CureusOctober 1, 2024Sana Rahman, Samiya Saher, Anurag Raje et al.
Ketamine-induced uropathy (KIU) is a serious consequence of chronic ketamine abuse, presenting with complex renal and urinary symptoms. This study describes a 34-year-old female with a history of chronic ketamine abuse, resulting in stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD) and severe urological complications. Despite discontinuing ketamine use five years ago, she remains dependent on ureteral...
As research on psychedelics (hallucinogenic serotonin receptor 2A agonists) progresses, it is important to delineate the reliability of supposedly unique effects across this drug class. One such effect is how psychedelics impair the formation (i.e., encoding) of hippocampal-dependent recollections (retrieval of specific details) while potentially enhancing the encoding of cortical-dependent...
Promising studies show that psilocybin-assisted therapy relieves existential distress in patients with serious illnesses, a difficult condition to treat with current treatment options. There is growing interest in this therapy in palliative care. Canada recently amended its laws to allow physicians to request psilocybin for end-of-life distress. However, barriers to access remain. Since...
Over the past decade there has been a surge in interest in placebo-controlled trials using non-classical 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and classical psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the success and reliability of these trials depend on the design of the trials, the choice...
Abstract Psilocybin, a psychoactive substance derived from fungi, has been utilized historically by diverse cultures for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes, owing to its ability to elicit profound sensory and cognitive alterations and sustain long-term changes in mood and cognition. Promising results from recent clinical studies have generated a wave of interest in employing psilocybin...
Classic psychedelics have regained interest in research and therapy. Despite the long tradition of the human use of mescaline, modern data on its dose-dependent acute effects and pharmacokinetics are lacking. Additionally, its mechanism of action has not been investigated in humans. We used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design in 16 healthy subjects (8 women) who...
With increased legalization of recreational and medical cannabis, use of this drug is growing rapidly among older adults. As cannabis use can impair cognition in young adults, it is critically important to understand how consumption interacts with the cognitive profile of aged individuals, who are already at increased risk of decline. The current study was designed to determine how cannabis...
Psilocybin and psilocin do not cause addiction or dependence, as they do not interact with the dopaminergic reward system. New pharmacological treatment strategies for substance abuse disorders have targeted craving, which is characterized, in a simplified way, by an intense desire to use the substance. Psilocybin is an indole alkaloid of the hallucinogenic tryptamine group whose molecular...
Abstract This essay defends the claim that episodic remembering is a mental action by arguing that episodic remembering and sensory- or experience-like imagining are of a kind in a way relevant for agency. Episodic remembering is a type of imaginative project that involves the agential construction of imagistic-content and that aims at (veridically) representing particular events of the...
There has been a recent renewed interest in the potential use of psychedelic drugs as therapeutics for certain neuropsychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. The psychedelic drug 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in preclinical models of opioid use disorder (OUD). Alcohol is commonly co-used in individuals with OUD, but preclinical...