Can We Talk?

It is a very interesting time in our country. A time fraught with problems and yet full of opportunities. Perhaps the recent fall of our “systems” will now provide us with the impetus for change so that we can excel in the future. One of the changes that must occur for our country to excel in the future will be a focus on education. As America has fallen from the top position among intellectual powerhouse nations, nations such as China and India have excelled. This is most important with regards to math and science. We will quickly lose our dominance in the world if we lose our intellectual and scientific supremacy.

I heard recently that in Los Angeles, the city where I live, that only 58% of high school students graduate. The decline of our schools is directly related to the decline in intelligence in our cities. It is in this environment where snake oil salesmen like Trudeau and others are able to cheat you out of your hard earned money. Now is NOT the time to believe in magic medicine or fantastical health remedies. Now is the time to begin to develop a deeper understanding of the science around us. The greatest challenges for America’s future are steeped in scientific problems with regards to the environment, energy needs, health and health care, and economics.

It is no secret that our schools are failing and that the people who are breeding the fastest are those from less fortunate socio-economic backgrounds that have historically done poorly with regards to educating themselves. Unless we change this trend we may truly be headed for an “idiocracy”. Evidence of this may have already surfaced with regards to the choice we made for President in the early 2000s and of TV programming and entertainment choices as of late. However, there have been signs of hope such that we are graduating more people than ever before with advanced degrees, such as MD and PhD, and that the percentage of women in these categories has risen sharply. However, it seems that a greater divide, a greater disconnect, between the intellectual elite and the common masses is being created. This creates an environment of distrust and one in which conspiracy theories expound. Without the basic understanding of math, science, and economics, the masses can only blindly trust what their leaders tell them. This does not create the type of situation where democracy flourishes.

Two things must occur in order to avoid the ever-increasing intellectual and economic divide that is being created in our country and in the world. First, education must once again become a priority for the people. This must take shape in our politics, schools, and families. Most importantly, we as individuals must strive to become more intellectual about our environmental, energy, health care, and economic problems before they cripple us. Second, it is vital that Doctors and Scientists share with the lay public the research data that will impact our world and our lives in a way that is easy to understand. I believe that scientists feel that they do their part to relay information because they publish their findings in peer reviewed journals that are available to the public. It is partly the public’s responsibility to put down the tabloid magazine and to pick up the latest copy of Science, however the scientist must also seek other avenues to relay new findings in ways that are more easily consumed. Current scientific journals are hard to comprehend if you are not immersed daily in the specific field of the journal. Relaying scientific information to the public is also a difficult task because the popular media does a pretty poor job of relaying scientific findings to the public. Modern journalism seems to feel the need to sensationalize everything and to break down the findings into a form that is so simplistic it is no longer an accurate reflection of the finding. This can be quite exasperating to the scientist. For example, I recently read an article where the headline read” LSD Cures Cancer”. The article misrepresented a study that was performed with patients that were very near death and were given MDMA (not LSD) in order to help them to cope with the realization that death would soon be upon them. Some of these patients appeared to accept death with a more peaceful disposition. This is hardly a cure for cancer.

Scientists can do their part by relaying information themselves via this fantastic source of communication called the internet by writing blogs and by writing books on scientific themes that are written in real world English so that they are easy to understand.

We are certainly living in an interesting time that is full of rich opportunities. By increasing our intellectual acumen in the fields that plague us I believe we will overcome our problems and in the process a much better country and world will be created.

Guided Imagery

For My Friend:

The power of the brain is an amazing thing. The brain is by far the most powerful computer the world has ever known. There is no way you can fill it up and we have as yet to find its full potential. I would like to share with you a powerful technique known as guided imagery that has been shown to help in alleviating suffering from medical conditions. This technique uses the brain to heal the body. I am going to tailor this specific protocol for auto-immune disorders, but you can easily tailor this technique to fit your particular illness. I believe the more scientific facts you have regarding your illness the more specific your Guided Imagery will be. Guided Imagery is a technique that is powerful, free, and you can take it with you wherever you go.

