The following is a summary of “Potential analgesic effects of psychedelics on select chronic pain conditions: A survey study,” published in the August 2023 issue of Pain by Cavarra et al.
Chronic pain frequently leads to suffering and disability. Current treatments have side effects and may not work for everyone. Preliminary evidence suggests that psychedelics may be an effective treatment for chronic pain.
Researchers performed a retrospective study to gain insight into the effectiveness of psychedelics in chronic pain conditions by surveying chronic pain patients about their use of psychedelics and the relief levels achieved with conventional treatments, total psychedelic doses, and microdoses.
They analyzed data concerning five conditions chosen for their diagnostic homogeneity: fibromyalgia, arthritis, migraine, tension-type headache, and sciatica.
The results showed that, aside from sciatica, participants noted improved pain relief with psychedelics for all conditions studied, surpassing conventional medication. Notably, total doses outperformed standard treatments. Microdoses brought superior comfort for migraines and similar relief for the other three states. Apart from that, this also considers implications for future research.
Investigators concluded that total doses and microdoses of psychedelics may hold value in treating some specific chronic pain conditions.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.2171
