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Heart health: Add these nutrients to your diet to keep your heart healthy - Hindustan Times

Heart health: Add these nutrients to your diet to keep your heart healthy Hindustan Times
Living a heart healthy lifestyle Jamaica Observer

1 year 12 months ago

Organs go to waste in the Dominican Republic due to lack of coverage

According to the Ibero-American Organ and Tissue Transplantation Network, organ donation is an extremely selfless act as a single donor can save up to eight lives and benefit up to 75 people. Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic has one of the lowest rates of organ donation in Latin America due in part to the limited coverage of transplant programs by the healthcare system.

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While kidney transplants are approved and about 100 are performed each year, other organs such as the heart, liver, lungs, intestines, pancreas, and tissues are not covered. This means that low-income individuals are unable to afford these procedures due to the lack of comprehensive financing.

There are approximately 250 patients with terminal renal failure, 800 requiring liver transplants, 500 requiring heart transplants, and over 100 in need of bone marrow transplants annually in the country. The director of the National Institute for the Coordination of Transplants (Incort), Fernando Morales Billini, believes that a law providing full coverage by Health Risk Administrators (ARS) for all organs except for the kidney would be beneficial for these individuals. However, Sisalril, the Superintendence of Health and Occupational Risks, claims that establishing financial coverage requires the presence of care networks, protocols, and cost information for effective coverage.

Although there are 13 hospitals in the country equipped to perform transplants, there are still obstacles preventing potential donors from contributing. These include family refusal, inadequate maintenance, and medical contraindications. Despite the challenges, the director of Incort believes that up to 500 potential donors could be produced in the country each year.

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1 year 12 months ago

Health

PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization

World Malaria Day – Countries must step up efforts to reach vulnerable populations, PAHO Director says

Cristina Mitchell

25 Apr 2023

…

World Malaria Day – Countries must step up efforts to reach vulnerable populations, PAHO Director says

Cristina Mitchell

25 Apr 2023

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1 year 12 months ago

Health – Dominican Today

Dominican Republic signs agreement with US hospital

Yesterday, the Dominican Republic government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Montefiore Hospital and the Santo Domingo Autonomous University (UASD) to improve healthcare for Creoles and train Dominican doctors.

…

The agreement was signed by the Dominican Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, and the UASD rector, Editrudis Beltrán, alongside the executive director of the Montefiore Hospital, Dr. Phillip Ozuah, in a ceremony led by President Luis Abinader at the National Palace’s Green Room.

The agreement aims to enable Dominicans living in the United States to access healthcare with Medicare insurance and to facilitate collaboration in research and project activities. The partnership seeks to enhance academic and technological aspects to enable health professionals to acquire new experiences and improve healthcare delivery.

During the ceremony, President Abinader highlighted the importance of working without political or ideological differences in the healthcare sector, saying that the agreement would help to improve the quality of life and save lives. He also noted that the Dominican government seeks to purchase ambulances, masks, and other healthcare items at better prices through Montefiore.

The Dominican Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, described the alliance with Montefiore Hospital as transcendent, particularly because of the institution’s demonstrated solidarity with the Dominican community. The alliance will also support the professional development of human resources in health.

The agreement received support from Congressman Adriano Espaillat, U.S. Representative for New York’s 13th congressional district.

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1 year 12 months ago

Health, World

Medical News, Health News Latest, Medical News Today - Medical Dialogues |

MD Emergency Medicine: Admissions, medical colleges, fees, eligibility criteria details

MD Emergency
Medicine or Doctor of Medicine in Emergency Medicine also known as MD in
Emergency Medicine is a Postgraduate level course for doctors in India that is
done by them after completion of their MBBS.

…

The duration of this postgraduate
course is 3 years, and it focuses on the knowledge and abilities needed for the
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of acute and urgent aspects of illness and
injury that affect patients of all ages with a wide range of undifferentiated
physical and behavioural disorders. It also includes knowledge of how
pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency medical systems have evolved, as well as
the abilities required for these developments.

The course
is a full-time course pursued at various recognized medical colleges across the
country. Some of the top medical colleges offering this course include All
India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, B J Medical College, Ahmedabad, AIIMS Rishikesh and more.

Admission
to this course is done through the NEET PG Entrance exam conducted by the
National Board of Examinations, followed by counselling based on the scores of
the exam that is conducted by DGHS/MCC/State Authorities.

The fee for
pursuing MD (Emergency Medicine) varies from college to college and may range
from Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 25,00,000 per year.

After
completion of their respective course, doctors can either join the job market
or pursue a super-specialization course where MD Emergency Medicine is a feeder
qualification. Candidates can take reputed jobs at positions as Senior
residents, Junior Consultants, Consultants, etc. with an approximate salary
range of Rs. 12,00,000 to Rs. 24,00,000 per annum.

What is MD in Emergency Medicine?

Doctor of
Medicine in Emergency Medicine, also
known as MD Emergency Medicine or MD (Emergency Medicine) is a three-year
postgraduate programme that candidates can pursue after completing MBBS.

Emergency Medicine is the branch of medical
science dealing with the knowledge and abilities needed to treat patients with
life-threatening or urgent medical conditions.

PG
education intends to create specialists who can contribute to high-quality
health care and advances in science through research and training.

The
required training done by a postgraduate specialist in the field of Emergency Medicine would help the specialist
to recognize the health needs of the community. The student should be competent
to handle medical problems effectively and should be aware of the recent
advances in their speciality.

The
candidate should be a highly competent Emergency Medicine Specialist possessing
a broad range of skills that will enable her/him to practice Emergency Medicine independently. The PG
candidate should also acquire the basic skills in teaching medical/para-medical students.