I will start with some scientific information regarding the function of the immune system. These facts will help you in your visualizations. In auto-immune diseases it is the person’s own immune system that is attacking healthy tissue because it recognizes this tissue as being foreign. The key players we will focus on are white blood cells (WBCs), more specifically T-cells. T-cells are so named because they mature in the thymus gland and are the cells that recognize foreign invaders and destroy them. We refer to T-cells by the cell surface markers that we use to label them; CD4+ cells are T-helper cells and CD8+ cells are the T-cytotoxic cells. CD4+ cells aid in the recognition of the foreign cells with the help of dendritic cells and the memory B-cells. The CD8+ cells are the cells that kill the foreign invaders (cyto-toxic = cell-killer). CD8+ cells are armed with the knowledge of an antigen that was presented to them by the CD4+ cell which is the marker for the foreign cell. This marker allows the CD8+ cell to recognize them. The CD8+ cell then goes looking for the cells that present that antigen. When the CD8+ cell finds its target, it docks to the cell using a docking protein, and uses a substance called perforin to perforate the cell wall of the foreign cell. With its cell wall punctured the foreign cell will soon die and will be eaten by macrophages which are the immune cells that look for cells in trouble so that they can eat them. The key thing to remember here is that the CD8+ cell docks with the cell it wishes to kill and then kills it.
In an autoimmune disease the CD8+ cells have received an antigen marker that is actually from healthy cells. CD8+ cells however don’t know the difference they just look for the antigen that has been presented to them. Most treatments for autoimmune diseases are aimed at decreasing the immune response. Although I think we all realize that the immune system serves a vital purpose, an over active immune system is a severe problem. Modern health and nutritional programs are in fact aimed at decreasing the immune response as it is believed that inflammation may cause or worsen many different illnesses. Stress can also play a significant role in exacerbating inflammation from an increase in prostaglandins and glucocorticoids and more specifically cortisol. Therefore medications for anxiety may actually help in autoimmune diseases because they decrease stress, but more research needs to be done before this link is conclusive. However, decreasing the stress in your life can have a significant effect. Guided Imagery can help to decrease your stress (so can following proper exercise, nutrition, and sleep regimens). One substance that has some scientific evidence to back it up is turmeric. Studies from UCLA suggest that including this “spice” in your diet may help with excess inflammation and that it can help with symptoms secondary to auto-immune diseases.

Guided Imagery
Lay down in a comfortable place with your arms down at your sides. It can be either sunlit or dark depended upon your preference. Begin by flexing your toes downward for a count of three; 1001, 1002, 1003. Relax your toes and feel them relaxing. Next flex the back of your calves by flexing your feet downward, 1001, 1002, 1003. Relax your calves. Now flex the front of your calves by lifting your toes upward, 1001, 1002, 1003. Relax your calves and now feel that your lower legs are heavy. Flex your leg biceps by pressing your heels into the bad or floor for a count of three, then relax. Now flex your quadriceps by locking your knees and hold this flexion for a count of three. Now relax your quads and feel that your legs are so heavy there is no way that you could move them. Now move upwards to your abdominals and flex them while breathing out for a count of three, and then relax them. Flex your biceps by lifting your arms up and flexing hard to a count of three. Completely relax them. Repeat this for your triceps by extending your arms straight down for a count of three. Repeat this for your chest muscles by pressing your palms together, and relax. Flex your back by forcing your elbows into the bed or floor for a count of three then relax. Finish by flexing the muscles of your face for a count of three before relaxing. Your upper-body; chest, back, and arms, are so heavy that they feel as if they are made out of lead. You could not move them if you tried. Continue to monitor your breathing with the same 3 count that you used to flex and relax your muscles. Breath in, 1001, 1002, 1003, breath out, 1001, 1002, 1003. Your whole body is in a state of complete relaxation.
Now I want you to imagine the CD4+ cells in your thymus and lymph nodes. They have just returned from a tour of the body in order to look for foreign invaders. I want you to tell them that there is nothing to worry about and that there is no reason to duplicate themselves. Tell them that everything is OK. There is no reason to alert the CD8+ cells. For the next little while let’s take a break on killing other cells. Now I want you to take your focus into the afflicted area, the war zone. Talk to your CD8+ cells and let them know that there is healthy tissue being injured there. Tell them to relax. Tell the CD8+ cells that can take a break from killing for a while. Imagine your tissue feeling healthy and vibrant. The inflammation has temporarily stopped. Your immune cells are taking a rest. Tell your immune cells that they are free to roam the rest of the body, but to leave this area alone. It is healing and becoming well.
Enjoy your state of relaxation. It is alright if you slip into a short sleep. When you awaken you will feel strong, refreshed, and you will be without inflammation.

What is Sleep?

