says he’s optimistic insurance companies will eventually cover the new delivery model because it works in a matter of days, so it’s likely more cost-effective than a conventional 6 week rTMS regimen. Major insurance companies and Medicare currently cover rTMS, though some plans require patients to demonstrate that they’ve exhausted other treatment options.

The next step is studying how rTMS may improve other mental health disorders like addiction and traumatic brain injury.

“This study is hopefully just the tip of the iceberg,” said Siddiqi. “I think we’re finally on the verge of a paradigm shift in how we think about psychiatric treatment, where we’ll supplement the conventional chemical imbalance and psychological conflict models with a new brain circuit model.”

In other words, electricity in the form of rTMS could become one of the vital tools used to help people with mental illness.

February 6, 2022
Many Clinical Trials Are Testing Whether Cannabis CBD Could Be an Effective COVID-19 Treatment

Let us get this out of the way now: You should not just take CBD to protect against COVID-19. You really should not smoke weed to avert COVID-19—in fact, that will likely make items worse. You surely need to not drink CBD seltzers or consider gummies to defend on your own from a virus that has the potential to destroy you—especially when there are vaccines that are proven to guard you.

At the exact time, it can also be genuine that CBD from cannabis has a purpose to participate in in this pandemic—from dealing with COVID specifically, to working with the pandemic’s emotional facet effects. We’re presently observing this possible teased out in a flourish of new scientific research.

Last week, experts posted findings suggesting CBD could possibly quit the coronavirus from replicating within cells. They also located that people approved CBD-dependent medication for epilepsy had reduce COVID-19 positivity rates than individuals who hadn’t been prescribed CBD, an early sign that this could keep up in the serious entire world. This was incredibly hot off the heels of yet another new study suggesting two other hashish compounds could bind to the coronavirus’ spike protein—stopping it from getting into cells in the first area.

“When COVID very first begun, there was a great deal of fascination in the likely for cannabidiol [to] treat COVID patients, at that time there was scant information to hang our hat on,” Ziva Cooper, the director of the UCLA Hashish Research Initiative, told The Everyday Beast. “Then listed here are two examples, the two published in just a week, that demonstrate maybe there is some promise.”

The bottom line for these two studies was the identical: We require extra clinical trials on CBD and COVID-19. The fantastic news is that there are some trials previously in the will work. At the minute there are presently 7 clinical trials registered with ClinicalTrials.gov that are investigating CBD in connection with COVID-19, and numerous additional in development elsewhere, The Day by day Beast has realized.

Some reports have investigated the function of CBD in dealing with acute COVID-19 (that is, the time period of time when you have signs and symptoms). Other individuals are investigating how CBD could treat the extant outcomes of COVID skilled effectively just after the an infection is by now cleared out the overall body (also known as “long COVID”). Eventually, a third vein of investigation is looking into whether or not CBD can enable persons grappling with the emotional burnout prompted by the pandemic.

There is however a lot we don’t know about what CBD can do for COVID, but its opportunity application retains setting up with every single new round of studies being printed. We need to figure out what its purpose will be—perhaps quicker than we believe.

Preliminary An infection

The concept that hashish could help deal with the results of COVID-19 isn’t in particular new. A person early principle all through the 1st days of the pandemic was that the anti-inflammatory results of CBD (the frequent title for cannabidiol, a key non-psychoactive compound in hashish), could possibly lower the impression of cytokine storms—intense immune process reactions that lead to COVID-19’s daily life threatening signs and symptoms.

“If CBD may possibly be valuable for that, then fundamentally, it could potentially avoid greater severity of condition and avert the reduction of existence in selected conditions,” stated Cooper.

Influenced by this idea, José Alexandre de Souza Crippa, a psychiatrist at Ribeirão Preto Healthcare School at the University of São Paulo, conducted a clinical demo on CBD and acute COVID infection all through Brazil’s winter season 2020 COVID-19 wave. Their analyze adopted 91 people with delicate-to-average COVID 28 days. 50 percent received CBD and 50 {fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} got a placebo. But the analyze located CBD experienced no serious result on the illness.

Crippa has held pursuing these individuals for a year. Nevertheless, the benefits have not modified: “We had fantastic expectations for the acute period [trials] but we did not see that,” he advised The Day-to-day Beast.

That stated, this line of inquiry is significantly from shut. Cooper points out that clients tolerated CBD nicely, which indicates it is secure to preserve these scientific studies likely. And, the individuals in these research got low doses of CBD.