The
candidate is also expected to know the principles of research methodology and
modes of the consulting library. The candidate should regularly attend
conferences, workshops and CMEs to upgrade her/ his knowledge.

Course Highlights

Here are some of the course
highlights of MD in Emergency Medicine:

Name of Course

MD in Emergency Medicine

Level

Postgraduate

Duration of Course

Three years

Course Mode

Full Time

Minimum Academic Requirement

Candidates in possession of an MBBS degree
or Provisional MBBS Pass Certificate recognized as per the provisions of the
NMC Act, 2019 and the repealed Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and possessing
a permanent or provisional registration certificate of MBBS qualification
issued by the NMC/ the erstwhile Medical Council of India or State Medical
Council and have completed one year of internship.

MBBS degree obtained from any college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India by the NMC/ the erstwhile Medical Council of India and have completed one year of internship.

Admission Process / Entrance Process /
Entrance Modalities

Entrance Exam (NEET PG)

INI CET for various AIIMS, PGIMER
Chandigarh, JIPMER Puducherry, NIMHANS Bengaluru

Counselling by DGHS/MCC/State Authorities

Course Fees

Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 25,00,000 per year

Average Salary

Rs. 12,00,000 to Rs. 24,00,000 per annum

Eligibility Criteria

The
eligibility criteria for MD in Emergency Medicine are defined as the set of
rules or minimum prerequisites that aspirants must meet in order to be eligible
for admission, which include:

Candidates
must be in possession of an undergraduate MBBS degree from any
college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Candidates
should have done a compulsory rotating internship of one year in a
teaching institution or other institution which is recognized by the
Medical Council of India (MCI).

The
candidate must have obtained permanent registration with any State Medical
Council to be eligible for admission.

The
medical college's recognition cut-off dates for the MBBS Degree courses
and compulsory rotatory Internship shall be as prescribed by the Medical
Council of India (now NMC).

Admission Process

The
admission process contains a few steps to be followed in order by the
candidates for admission to MD in Emergency Medicine. Candidates can view the
complete admission process for MD in Emergency Medicine mentioned below:

The
NEET PG or National Eligibility Entrance Test for Post Graduates is a
national-level master's level examination conducted by the NBE for
admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses.
The requirement of
eligibility criteria for participation in counselling towards PG seat
allotment conducted by the concerned counselling authority shall be in
lieu of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (as per the latest
amendment) notified by the MCI (now NMC) with prior approval of MoHFW.

S.No.

As suicide rates spike, new AI platform could ‘fill the gap’ in mental health care, say Boston researchers

After a two-year decline, U.S. suicide rates spiked again in 2021, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death in the country — and the second among people between 10 and 35 years of age and fifth among those aged 35 to 54, per the report.

…

After a two-year decline, U.S. suicide rates spiked again in 2021, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death in the country — and the second among people between 10 and 35 years of age and fifth among those aged 35 to 54, per the report.

As the need for mental health care escalates, the U.S. is struggling with a shortage of providers. To help fill this gap, some medical technology companies have turned to artificial intelligence as a means of possibly making providers’ jobs easier and patient care more accessible.

CHATGPT FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS: CAN THE AI CHATBOT MAKE THE PROFESSIONALS' JOBS EASIER?

Yet there are caveats connected to this. Read on.

Over 160 million people currently live in "mental health professional shortage areas," according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

By 2024, it is expected that the total number of psychiatrists will reach a new low, with a projected shortage of between 14,280 and 31,091 individuals.

"Lack of funding from the government, a shortage of providers, and ongoing stigma regarding mental health treatment are some of the biggest barriers," Dr. Meghan Marcum, chief psychologist at AMFM Healthcare in Orange County, California, told Fox News Digital.

"Wait lists for therapy can be long, and some individuals need specialized services like addiction or eating disorder treatment, making it hard to know where to start when it comes to finding the right provider," Marcum also said.

A Boston, Massachusetts medical data company called OM1 recently built an AI-based platform, called PHenOM, for physicians.

The tool pulls data from over 9,000 clinicians working in 2,500 locations across all 50 states, according to Dr. Carl Marci, chief psychiatrist and managing director of mental health and neuroscience at OM1.

Physicians can use that data to track trends in depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and other mental health disorders, the doctor said.

"Part of the reason we're having this mental health crisis is that we haven't been able to bring new tools, technologies and treatments to the bedside as quickly as we’d like," said Dr. Marci, who has also been running a small clinical practice through Mass General Brigham in Boston for 20 years.

Eventually, artificial intelligence could help patients get the care they need faster and more efficiently, he said.

OM1’s AI model analyzes thousands of patient records and uses "sophisticated medical language models" to identify which individuals have expressed suicidal tendencies or actually attempted suicide, Dr. Marci said.

"We can look at all of our data and begin to build models to predict who is at risk for suicidal ideation," he said. "One approach would be to look for particular outcomes — in this case, suicide — and see if we can use AI to do a better job of identifying patients at risk and then directing care to them."

In the traditional mental health care model, a patient sees a psychiatrist for depression, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia or another disorder.

The doctor then makes a treatment recommendation based only on his or her own experience and what the patient says, Dr. Marci said.

CHATGPT AND HEALTH CARE: COULD THE AI CHATBOT CHANGE THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE?

"Soon, I'll be able to put some information from the chart into a dashboard, which will then generate three ideas that are more likely to be more successful for depression, anxiety or insomnia than my best guess," he told Fox News Digital.

"The computer will be able to compare those parameters that I put into the system for the patient … against 100,000 similar patients."

In seconds, the doctor would be able to access information to use as a decision-making tool to improve patient outcomes, he said.

When patients are in the mental health system for many months or years, it’s important for doctors to be able to track how their disease is progressing — which the real world doesn’t always capture, Dr. Marci noted.