Some time ago while I was working as a scientist at UCLA I received a notice for a talk that was being presented on the topic of circadian rhythms. Now since I had always been fascinated about the topic of sleep and circadian rhythms from the time I first learned of their existence in humans, I eagerly attended the talk. However, much to my dismay the entire talk was on the topic of circadian rhythms in the climbing vine! Do you mean to tell me that plants have circadian rhythms just like humans? What other organisms have circadian rhythms?

 

Most people understand that humans have circadian rhythms and that we maintain sleep cycles in order to maintain our physical and mental health and that when these rhythms are disrupted, as in the case when we fly to different time zones, we feel “dysregulated” and “abnormal”. Moreover, I think that if you asked most people whether or not dogs and cats sleep they would answer “yes”. However, I think most people would be surprised to learn that flies sleep, plants sleep, and that bacteria sleep. Not only has it been shown that the plant arabidopsis, the fly drosophila, and all mammals have circadian rhythms (Hastings, Maywood, O’Neill, 2008), it has also been shown that yeast (Lloyd, 2008), and paramecium (Kippert and Hunt, 2000) have circadian rhythms as well. Moreover, the genes that control these circadian and ultradian rhythms are similar across these diverse species. It may seem odd that the DNA of the climbing vine and the onion share some genes with us humans, but it appears to be true, perhaps especially with regards to the control of our cellular rhythms.

 

It was noticed some time ago that the cells taken from the “circadian clock” in our brains, known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, located in the lateral hypothalamus, maintain their rhythmical patterns even if maintained outside the brain in cell cultures. In fact, it may be true that virtually all of our cells maintain rhythmicity with regards to how they take in and remove molecules from within their walls. You could think of cells as factories that are continually importing products and removing wastes in order to carry on with their specific daily functions and that the processes of importation of molecules and waste removal is performed in a rhythmical pattern that is controlled by the genes housed within the nucleus of the cell. So, I guess we could say that all cells sleep.

* * *

Allright, now let’s back up for just one minute. I was OK with the idea that all mammals sleep including dolphins, cats, and dogs. And, I am comfortable sharing the same circadian genes with these mammals. However, I have a hard time believing that plants and yeast sleep. Certainly we cannot describe the inactivity of a single cell as sleep! Moreover, I have an even more difficult time with the idea that I share the same genes as a paramecium. Plants, and yeast, and paramecium can’t sleep like humans can they? Are we really to believe that yeast and paramecium enjoy a restful night of sleep just like we do? (By the way, it seems that paramecium might sleep during the night-time just like humans). Next you’ll be trying to tell me that paramecium have dreams! [as an aside, if paramecium could dream, could a Freudian therapist analyze their dreams?]

* * *

Well, whether or not these organisms sleep ultimately depends upon how you define sleep. I think sleep is best defined as a behavior that is controlled by the brain. The brain controls sleep through the activation of various structures within the brain that cause the release of specific neurotransmitters that ultimately produce the behavior we know as sleep. Sleep itself is an active process that contains different cycles of brain activity levels. Therefore, I would like to propose the idea that in order to have sleep you must have a brain. Furthermore, although it is undeniable that paramecium have circadian or ultradian rhythms, their periods of inactivity may best be referred to as quiescence and not sleep. Allow me to repeat this definition.

Circadian controlled rhythms in organisms without a brain result in periods of activity and in periods of inactivity called quiescence and in those organisms that have a brain this period of relative inactivity is called sleep.

We could of course continue this line of discussion by defining exactly what you mean by the term “brain”, but I don’t think this is germaine to the topic of sleep so I will leave that discussion for another time.

The scientific research on circadian rhythms really causes you to think about the importance of maintaining your own circadian rhythms. If virtually every organism maintains circadian rhythms then these rhythms certainly must play a vital role in the maintenance of the health of all organisms. Yes indeed it seems that rhythms are important to every single cell in our bodies. This realization certainly puts a whole new importance on getting a good night’s sleep!

A Little Bit of Comedy

Just a little bit more about Kevin Trudeau. I usually would not waste web-space on this snake oil salesman, but when I recently read an excerpt from his latest book I laughed so hard I thought I damaged my left kidney.  This is an actual quote from his book.

