Psilocybin for Parkinson's?

[gomelgo]

I'm currently reading Michael Pollen's How to Change Your Mind, and I'm wondering if anyone here knows whether this has ever been tried on PwP. Sounds like it might be revelatory, but also could make neuro symptoms worse for all I know. I had done it a few times many years ago. But wondering if a supervised session might help with all the anxiety and depression since I was diagnosed in May.

[MarionP]

Any idea where to get some?

[jrg54321 in reply to MarionP]

They are legal in Denver. A guide is probably a good idea. Are there guides that have guided a pwp?

[gomelgo in reply to MarionP]

I believe they are also legal in California, and there are practitioners/guides there. I have tried to find one here in NYC, so far to no avail. Apparently, they are currently working on legalizing and systematizing medicinal use. If you haven't read Michael Pollen's book, I highly recommend it. If PD comes even in part from chronic anxiety or stress or depression, then this might just be the root we are looking for imho.

[CuriousMe12]

Gomelgo I have no personal experience but I shall look up the documentary version on Netflix.

There's a fantastic book about psilocybin generally that's very readable. Theres one chapter on its consumption where the author, I think, seemed to say that we tend to use the same neural networks (like a rat run) but psilocybin reroutes us onto other neural pathways.

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures amzn.eu/d/dpaCGBh

It's been a middle page news item recently in the UK and triggered a debate in the uk parliament in may to open up its use:

commonslibrary.parliament.u...

[gomelgo in reply to CuriousMe12]

Definitely going to check this out. It's becoming more common in US as well, and more folks are training as guides.

[CuriousMe12]

Do you fancy getting depressed in Oz?:Earlier this year, researchers raised eyebrows when Australia's traditionally conservative medicines regulator approved the use of psychedelics to assist therapy sessions.

The decision will see psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, used for treatment-resistant depression. It will also allow MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

bbc.com/news/world-australi...

[AkunaMatata]

There's an ongoing phase 2 trial at UCSF, results expected in 2025: clinicaltrials.ucsf.edu/tri...

The study director, Ellen Bradley, MD, has a theory that neurodegeneration in Parkinson's is caused by a lack of neuroplasticity. Because psychedelics increase synaptic activity, she’s studying psilocybin as a treatment for people with early stages of Parkinson’s: proto.life/2023/12/a-trip-t...

There was also a study in the Netherlands (“A study to investigate the effects of repeated low doses of psilocybin and ketamine on cognitive and emotional dysfunctions in Parkinson’s disease and to understand its mechanism of action”), apparently completed, but I cannot find the results: clinicaltrialsregister.eu/c...