"The ability to use computers, AI and data science to do a clinical assessment of the chart without the patient answering any questions or the clinician being burdened fills in a lot of gaps," he told Fox News Digital.

"We can then begin to apply other models to look and see who's responding to treatment, what types of treatment they're responding to and whether they’re getting the care they need," he added.

With the increasing mental health challenges and the widespread shortage of mental health providers, Dr. Marci said he believes that doctors will start using ChatGPT — the AI-based large language model that OpenAI released in 2022 — as a "large language model therapist," allowing doctors to interact with patients in a "clinically meaningful way."

Potentially, models such as ChatGPT could serve as an "off-hours" resource for those who need help in the middle of the night or on a weekend when they can’t get to the doctor’s office — "because mental health doesn't take a break," Dr. Marci said.

"The opportunity to have continuous care where the patient lives, rather than having to come into an office or get on a Zoom, that is supported by sophisticated models that actually have proven therapeutic value … [is] important," he also said.

But these models, which are built on both good information and misinformation, are not without risks, the doctor admitted.

"The most obvious risk is for [these models] to give literally deadly advice … and that would be disastrous," he said.

To minimize these risks, the models would need to filter out misinformation or add some checks on the data to remove any potentially bad advice, said Dr. Marci.

Dr. Cameron Caswell, an adolescent psychologist in Washington, D.C., has seen firsthand the struggle providers face in keeping up with the growing need for mental health care.

"I’ve talked to people who have been wait-listed for months, can’t find anyone that accepts their insurance or aren’t able to connect with a professional that meets their specific needs," she told Fox News Digital.

CHATGPT ANSWERED 25 BREAST CANCER SCREENING QUESTIONS, BUT IT'S 'NOT READY FOR THE REAL WORLD' — HERE'S WHY

"They want help, but can’t seem to get it. This only adds to their feelings of hopelessness and despair."

Even so, Dr. Caswell is skeptical that AI is the answer.

"Programs like ChatGPT are phenomenal at providing information, research, strategies and tools, which can be useful in a pinch," she said.

"However, technology doesn’t provide what people need the most: empathy and human connection."

"While AI can provide positive reminders and prompt calming techniques, I worry that if it’s used to self-diagnose, it will lead to misdiagnosing, mislabeling and mistreating behaviors," she continued.

"This is likely to exacerbate problems, not remediate them."

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Dr. Marcum of Orange County, California, said he sees AI as being a helpful tool between sessions — or as a way to offer education about a diagnosis.

"It may also help clinicians with documentation or report writing, which can potentially help free up time to serve more clients throughout the week," she told Fox News Digital.

There are ongoing ethical concerns, however — including privacy, security of data and accountability, which still need to be developed further, she said.

"I think we will definitely see a trend toward the use of AI in treating mental health," said Dr. Marcum.

"But the exact landscape for how it will shape the field has yet to be determined."

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1 year 12 months ago

Health, artificial-intelligence, chatgpt, mental-health, medical-tech, lifestyle, boston, stress-and-anxiety, depression

Health & Wellness | Toronto Caribbean Newspaper

Is there any such thing as being addicted to food?

BY RACHEL MARY RILEY Yes, I firmly believe that you can be addicted to food. Sometimes it starts with cravings. There are some of you, including myself that have faced this. It is up to you to change that path, and walk the narrow way. Junk food or addiction to food can come from many […]

…

The post Is there any such thing as being addicted to food? first appeared on Toronto Caribbean Newspaper.

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1 year 12 months ago

Fitness, #LatestPost

Health & Wellness | Toronto Caribbean Newspaper

Don’t let food safety in the kitchen lapse: 10 ways to ensure you are eating safely

BY W. GIFFORD- JONES MD & DIANA GIFFORD-JONES It’s an age-old problem, but not one that should come with age. Yet, compared to younger culinary novices, elderly people may be more prone to making mistakes in food preparation that can lead to food poisoning. Kitchens can be a dangerous place. So there is no harm […]

…

The post Don’t let food safety in the kitchen lapse: 10 ways to ensure you are eating safely first appeared on Toronto Caribbean Newspaper.

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1 year 12 months ago

Your Health, #LatestPost

KFF Health News

El dolor, la esperanza y la ciencia chocan cuando los atletas recurren a los hongos mágicos

WAKEFIELD, Jamaica — El boxeador se sentía destrozado. Todos los días, se despertaba con dolor. A veces eran dolores de cabeza debilitantes. Otros, era su espalda. O sus puños. Sus costillas. Su nariz. Además, sufría de cambios de humor. Depresión. Ansiedad.

…

Mike Lee no se arrepintió de su carrera. Había sido uno de los mejores boxeadores profesionales del mundo en su categoría. Tenía marca de 21-1, y peleó en el Madison Square Garden y frente a millones en la televisión.

Pero habían pasado más de dos años desde que pisó un ring, y cada día era un recordatorio del costo. En un momento, Lee estaba tomando ocho medicamentos recetados, todos para tratar de sobrellevar la situación.

Contó que, en su momento más bajo, en una noche en que estaba en lo más profundo de una adicción a los analgésicos, pensó en chocar su auto contra la valla de una autopista de Chicago a 140 mph.

Estaba dispuesto a hacer cualquier cosa para escapar del infierno en el que se sentía atrapado.

El impulso se desvaneció, pero el dolor permaneció.

Estaba perdido.

“Cuando tienes dolor y estás atrapado, harás cualquier cosa para salir de eso”, dijo Lee.

Ahora, había llegado a una jungla verde al final de un camino de tierra en la mitad de una montaña.

Esperaba que los hongos psicodélicos pudieran cambiar su vida.