“As a member of this secret society I have sat in private meetings with the heads of state from countries around the world. I have attended secret international business meetings where business leaders, politicians, and media moguls coerce together to create the new world order with global control over individual people everywhere. I have been shown and have seen with my own eyes secret government and corporate documents. I have heard with my own ears how BigPharma, the food industry, and the oil industry are working together with governments and media outlets around the world. I have been in over sixty countries, yet there are no stamps of evidence in any of my passports. I have been to Area 51 in Nevada. (This top secret military installation is still denied to exist by the U.S. government.) This is where much of our technology has been developed. Area 51 houses most extraterrestrial artifacts, including a working spacecraft and dead alien bodies. I’ve seen these things with my own two eyes. As a member of this secret society I was used in covert operations around the world”.

I had no idea that Kevin was really James Bond in disguise!
Here is the truth about Kevin Trudeau.

A federal judge has banned Kevin Trudeau from infomercials in which he has an interest for three years and ordered him to pay $5,173,000 in profits from his book, “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.”
http://www.casewatch.org/ftc/enforcements/trudeau/book/order.shtml
The ruling confirms an earlier contempt finding against Trudeau-the second time he has been found in contempt of court in the past four years. In several infomercials, Trudeau claimed that the plan outlined in the book is easy to do, can be done at home, and ultimately allows readers to eat whatever they want. However, the book actually describes a complex plan that requires severe dieting, daily injections of a prescription drug that consumers cannot easily get, and lifelong dietary restrictions. In a 2004 order settling FTC charges that he had falsely claimed that his calcium product could cure cancer and other serious diseases, Trudeau was banned from using infomercials to sell any product, service, or program except for books and and other publications. Although he remained free to publish his opinions, the order specified that he must not misrepresent what is in the publications. In November 2007, the judge ruled that Trudeau had violated that narrow exemption and was in contempt of court.
http://www.casewatch.org/ftc/enforcements/trudeau/book/contempt.shtml
Trudeau is appealing the 2007 and 2008 rulings.

For more please see: http://www.quackwatch.org

Kevin Trudeau is a Big Fat Lying Idiot

We have become a society that wants, and indeed expects, to have a pill to cure all our ailments, even if they are cosmetic or psychological. Pharmaceutical companies attempt to design medications for which there is a large need and therefore a large customer base. It is primarily the public’s hunger for quick cures that fuels drug discovery.

It is always surprising to me the length people will go to find blame for their own actions (in this case the overuse of prescription medications). It is in this environment that con artists and snake oil salesmen like Kevin Trudeau can sell their wares. His wares of course being useless natural products for which he has been indicted for fraud several times. His latest product is “nutritional information”.

It has been some time since I have disliked someone as much as Kevin Trudeau. I will try to enumerate some of the reasons here. The premise that drug companies are out to conspire against us so that we cannot get “natural cures” or worse yet, that they are actually trying to hurt us by means of secretly hiding harmful substances in medications are absurd and could only be championed by someone who is either replete of pharmaceutical knowledge or a charlatan. I believe that Kevin is both.

In order to understand how unlikely these scenarios are let us first examine how most drugs come to be. First some background, approximately 9 out of 10 scientists do NOT work for drug companies. The basic science that goes into the final construction of a drug was most likely performed by scientists trying to answer basic scientific questions. Let’s take the case of the Nobel Prize winner Louis Ignarro. He studied the messenger functions of nitric oxide for approximately 25 years before winning the award. His discoveries led to the invention of the drug Viagra as well as other nitric oxide stimulators. During the many years his lab studied nitric oxide he must have had a large number of people work on the project. Moreover, he presented his findings in papers and scientific meetings so that perhaps millions of people were exposed to his ideas. It is highly unlikely that this many people could agree on something or conspire to do anything such as “hide the truth”.

The truth is that the discovery of “natural” compounds to help with ailments caused by disease is not new and has been studied scientifically for the last two hundred years. Moreover, the majority of scientists working on basic research care very little about helping drug companies make money. The goal of most scientists is to help people, publish relevant and interesting work, and make the cover of Science. Make no mistake though, if you make the cover of Science or win the Nobel Prize you can write your own ticket as far as where you could work; UCLA, Harvard, it would be your choice. Moreover, who would turn down a manuscript or grant application from someone of this stature? Therefore, this would culminate in the receipt of millions of dollars of grant money in which to perform any research that suits their fancy. That is what the scientist ultimately wants; scientific freedom. Furthermore, if they could gain these accolades by showing that garlic cures cancer they would not hesitate to do so. They certainly would not care whether or not the substance was natural, or readily available, and most would not give a darn how much the drug companies could make from it.