“There is a window of opportunity below to go up and use a significantly larger dose of cannabidiol in that individual inhabitants to figure out if it may have an effect on COVID symptomatology,” stated Cooper.

CBD for the Extended Haul

Undeterred, Crippa has pivoted to investigating CBD’s effects on lengthy COVID—in which patients are debilitated for many months by indicators like problems, malaise, extreme fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and shortness of breath. He’s conducting MRI scans on 3 teams: people handled with CBD and identified with COVID from his earlier analyze a placebo group who experienced COVID but didn’t get CBD and a third team of people today who have never tested positive for COVID.

Crippa’s rationale is that CBD could have some protecting consequences when it comes to nervousness and depression, widespread problems in long COVID patients. He’s also intrigued in irrespective of whether CBD, which has proven neuroprotective consequences in Parkinson’s individuals, could reduce brain fog involved with lengthy COVID.

“We have previously carried out scientific studies in animals, and cannabidiol seems to have a neuroprotection and anti-cognitive deficit influence, which is a essential difficulty in very long COVID,” explained Crippa. “So it’s reasonable to infer that cannabidiol may prevent this in the extensive-term.”

But, he cautioned that fair anticipations really don’t imply this concept will pan out. “It’s trial and error,” he stated.

Courtesy Imperial School London

Crippa’s team isn’t the only a person intrigued in what cannabis-based medicine could do for extended COVID. Drug Science British isles, a non-profit group led by Imperial College or university London neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt, is in the early levels of a clinical demo that will give 30 prolonged COVID individuals accessibility to a CBD-dominant formulation of professional medical cannabis identified as MediCabilis (a liquid merchandise made by Bod Australia) and see how properly they tolerate the drug from February by June.

The highlight on this analyze is in particular vibrant thanks to the participation of Nutt, widely-regarded as a longtime advocate for drug research who was dismissed from the U.K.’s Advisory Council for the Misuse of Medicines in 2009 for his feeling that MDMA is a lot less unsafe than horseback riding and liquor. (These times, MDMA is remaining investigated as a “breakthrough drug” for PTSD).

David Badcock, the CEO of Drug Science United kingdom, claimed the group is enterprise the analyze since very long COVID sufferers encounter indications like pain, stress, sleeplessness, and substantial blood tension or coronary heart rates—symptoms which are also observed in circumstances managed with professional medical hashish. (For instance, an earlier analyze run by the group uncovered that soon after a few months of medical cannabis entry, 75 patients with stress and anxiety, long-term agony, PTSD or MS saw improves in good quality of life scores.)

“As there is no set up health care procedure for the [long COVID] ailment, we felt it was vital to research every single feasible possibility for people who’ve turn out to be ill all through the pandemic—including medical hashish,” he instructed The Day by day Beast.

All of this research is even now in its early phases. Crippa is in the middle of analyzing his details, and the trial operate by Drug Science United kingdom is continue to only just to establish if it’s risk-free for very long COVID patients to acquire healthcare cannabis. If absolutely nothing goes erroneous, Nutt and his team will scale up the analyze into a randomized controlled demo.

From Physical to Mental

Irrespective of whether or not it turns out CBD can enable us take care of COVID symptoms, its major prospective appears to be in assisting us offer with the pandemic’s psychological toll. Nervousness is 1 area wherever CBD has robust potential many thanks to a “convergence” of pre-medical evidence, Steven Laviolette, a professor in anatomy and mobile biology at Western University in Canada, told The Day by day Beast.

Laviolette has earlier shown that CBD can block the formation of panic-linked recollections in rats, since it interacts with serotonin signaling pathways in the brain. “Serotonin, of course, is actually crucial for anxiety and mood conditions,” he told The Everyday Beast. “Most of the major medications that treat individuals conditions focus on the serotonin program, so it truly is quite promising that CBD also seems to develop anti anxiousness results for the serotonin pathway.”

Steven Laviolette (left).

Courtesy Western College

Suitable now, there are at minimum two trials underway at the College of Texas at Austin hunting to investigate the consequences of CBD on psychological coping during the pandemic. But Crippa’s team has also previously released function that confirmed how CBD helped burned-out medical center workers cope with strain.

All through the acute COVID examine in Brazil, Crippa also ran a study on 118 frontline health and fitness-treatment personnel at Ribeirão Preto Health-related College University Medical center. 50 percent the patients took 300 mg of CBD along with regular cellphone calls with a psychiatrist and motivational films. The other team just acquired the cellular phone phone and online video procedure.