Lee era parte de un pequeño grupo, muchos de ellos atletas retirados, que viajaron a Jamaica en marzo de 2022 para un retiro que costó hasta $5500. Cada uno de ellos había venido a Good Hope Estate, una plantación de azúcar convertida en centro turístico exclusivo, con la esperanza de librarse de la depresión, la ansiedad y el dolor crónico que habían experimentado durante años.

Dos ceremonias con hongos psicodélicos y dos sesiones de terapia les esperaban en el retiro dirigido por una empresa canadiense llamada Wake Network. Los participantes estaban nerviosos, pero también esperanzados.

Junto con Lee, había un jugador profesional de fútbol americano que estaba considerando retirarse y una ex estrella de hockey que tenía múltiples conmociones cerebrales.

Venían de todas partes de América del Norte, de diferentes orígenes y diferentes deportes, pero tenían algunas cosas en común: eran vulnerables y sentían que los medicamentos recetados les habían fallado. No sabían qué esperar, si el tratamiento funcionaría, si regresarían a casa con una solución o simplemente con otra decepción.

Lee se enteró del retiro por un amigo de la infancia que trabaja como médico en Wake. Otros habían sido reclutados por Riley Cote, un ex ejecutor de los Philadelphia Flyers y ahora un evangelista psicodélico que es asesor de Wake con una participación accionaria.

Alguna vez, Cote fue como Lee. Le encantaba golpear a la gente en la cara. Amaba la forma en que su mano aterrizaba con un ruido sordo cuando sus nudillos se conectaban con la carne y el hueso a una velocidad violenta. Romper la cabeza de alguien hacía que Cote se sintiera vivo.

“Luché contra todos. Escogía al tipo más grande que pudiera encontrar y lo desafiaba. Así fue como sobreviví, cómo me hice un nombre. Me estaba infligiendo todo este dolor e inflamación, siempre recibiendo puñetazos en la cara, y tenía que mantener este tipo de personalidad machista, como, ‘Oh, no puedes lastimarme. No puedes lastimarme’”.

Ya no era esa persona. Le daba escalofríos pensar en el hombre que alguna vez fue, alguien que bebía en exceso y usaba analgésicos para adormecer su cerebro. Hubo un tiempo en que él, como Lee, estaba en un lugar oscuro, pero con el transcurso de varios años, los hongos psicodélicos, cree Cote, lo ayudaron a regresar a la luz.

“El mundo está en una crisis, una crisis de salud mental, una crisis espiritual”, dijo Cote. “Y creo que estas son medicinas espirituales, y siento que es el camino correcto para mí. No lo considero más que mi deber, mi propósito en este planeta es compartir la verdad sobre la medicina natural”.

Durante años, han circulado rumores sobre una red clandestina de atletas, principalmente ex atletas, que usan psilocibina, el compuesto de los hongos mágicos, para tratar lesiones cerebrales traumáticas, ansiedad y depresión.

Muchos de ellos, como Cote, ven a los psicodélicos como una cura milagrosa, lo único que pudieron encontrar que podría ayudar a romper un ciclo de analgésicos y abuso de sustancias. Se reunían en pequeños grupos para ingerir hongos en privado o viajaban a países como Jamaica donde los hongos psicodélicos no están prohibidos.

Ahora, el uso de hongos psicodélicos está ganando terreno en los Estados Unidos. Varias ciudades han despenalizado la posesión de psilocibina, y los votantes de Oregon y Colorado aprobaron medidas electorales para legalizar los hongos mágicos bajo uso supervisado. Muchos investigadores predicen que la Administración de Drogas y Alimentos (FDA) aprobará un tratamiento psicodélico en los próximos cinco años.

Pero muchos de esos mismos investigadores advierten que la intensa promoción de los psicodélicos está superando a la ciencia, y que el tratamiento conlleva riesgos significativos para algunos pacientes. Temen que, a menos que la investigación se lleve a cabo de forma metódica y ética, el uso generalizado de la psilocibina podría resultar en una reacción negativa del público, como sucedió en la década de 1960, relegando un tratamiento prometedor al basurero de las sustancias prohibidas.

Están instando a las entidades corporativas como Wake, que ya se están posicionando para aprovechar la posible legalización de los psicodélicos, a que avancen lentamente, se aseguren de que la investigación se realice de la manera correcta y permitan que la ciencia se ponga al día.

“Si no haces esto de manera segura, la gente saldrá lastimada”, dijo Matthew Johnson, profesor de psiquiatría e investigador de psicodélicos en la Universidad Johns Hopkins.

Pero muchos, incluidos los ex atletas profesionales con cuerpos y cerebros maltratados, no quieren esperar el lento avance de la investigación clínica. Necesitan ayuda ahora.

Los analgésicos, los antidepresivos, las innumerables píldoras diferentes que les recetaron a lo largo de los años no han ayudado. En sus mentes, las historias de sus compañeros atletas que dicen que se han beneficiado de los psicodélicos superan cualquier incertidumbre científica.

“Cuando piensas en hongos mágicos, piensas en los hippies de Woodstock bailando al ritmo de la música”, dijo Lee. “Pensar que tienes algunos de los mejores atletas del mundo aquí que están lidiando con algunas cosas y las están tomando, te hace sentir más cómodo. Me hace sentir como, ‘Está bien, tal vez estoy haciendo lo correcto’. Es una medicina curativa; no es solo una droga de fiesta”.

***

Cote, ahora de 41 años, era un patinador de hockey decente que creció en Winnipeg, Manitoba, tenaz de punta a punta y un trabajador incansable, pero bastante promedio en el manejo del disco.

No anotó suficientes goles para ascender en el hockey junior como lo hicieron algunos prospectos. Sin embargo, a medida que crecía, a los entrenadores no les importaba tanto. Tenía hombros anchos y un largo alcance. En una era del hockey en la cual la violencia todavía era moneda corriente, había encontrado su boleto dorado para la NHL: Cote golpeaba a la gente y recibía golpes a cambio.