Conspiracy in a drug company would be impossible. Let’s imagine that we propose to create a conspiracy theory that firemen conspire to light fires. We could tout “scientific evidence” of firefighters being caught lighting fires. We could follow this up with meaningless statistics such as reporting that; fireman are paid billions of dollars a year nationwide (large monetary values seem to provide motive to the conspiracy theory). Moreover, it makes sense that in order for firemen to retain their salaries, fires need to be set. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that all firemen are involved in the conspiracy. Right? I like this comparison because most can see how utterly ridiculous it is and because one of my close friends is a firemen. In the firemen conspiracy it seems obvious that it would be impossible for all firemen to be involved in a conspiracy, and yet it somehow makes sense when you suggest that all scientists are involved in a similarly ridiculous conspiracy. Another reason the firemen conspiracy seems ridiculous is that we take for granted that firemen are heroes and altruistic by nature. Well isn’t it true that most doctors and scientists also claim this distinction? I think we can agree that the reason most scientists and doctors take up medicine is because of a desire to help others.

“It’s impossible to make money off of natural substances”.

First of all, most medications begin as natural substances. However, being from a natural source is not an instant verification of healthfulness. After all, heroin is a natural product from the poppy flower, and curare and botulism are natural too! (also deadly poisons).

So, do you think it would be impossible to make money off of a naturally occurring substance? Like water for example? Is there anything more natural or easier to obtain than water? You can drive to Mount Arrowhead and fill up your water bottle today free of charge and yet Arrowhead Water makes millions a year from selling water. Do you really think that a drug company would be incapable of selling a naturally occurring product? Lithium chloride is a naturally occurring salt that is so prevalent in the drinking water of some communities they have enacted plans to filter the salt from their water supply. Lithium chloride at times was even sold as a sodium chloride (table salt) substitute in America (by the way, these communities that have high lithium salt levels also have an unusually low incidence of mania). Drug companies make millions a year from selling lithium chloride as a treatment for bi-polar disorder.

“Drug companies secretly place harmful agents in drugs”.

The truth is that beginning compounds are far from secret. Scientific meetings are full of burgeoning compounds with promise. These are scrutinized in excruciating detail by the scientific community. It would be nearly impossible to hide an agent either before or after it became a drug. When a drug is going to make it to the market place rival drug companies tear the drug apart in order to copy it. Do you think a rival drug company would refrain from turning in a rival company if it found something ill advised in a compound? I’ll spare you the wait. Of course they would. They would love to see their enemy pay billions in reparations. Do you think a company would risk a billion dollar class action law suit in today’s courts in order to purposely make people sick? Not likely.

Moreover, every scientist at the company would not only have to be evil, but incredibly discrete. In reality people are not that discreet. Most convicts in prison today are there because of others who have lost their discretion. Try telling ten of your closest friends a “secret” and see how long that lasts! Therefore it is easy to see that a conspiracy of this size is ludicrous. Dear Kevin, if you really are looking for the least expensive and yet most effective way to improve your health, then… STOP SMOKING YOU IDIOT!