In comparison to the placebo group, the CBD team noticed considerable reductions in their psychological exhaustion, and stress scores. “After this a person month, it was distinct that the group that been given cannabidiol did considerably far better,” said Crippa.

Science Claims…

On the other hand, new investigate is typically an possibility for men and women to press unproven suggestions about cannabis on to the general public. The U.S. Food items and Drug Administration, for occasion, has experienced to issue warning letters to CBD companies who falsely assert that their merchandise treat or defend towards COVID.

Both equally Cooper and Crippa cautioned that the CBD most people obtain at a retail outlet is virtually absolutely not the same stuff offered to individuals in scientific trials, which need to be manufactured in accordance to Food and drug administration tips analyzed for purity and not known substances. Scientists know accurately how much CBD is in just about every dose—something that is not always accurate of in excess of the counter CBD products and solutions.

In other terms it is not the exact things you can invest in at a dispensary, enable by yourself a fuel station.

Even though investigation into professional medical cannabis and CBD would seem to have far too substantially momentum to grind to a halt, snake oil salesmen can gradual it down and create agonizing hurdles out of slender air. And there are already limitations that make this kind of analysis hard ample.

“Given the socio-cultural history of candidates and then the reluctance among the sort of the set up psychiatric neighborhood to be far more open up minded in the direction of hashish based mostly pharmacotherapies it is been tough,” stated Laviolette. “We definitely require to have a more robust investment decision for analysis into this spot, and a lot less and much less pink tape as perfectly.”

At the instant we still really don’t know accurately what job, if any, CBD will play in working with COVID-19 or its psychological aftermath. But there is absolutely plenty of exploration to say it is really worth discovering much more.

“It appears to be like proper now we’re very considerably from understanding exactly what we can cling our hat on,” Cooper said. “But, you know, this is how science operates. You get some hits, you get some indicators. And then other scientific studies are crafted off of that.”

January 29, 2022
THC-Rich Cannabis Oil Could Be Effective Autism Treatment

&#13
&#13

Scientists at Tel Aviv University alleviated autism signs and symptoms in animal types employing healthcare hashish oil, in accordance to a review printed in the journal Translational Psychiatry outlined by Israel 21c. Shani Poleg, the Ph.D. applicant who led the exploration, said the team identified that hashish oil had “a favorable influence on compulsive and anxious behaviors in design animals.”

“According to the prevailing idea, autism requires overarousal of the brain, which brings about compulsive behavior. In the lab, in addition to the behavioral final results, we noticed a sizeable decrease in the focus of the arousing neurotransmitter glutamate in the spinal fluid — which can demonstrate the reduction in behavioral signs or symptoms.” — Poleg to Israel21c

The researchers identified that CBD remedy on your own experienced no influence on the behavior of the animal designs, although THC-abundant cannabis oil created “equal or even much better behavioral and biochemical results.”

“We observed important enhancement in behavioral checks following treatments with cannabis oil that contains smaller quantities of THC,” Poleg reported in the job interview, “and observed no very long-phrase results in cognitive or emotional checks executed a thirty day period and a half right after the cure started.”

The study authors notice that treating small children with autism spectrum dysfunction working with cannabis goods “raises health care and moral questions” because numerous patients are young youngsters.

“During youthful childhood and adolescence, a number of neurological techniques, these as the glutamatergic, dopaminergic and endocannabinoid methods, rearrange and maturate,” the authors produce. “Data show that some cannabinoids, THC amongst them, may well damage the establishing brain.”

The authors explained the study benefits “question the requirement of superior doses of CBD in health care hashish oils specified for assuaging [autism spectrum disorder] core signs, and recommend that a medical hashish oil that has reasonably small doses of THC is preferable, because of to an extra plausible effect on social habits.”

A different research conducted by researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion College of the Negev and Soroka University Professional medical Centre printed past 12 months identified additional than 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of parents of autistic young children reported major or moderate enhancement in their child while using CBD-rich hashish oils.

&#13
&#13
&#13

&#13

Exclusive give from our sponsor:

&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13

&#13

Get everyday news insights in your inbox. Subscribe

&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13
&#13

&#13

&#13

&#13

&#13

Authored By:

&#13

TG Branfalt

&#13

&#13
&#13

&#13

&#13

&#13

TG joined Ganjapreneur in 2014 as a news writer and started web hosting the Ganjapreneur podcast in 2016. He is primarily based in upstate New York, where by he also teaches media studies at a regional college.

&#13

&#13

&#13
&#13

January 5, 2022