Como miembro de los Flyers, vio que era su deber mantener las tradiciones de los Broad Street Bullies, un grupo de jugadores de la década de 1970 que fueron celebrados por la prensa por jugar y festejar fuerte.

Se abrió camino a través de la NHL durante partes de cuatro temporadas, acumulando más de 400 minutos de penalización en su carrera y anotando solo un gol. La mayoría de sus peleas fueron situaciones brutales, bárbaras. Sus destacados muestran a un gigante corpulento, con los ojos llenos de violencia, el tipo de matón que podría romperte la mandíbula y reír como un maníaco después, la sangre goteando de su rostro y cayendo al hielo.

“Fue algo que disfruté hacer, y creo que era solo un elemento de competencia para mí”, dijo Cote. “Y probablemente también era algo que estaba haciendo por miedo: miedo de no vivir mi sueño de la infancia o de decepcionar a mis padres o a la gente”.

Dijo que se medicaba por su dolor casi todos los días con alcohol. Las cervezas eran un aperitivo de camino a los shots en la barra. Después, venían drogas duras. Él y sus compañeros de equipo se quedaban fuera hasta las 3 am, a veces más tarde, y luego intentaban sudar el veneno al día siguiente durante la práctica.

Después de unos años, su cerebro comenzó a empañarse. Se hizo más grande y más fuerte a través del levantamiento de pesas, y parecía un monstruo en el hielo, pero cada una de sus habilidades de hockey se deterioró, salvo las peleas. A medida que su carrera terminaba, dijo, se sentía como si la oscuridad se acercara sigilosamente. Se deprimió. Tenía miedo de en lo que se había convertido.

Hoy, Cote se parece poco a aquel ejecutor de los videos. Más delgado y tranquilo, imparte clases de yoga en un estudio de Delaware tres veces por semana. Con el pelo hasta los hombros, tatuajes en los brazos y el pecho, habla con una suave voz de barítono. Parece más un monje que un monstruo.

“Miro hacia atrás y tal vez solo muestra lo confundido que estaba y la realidad que estaba buscando, que supuestamente era la felicidad y la satisfacción de perseguir el sueño de mi infancia”, dijo Cote. “Pero es difícil para mí entender que estoy haciendo eso ahora, simplemente sabiendo quién soy ahora y dándome cuenta de que se necesita mucha oscuridad para hacer lo que hice”.

Cote dijo que tomó hongos de forma recreativa durante sus 20 años, pero nunca en un entorno terapéutico o con el entendimiento de que podrían ayudarlo a procesar su trauma físico y emocional. “Era solo parte de la escena o parte de la fiesta”, dijo.

Pero cuando se jubiló en 2010, sintió que estaba enfrentando una crisis de identidad. Había sido un luchador durante tanto tiempo que pensó que eso era todo lo que era. ¿Cómo podría un ejecutor fracasado criar a dos hijas?

Empezó a leer. Lo que aprendió lo sorprendió.

Los investigadores habían revivido silenciosamente el estudio sobre los hongos psicodélicos como tratamiento médico en el año 2000, y los primeros hallazgos sugirieron que la psilocibina a menudo tenía beneficios notables para las personas diagnosticadas con ansiedad y depresión. Ayudó a algunos pacientes a deshacerse de sus adicciones a las drogas o al alcohol.

Otra investigación sugirió que la psilocibina en realidad puede ser capaz de remodelar la anatomía del cerebro, restaurar las vías neurológicas y ayudar a curar lesiones cerebrales traumáticas.

Para Cote, a quien le diagnosticaron al menos tres conmociones cerebrales en su carrera de hockey y probablemente sufrió muchas más, fue transformador.

Cote ahora recluta clientes para Wake, que organiza retiros inmersivos de psilocibina fuera de los Estados Unidos.

“Algunas personas vienen a estos eventos y están al borde del suicidio”, dijo Tyler Macleod, cofundador de Wake y su director de experiencia. “No se arreglan después de una ceremonia, pero ya no están atascados en la oscuridad. Se despiertan y dicen: ‘Oh, puedo navegar de nuevo una relación con mis hijos'”.

Todos los ex atletas que asisten a estos retiros están luchando con algo, dijo Cote. Necesitan ayuda. En muchos casos, sienten que han probado todo lo demás. Les pregunta por qué tienen que esperar cuando tantos estudios y anécdotas indican resultados positivos.

“Es como con el cannabis: ¿cuántas historias tuvimos que contarnos antes de tener un programa médico?”, apuntó Cote. “Simplemente ha estado bloqueado durante tanto tiempo”.

***

En 1970, el presidente Richard Nixon promulgó la Ley de Sustancias Controladas, legislación que dividía las drogas en cinco niveles, clasificándolas en gran medida según su potencial de abuso. Los hongos mágicos se clasificaron como sustancias de la Lista 1, junto con la heroína y la marihuana, lo que significa que el gobierno creía que no tenían ningún beneficio médico y que tenían un alto potencial de generar adicción. (La cocaína, la oxicodona y la metanfetamina se clasificaron como drogas de la Lista 2).

Esas decisiones, que el asesor de Nixon, John Ehrlichman, dijo más tarde que tenían motivaciones políticas, continúan teniendo un efecto dominó en la actualidad. La investigación sobre tratamientos psicodélicos se suspendió durante 30 años.

Si bien los estudios recientes han tenido un alcance pequeño, han mostrado efectos notables. Los medicamentos recetados aprobados para afecciones como la ansiedad o la depresión ayudan, en el mejor de los casos, a entre el 40% y el 60% de los pacientes. En los primeros ensayos, los psicodélicos han alcanzado tasas de eficacia de más del 70%.