Ecstasy

Ecstasy: “an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling”.
Most of us have experienced an event in our lives that caused us to feel extreme joy and pleasure that we could describe as ecstasy. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could create a pill that could emulate the exact level and proportion of neurotransmitter release so that we could reproduce that feeling at will? It seems that the drug called Ecstasy or MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) comes pretty close to doing exactly that. Dr Alexander Shulgin, who may have played a key role in popularizing this drug, has spent a good portion of his life creating phenethylamines that are close relatives to MDMA / Ecstasy. Dr Shulgin points out that MDMA seems to cause a release of both serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine that is almost perfectly proportionate in order to cause us to experience this feeling we call ecstasy, and that no other related phenethylamine seems to do so in the exact correct proportion. Perhaps now we can use this fabulous tool to eradicate all unhappiness in the world and cure depression once and for all.
It is seductive to think that this drug could be used in the treatment of depression, couples therapy, and PTSD, and that it could alleviate these psychological conditions. However, this drug is not effective at alleviating depression long term and may in fact make it much worse. There are several reasons why MDMA should not be used as a psychotherapeutic agent. The first reason why it would not be effective long-term is that the release of these neurotransmitters into the pleasure centers of the brain is merely a chemical reaction and is a “bottom-up” process only. In order for this feeling to have meaningful effects on your psyche you would also need “top-down processing”. In other words, your physiological responses are only part of your emotional experiences. The other part comes from your set and setting. For example, the physiological response of fear and extreme joy are actually quite similar, it is the context that makes you “feel” either ecstasy or extreme fear. To put it another way, MDMA does not cause a lasting improvement in mood because you haven’t earned it! Your cerebral cortex will inhibit the joyous feelings in your emotional centers (limbic system) if your cortex cannot find sufficient cause for you to be feeling such joy. This is why people report their experiences on MDMA as being either incredibly joyful or terrifying and that these two converse emotional states can switch in seconds while on the drug. That is because your cortex will constantly be trying to make sense of the physiological changes taking place in the lower brain (“top-down processing”).
The second reason MDMA is ineffective for treating psychological conditions is tolerance. It is well known that drugs that work on the serotonergic pathway (indoleamine pathway) have rapid tolerance effects. Those that take Ecstasy report that it is difficult to experience the effects of the drug two days in a row. This is also true of other hallucinogens. This is due in part to the depletion of stored serotonin (5-HT) at the synapse and the down-regulation of post-synaptic serotonin receptors (primarily 5-HT2A). Therefore, you may not be able to give MDMA and have an effective therapeutic response more than once.
The third and perhaps most important reason is because MDMA is neurotoxic. This is not in dispute; the drug MDMA acts as a neurotoxin to 5-HT terminals, which are the endings of the axons of serotonergic neurons within the brain. The best explanation for how MDMA causes this neurotoxicity has been born from a massive amount of experimentation and goes something like this. When MDMA is ingested, both 5-HT and dopamine are released throughout the brain. MDMA acts as a powerful 5-HT2A and dopamine agonist throughout the structures of the limbic system, the emotional center, and this leads to a heightened experience of the “native feelings” at any given time. If in fact you are in a good “set and setting” you will most likely experience extreme joy, ecstasy. As massive amounts of 5-HT and dopamine are being released from the terminals the 5-HT terminals are also busy taking back up 5-HT through the re-uptake sites in order to recycle the neurotransmitter. Because dopamine levels are also abnormally high in the synapse dopamine gets taken back up into the 5-HT terminals as well. Now when 5-HT is taken back up it gets broken down by an enzyme we call a mono-amine oxidase (MAO) so that it can be repackaged into new vesicles and prepared for future synaptic release. The MAO that breaks down 5-HT is different from the MAO that breaks down dopamine, and since the 5-HT neuron does not contain the MAO for dopamine, dopamine becomes toxic to the 5-HT terminal and the terminal degenerates and disappears. It has been shown numerous times that drugs that block the re-uptake of 5-HT at the synapse (SSRIs [Prozac]) also block MDMA-induced neurotoxicity. This is why taking Prozac within 6 hours of taking MDMA can protect the neurons from neurotoxicity.
Does the cell itself die from this neurotoxicity? If it just the terminal that dies, can the terminal re-grow? Whether or not the cell dies really depends upon the dose of the drug and the duration of use. One of the metabolites of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is of course methamphetamine. The neurotoxic results of methamphetamine studies are too numerous to dispute. There is no question that methamphetamine can kill the entire cell. Therefore, it should be obvious to you that if you take enough MDMA you will have enough of the metabolite methamphetamine to kill your brain cells. However, it appears as though from “casual use” (1 or 2 times per year?) that it is only the 5-HT terminal that degenerates and that they can in fact re-grow in a period of 6 to 12 months. This may sound fine, but I would argue that it would be unlikely that these terminals would re-grow in the exact way that they were originally formed. Moreover, if they re-grow in an abnormal way these abnormalities may lead to the hallmark of symptoms that are experienced by people who have abused MDMA, namely; depression, sleep abnormalities, appetite and pain dysregulation, and anxiety. These are all behaviors that are known to be related to 5-HT release in the brain.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“To lie in the meadow and hear the grass sing, to fly to the sun without burning your wings, and to have all these things, and to use them, to help us?!” (paraphrasing, The Moody Blues). Yes it is certainly attractive to think that this amazing compound MDMA could be used to alleviate sadness, heighten our sense of spirituality, and mend the fences of the world, but it seems as though its use comes at too great a cost; the harming of your very own human brain.