Y, a diferencia de la mayoría de los medicamentos recetados, que dejan de funcionar poco después de que los pacientes dejan de tomarlos, uno o dos tratamientos de psilocibina pueden tener efectos terapéuticos por seis meses, un año o incluso más, según un estudio de Johns Hopkins.

Con un riesgo mínimo de adicción o sobredosis y siglos de uso por parte de las culturas indígenas, muchos investigadores consideran que la psilocibina es un tratamiento innovador potencial con grandes beneficios y pocos riesgos.

Scott Aaronson, director de programas de investigación clínica en Sheppard Pratt, un hospital psiquiátrico sin fines de lucro en las afueras de Baltimore, ha estado estudiando los trastornos del estado de ánimo difíciles de tratar durante 40 años, comenzando con algunos de los primeros estudios sobre Prozac.

“Soy un ser humano cínico, escéptico y sarcástico”, dijo Aaronson. “Y te diré, nunca he visto algo así en todos mis años”.

Pero la psilocibina no está exenta de riesgos. Puede exacerbar problemas cardíacos y desencadenar esquizofrenia en personas con una predisposición genética, y la combinación de psilocibina y litio puede causar convulsiones.

Los ensayos clínicos generalmente han descartado a los pacientes en riesgo de tales complicaciones. Aún así, una parte significativa de quienes consumen psilocibina, incluso sin ninguna de esas preocupaciones, tienen una experiencia negativa.

“En una dosis alta, alrededor de un tercio de las personas en nuestros estudios, incluso en estas condiciones ideales, pueden tener lo que se llamaría un mal viaje, algún grado de ansiedad o miedo sustancial”, dijo Johnson, investigador de Johns Hopkins. “Una persona puede ser muy vulnerable psicológicamente. Puede sentirse como si estuvieran muriendo”.

Sin embargo, a veces, incluso esos “malos viajes” pueden conducir a la ayuda con la depresión u otros problemas, según han descubierto investigadores, especialmente con la ayuda de seguimiento de un terapeuta para procesar la experiencia.

Los efectos psicodélicos de la psilocibina también pueden desconectar a una persona de la realidad, lo que puede llevar a las personas a hacer cosas peligrosas, como correr hacia el tráfico o saltar por una ventana.

“La percepción misma de la realidad y de ellos mismos en la realidad, como quiénes son, estas cosas pueden cambiar profundamente y no es una buena receta para interactuar en público”, dijo Johnson.

Los investigadores también describen casos en los que la psilocibina pone a las personas con problemas psicológicos no resueltos en estado de angustia a largo plazo.

Es por eso que los investigadores insisten en que la psilocibina debe administrarse en un entorno clínico con terapeutas capacitados que puedan guiar a las personas a través de la experiencia, lidiar con los resultados negativos cuando surjan, y ayudarlas a procesar e integrar sus experiencias.

Los ensayos clínicos de psilocibina se han basado en protocolos estrictos, que incluyen una o más sesiones antes del tratamiento para ayudar a los participantes a comprender qué esperar. El consumo de los hongos se hace a menudo en un solo día, con uno o dos terapeutas disponibles.

En los días siguientes, la persona regresa para lo que se conoce como integración, generalmente una sesión de terapia individual para ayudar a procesar la experiencia y comenzar el camino hacia la curación. Algunos ensayos agregan un día adicional de terapia entre dos tratamientos.

A diferencia de un medicamento típico, nose envía a los pacientes a casa con un frasco de píldoras. Todo el protocolo se parece más a un procedimiento médico.

Pero es un error pensar que es la medicina psicodélica la que hace todo el trabajo, no la terapia que viene después, dijo Jeffrey LaPratt, psicólogo e investigador de psilocibina con Sheppard Pratt. “Es un trabajo muy duro y requiere vulnerabilidad. Se necesita coraje. Puede ser realmente doloroso”.

***

El ex jugador de la NHL Steve Downie sintió como si algo en él se hubiera roto cuando lo invitaron al retiro de Wake en Jamaica. Sus días estaban llenos de niebla. Vivía con depresión, a menudo incapaz de salir de su casa.

“Me cansé de ir a esos médicos y me cansé de hablar con ellos”, dijo Downie. “No me malinterpreten, no digo que los médicos sean malos. Solo digo que, en mi experiencia personal, lo que viví no fue positivo. Y llega un punto en el que tienes que probar algo nuevo, y es por eso que estoy aquí”.

También tuvo un trauma en su vida que nunca había enfrentado realmente. Cuando Downie tenía 8 años, su padre murió en un accidente automovilístico que lo llevó a practicar hockey. Lanzarse profundamente en el deporte fue su única forma de sobrellevar la muerte de su padre. Al igual que Cote, su compañero de equipo en los Flyers durante dos años, jugó de manera imprudente imprudente, lanzándose a colisiones violentas que lo dejaban a él y a sus oponentes ensangrentados.

Después de una carrera juvenil empañada por una controversia de novatos, Downie comenzó su primera temporada en la NHL, en 2007, con una suspensión de 20 juegos por un brutal control en las tablas en un competencia de pretemporada que envió a su oponente fuera del hielo en camilla.

Sigue siendo una de las suspensiones más largas jamás emitidas por la liga. En la prensa de hockey, fue etiquetado como un villano, un matón y un psicótico extremo. Las palabras le dolieron un poco, incluso cuando trató de reírse de ellas.

“No tengo dientes y soy pequeño, así que no pueden estar tan equivocados”, dijo Downie. “¿Bien? Al final del día, era un trabajo. Hice lo que me pidieron”.

Durante sus nueve temporadas jugando para cinco equipos de la NHL, sufrió más conmociones cerebrales de las que podía recordar. Sordo de un oído, al borde de las lágrimas todos los días y bastante seguro de que estaba bebiendo demasiado, Downie, que ahora tiene 36 años, se miraba en el espejo algunos días y se preguntaba si estaría muerto en seis meses.

No sabía nada sobre psicodélicos, solo que Cote le había dicho que lo ayudaría cuando Downie estuviera listo.

“Llamé a Riley y le dije: ‘Necesito algo, hombre’. Me cansé de ir a los médicos y hablar con ellos”, dijo Downie. “Muchas de las pastillas que te dan, te comen el cerebro. Realmente no te ayudan”.

Justin Renfrow, un jugador de línea de 33 años que jugó en la NFL y en Canadá, llegó en busca de claridad. Estaba considerando retirarse del fútbol profesional, algo que lo asustaba y lo emocionaba. Había estado jugando durante la mitad de su vida, y el juego era una gran parte de su identidad. Fue la última conexión que tuvo con su abuela, una de las personas más importantes de su vida. Ella fue la que iba a los viajes de reclutamiento con él. Después de su muerte en 2021, Renfrow sintió que una parte de ella todavía estaba con él mientras jugara.

Pero después de una década de jugar profesionalmente, el cuerpo de Renfrow estaba maltratado. Le dolía una de las rodillas. Había llegado a odiar las drogas farmacéuticas. Dijo que los médicos del equipo le habían recetado tantos medicamentos diferentes, incluidos los que cubren el estómago y los bloqueadores de los nervios para que pudiera tomar más analgésicos, que su cuerpo comenzó a experimentar terribles efectos secundarios.

Dijo que una vez tuvo una reacción tan mala a una combinación de analgésicos que le habían dado que necesitó atención médica después de sudar a través de su ropa y tener problemas para respirar.

“Es solo, ‘Necesitamos llegar a los playoffs, así que toma esto'”, dijo Renfrow. “Lanzó mi cuerpo en picada”.

Había usado hongos psicodélicos en numerosas ocasiones, principalmente como una forma de lidiar con el dolor provocado por el fútbol americano, pero nunca los había usado como parte de una ceremonia o para meditar. En este viaje, buscó claridad. ¿Era hora de alejarse del fútbol? Le apasionaba la cocina y estaba pensando en iniciar su propio programa en YouTube. Tal vez era hora de cambiar su enfoque y dejar que el fútbol se desvaneciera.

“Tengo muchas personas que dependen de mí todos los días”, dijo Renfrow.

Los atletas esperaban que la ceremonia los ayudara a obtener respuestas.

La investigación sobre psicodélicos es prometedora y emocionante, pero la efectividad de los hongos como tratamiento no está del todo establecida. Pero incluso si la psilocibina y otros psicodélicos resultan ser nada más que un placebo, lo que algunos investigadores dicen que es posible, muchos atletas juran que están encontrando un alivio real de la ansiedad, la depresión y otros traumas persistentes de sus días de juego.

Con un mercado global potencial multimillonario, también hay un gran incentivo financiero. Wake es solo una de un número creciente de nuevas empresas con fines de lucro respaldadas por dinero de inversión privada que buscan una parte del tratamiento psicodélico.

Eventualmente, ellos y otros esperan abrir centros de tratamiento o vender las drogas en los Estados Unidos y Canadá. En Canadá, la producción, venta o posesión de hongos psicodélicos son ilegales.

Durante el retiro de Jamaica, los líderes de Wake dieron una presentación a los participantes sobre cómo podrían invertir en la empresa.

Macleod dijo que se interesó en la terapia psicodélica no como una oportunidad comercial, sino después de que perdió a su hermana, Heather, hace seis años por suicidio.

Perderla lo llevó a buscar respuestas. Su hermana había sido esquiadora competitiva en Canadá, pero una serie de caídas le provocaron múltiples conmociones cerebrales y durante su vida adulta tuvo ansiedad y depresión. La medicina tradicional le falló repetidamente, dijo Macleod. Cada semana, se encuentra deseando haber sabido lo que sabe ahora y haberlo usado para intentar salvarla.

“No puedo decirte cuántas personas vienen a mí que están luchando como mi hermana”, dijo. “Dios, desearía que ella pudiera estar aquí. Sé que ella nos estaría animando. La veo a veces mirándonos desde arriba y diciendo: ‘Ayuda a otras personas que estaban atrapadas donde yo estaba'”.

Ansiosas por llevar los tratamientos psicodélicos a los consumidores, las empresas corporativas a menudo extrapolan los resultados de la investigación de ensayos clínicos estrictamente controlados con pacientes cuidadosamente seleccionados para promover un uso más amplio por parte de la población general en casi cualquier entorno.

“La presión por los psicodélicos generalmente está siendo impulsada por personas que quieren ganar dinero, mucho más que por científicos”, dijo Kevin Sabet, ex asesor principal de la Oficina de Política Nacional de Control de Drogas de la Casa Blanca, y ahora presidente y director ejecutivo de Smart Approaches to Marijuana, un grupo político que se opone a la legalización de la marihuana.

“¿Por qué dejaríamos que los inversionistas de Wall Street, que son realmente los que están aquí tratando de ganar dinero, lideren la conversación?”, agregó.

La comercialización podría ser tanto buena como mala para los psicodélicos. Por un lado, podría proporcionar financiación para la investigación; por otro, el deseo de rentabilizar esa inversión podría influir indebidamente en los resultados y poner en riesgo a los pacientes.

“Tu modelo de negocio no va a funcionar bien cuando alguien salta por la ventana y aparece en la portada de The New York Times”, dijo Johnson, el investigador de Johns Hopkins.