 

 

Hallucinogens

It was 1943 when Albert Hoffmann was working in his lab in Basel Switzerland on a new compound that he had synthesized from an ergot derivative in the hope of creating a new pharmaceutical. He had no idea if the compound he had synthesized had any pharmacological action so he decided to ingest a small amount of it. Since no known substance at that time was known to have pharmacological effects at a dose of less than 1 milligram Albert ingested a quarter of a milligram, or 250micrograms of the 25^th batch of lysergic acid diethylamide. What he took that day was 2 ½ times the adult dose of LSD-25. He began to feel strange so he rode his bicycle home on what became a strange journey. Upon arriving at home Albert sat in a comfortable chair and reported seeing kaleidoscopic colors and having vivid dreams. He could not believe that such a small dose of the drug could have these powerful psychological effects so like a good scientist he repeated the experiment. This time he took 125micrograms of the drug. While sitting in his chair at home he began having, as he would later call them, waking nightmares. This trip did not go as pleasant as the first. He took the compound several more times with his co-workers who verified that indeed this substance had powerful psychoactive qualities at a dose of 100micrograms.

 

By the 1950’s psychiatrists and psychologists were giving LSD-25 to patients for their psychotherapeutic benefit. In 1957 Betty Eisner gave LSD to 22 patients in a study at UCLA. By the late 1950’s psychiatrists in Los Angeles were giving LSD to actors and writers such as Aldous Huxley and Cary Grant. The UCLA Alcoholism Research Clinic headed by Dr Kieth Ditman was giving LSD to alcoholics as part of their treatment. The treatment with LSD resulted in around 2 suicides in every 5000 patients who received the drug and LSD was rarely effective at helping alcoholics to refrain from drinking.

 

In 1962 Dr Timothy Leary had left Berkeley and was a lecturer at Harvard University when he began taking LSD. Dr Leary began using the drug to perform experiments on the “intellectual elite” as a compound that would expand their abilities to write, and paint, and compose music. However, his research lacked focus and when he failed to produce any meaningful results, and even began missing his very own lectures, he was fired from Harvard. Timothy Leary then began his own non-profit organization with the intention of conducting psychedelic research (which amounted to giving LSD to his friends and having them write down their experiences). His main idea was to mass produce LSD and provide it to the world so that we as a race could evolve into our full potential by expanding our consciousness and becoming one with the cosmos.

 

Prior to 1965 psychiatrists could give LSD to their patients without telling them that it was an experimental drug. After 1965 LSD and other psychedelic drugs were illegal and under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. By 1966 Dr Timothy Leary had been fired from Harvard, kicked out of the country of Mexico, divorced from his second wife, had alienated most of friends, and was in prison on a charge of possession of marijuana. Those that heard him speak found his speeches to be incoherent and the judge at his trial ordered him to first go to a psychiatric hospital before beginning his prison sentence.

 

The psychedelic public however was not privy to Dr Leary’s social and mental demise and the psychedelic movement raged on reaching its peak in 1967. 1967 was the proclaimed “Summer of Love” in San Francisco. The Beatles had just released their psychedelic album Sgt Peppers and the use of LSD was at its peak. “Hippies” from across the nation were arriving in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood for the Human Be-In, an outdoor concert held in San Francisco Park. Bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Atomic Rooster, Vanilla Fudge, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and The Greatful Dead played psychedelic music as Owsley himself handed out free samples of his latest batch of LSD which he called Orange Sunshine. One of the mantras of the time was Leary’s own; Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out. There were many positive things that came from the 60’s such as an awareness for the health of the planet and the animals that live in it, woman’s rights, and a growing distrust in the military industrial complex and the unjust war in Vietnam. The people of the 60s movement also found out that excessive use of hallucinogenic drugs leads to the destruction of the mind and not its expansion as Dr Leary had promised.

 

 

In the 1980’s the economy was booming in part because of “Reagonomics”, which was an economic policy of play now and pay later, and a new hallucinogen called Ecstasy flowed through the veins of America’s youth. Although valuable lessons were learned from the burn-out of the hippies in the 1960’s, it seemed that they didn’t apply here because Ecstasy was a safe and”natural” drug. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact Ecstasy, MDMA, is much more harmful to your brain than LSD. Extensive experimentation has shown that this methamphetamine derivative can cause neurotoxicity in the brain. Although it may be impossible to overdose from LSD there have been recorded deaths from Ecstasy use from overheating and dehydration.

 

What is it about these drugs called hallucinogens that capture our interest so intently? Certainly, having the ability to expand your mind and to gain super-intellect by simply taking a pill is a very attractive notion. What could possibly be more powerful and sexually appealing than someone who is on an intellectual par with God himself?

 

Why does the particular formulation of MDMA seem to emulate the feeling of extreme joy or ecstasy? Dr Alexander Shulgin has spent a good portion of his life making drugs called phenethylamines that are similar to MDMA. However, none of these other compounds seem to have the perfect balance of 5-HT and dopamine release in the brain that results from MDMA.

LSD may be the most powerful psychoactive substance ever known. How is it that only 100micrograms of this substance has such a powerful effect on our psyche? These are the questions that Neuropsychopharmacologists attempt to answer.

 

I think that these drugs called hallucinogens can provide insight into how our brains function. However, these drugs are not to be used often, casually, or continually, for therapy, for treatment, or for anything else. If you choose to take these drugs then be aware that the potential for damaging your brain far outweighs the potential for benefit.   

Human Brain Fitness; Train for your Brain

The Triumvirate of Human Brain Fitness was created to help you improve the function of your body’s most important organ; your brain. Why should you care about the health of your brain? Well, simply put the better health that your brain is in the better it will work, the better it works the more efficient it will be. This will lead to a noticeable improvement of your intellectual abilities and to all of your body’s functions.

 

The better your brain health is the better you will feel! That is because your brain controls ALL of your bodily functions. The most noticeable may be the functions that are controlled by a part of your brain called the hypothalamus. This part of your brain controls all of your hormone levels and blood sugar levels. I hope you are not surprised when I tell you that your hormones and blood sugar levels can affect the way you feel, think, and behave.  

 

Obtaining brain health is actually quite easy. The brain is made up of cells, called neurons, and just like the cells that reside in the rest of your body these neurons need nutrition and oxygen. The way that you provide your brain with the optimal supply of nutrients and oxygen is to provide it with optimal blood flow! The way that you accomplish this is through: Exercise, Nutrition, and Sleep habits that are healthy!

 

When your brain is functioning at its optimal level you will feel great, think clearly, and will be able to attack the goals you have laid out for yourself with a positive and powerful attitude. The opposite is true of course when you are physically sick such as when you are suffering from the flu. When you have a high fever and are extremely weak you intuitively know that this is not the day to accomplish your best work.

 

When you are training for your brain you will gain mental function and will also have many other desirable “side-effects”. These side-effects will include: better physical fitness, better health, a more attractive body, increased confidence, a positive mental attitude, and less costly medical care. Your brain is your body’s most important and selfish organ. It is only 2% of your body weight and yet it demands 20% of your body’s fuel and oxygen. Your training emphasis should be geared towards increasing the health of your body’s hardest to please organ; your brain. When your brain is in shape the rest will take care of itself.

 

There is no question that the key to being more physically fit as you get older is to have never gotten out of shape in the first place! It seems the better physical shape we can maintain while we are young the better physical shape we will have when we age. The very same thing is true with regards to brain health. First, you must get your brain into good shape while you are still young. Next, you need to continue your brain fitness through your ageing years. How do we accomplish this? Well, it is really quite easy. Most people use their brains regularly when they are learning their field of trade and when they are learning their new careers. The challenge seems to be once we get complacent and in a mental rut. When we are no longer challenging our brains on a daily basis our brains may begin to shrink and to lose their ability to think rapidly and accurately. The secret to brain health is therefore the same in youth as it is in old age. The secret is really quite simple and easy: get proper Exercise, Nutrition, and Sleep.

 

You will begin to reap the rewards from increasing the health of your brain rapidly. These rewards include more energy, increased sex drive, and an overall feeling of wellness. The true rewards however may come later. It has been suggested that 50% of people over the age of 85 will develop Alzheimer’s disease. The way to combat this terrifying disease is to do just what I suggest below.

The truth about cancer is that it is also primarily a disease caused by ageing. The more times our cells replicate the greater the chance they have of making a mistake during replication and creating a cancerous cell. It is a numbers game. The best way to ensure that you prevent cancer is by following the easy habits I suggest below.

When we age, the chances of us acquiring an unpleasant disease that is very unpleasant, and very expensive to fight, increases. The best way to prevent the acquisition of such a disease and to ensure that you survive the disease is through proper:

Exercise, Nutrition, and Sleep!