La investigación clínica también debe superar la imagen del hongo como una droga de fiesta, algo que los hippies comparten en bolsas de plástico en las últimas filas de los conciertos.

Para cambiar esa narrativa, dicen Wake y otras compañías, se están inclinando mucho hacia la ciencia. Esto no es una búsqueda de emociones, dicen, sino una medicina legítima que trata condiciones psiquiátricas reales.

Es el mismo argumento que hicieron los defensores de la legalización de la marihuana, ya sea que lo creyeran o lo estuvieran usando como un medio para un fin: presionar para legalizar el cannabis como medicina antes de abrir las puertas al uso recreativo sin restricciones.

Los líderes de Wake, como la mayoría de los ejecutivos en el universo psicodélico, han dicho que están comprometidos a ayudar en la investigación para demostrar a los reguladores federales que la psilocibina es segura y efectiva. Las muestras de sangre y saliva que recolectó un médico en el retiro de Wake, dijeron, se usarían para identificar marcadores genéticos que podrían predecir quién responderá al tratamiento con psilocibina.

El equipo de Wake hizo que los participantes usaran un casco que contenía tecnología de imágenes experimentales que se había utilizado en ensayos clínicos para rastrear la actividad cerebral antes, durante y después de las experiencias psicodélicas. Como parte de la investigación, los participantes usaron el casco mientras jugaban juegos de palabras.

Muchos investigadores académicos se preguntan si algunas empresas simplemente están aplicando un barniz de ciencia a un esfuerzo por hacer dinero, lo que muchos escépticos denominan “teatro placebo”.

De hecho, Aaronson teme que el campo pronto pueda estar “lleno de vendedores ambulantes”.

“El problema que tienes es que, como era de esperar, las redes sociales y las comunicaciones funcionan mucho más rápido que la ciencia”, dijo. “Entonces, todos están tratando de tener en sus manos estas cosas porque creen que será increíble”.

Aaronson ha diseñado protocolos de ensayos clínicos para Compass Pathways, una empresa competidora con fines de lucro que busca comercializar tratamientos con psilocibina, y ha rechazado a otras empresas que buscan crear una huella en el espacio psicodélico. (Aaronson recibe fondos de Compass para respaldar su investigación, pero dijo que no tiene ningún interés financiero directo en la empresa).

“Me preocupa quién respalda el juego de algunas de estas compañías y trato de averiguar qué es lo que realmente busca alguien”, dijo. “Hablas con la gente y ves si hay un plan real para investigar o si hay un plan real para vender algo”.

***

Un murmullo de tensión nerviosa perduraba en el aire mientras los atletas se preparaban para la ceremonia. En el desayuno, no hubo muchas conversaciones triviales. Los asistentes se arremolinaron y se registraron con el personal médico de Wake para ofrecer sus muestras de sangre y saliva. Algunos participaron en una clase de yoga en un estudio al aire libre con vista a la jungla.

Wake había contratado a una chamán jamaicana, una mujer llamada Sherece Cowan, una empresaria de comida vegana que fue finalista de Miss Universe Jamaica 2012, para dirigir a los atletas en la ceremonia. Pidió que la llamaran Sita y se refirió a sí misma como facilitadora de medicina natural.

Habló lenta y deliberadamente, agitando el humo de una urna mientras instaba a los participantes a reunirse en círculo en el césped de la finca. Después de beber una dosis de 3 a 5 gramos de psilocibina, que había sido molida en polvo y mezclada con jugo de naranja, los atletas cayeron en un estado de sueño durante las próximas cuatro a seis horas.

“Espero que obtengas todo lo que necesitas. Puede que no sea todo lo que estás pidiendo, pero espero que recibas todo lo que necesitas”, dijo Cowan. “Bendiciones en tu viaje”.

Un músico local comenzó a tocar, sus tambores y campanas pretendían realzar el viaje. La mayoría de los atletas yacían sobre colchonetas, como si durmieran. Cote se sentó en una pose de yoga. Nick Murray, director ejecutivo de Wake, le había pedido a Cote que usara un casco especial, un dispositivo de electroencefalografía más pequeño que el otro casco, para medir su actividad cerebral.

Excepto por los tambores y las campanas del músico, todo estaba en silencio. De vez en cuando, el viento agitaba las hojas de los árboles en el límite de la propiedad, pero durante las siguientes seis horas, dentro del círculo, el tiempo casi se detuvo.

Dos horas después de la ceremonia, después de que el psicodélico había hecho efecto, lo que estaba ocurriendo pasaba dentro de las cabezas de los atletas. Cote, sorprendentemente, seguía manteniendo su postura de yoga.

El silencio se rompió cuando Renfrow se levantó de su estera después de tres horas. Llevaba una sudadera en la ceremonia con sus iniciales, JR, estampadas en el pecho. Se quitó la camisa de su cuerpo con frustración y la arrojó a un lado.

Las lágrimas se derramaron por su rostro.

Cuando la ceremonia terminó, los atletas comenzaron a sentarse y algunos charlaron en voz baja.

La mayoría no estaba seguro de cómo describir la experiencia. Para algunos, se sintió como un descenso a los rincones de la mente, con colores y emociones mezclándose. Otros dijeron que enfrentaron traumas que pensaron que habían enterrado o emociones que querían reprimir. Dijeron sentir una conexión con las otras personas en el círculo.

“Es el último asesino del ego porque, al menos para mí, te da una empatía increíble que nunca antes habías sentido”, dijo Lee. “Cuando estás haciendo un viaje con otras personas, te ves a tí mismo en ellos. Es casi como si estuvieras caminando frente a un espejo, diferentes espejos. Ves partes de tí mismo en todos y te das cuenta de que todos estamos conectados y todos estamos pasando por algo, todos tenemos algún tipo de dolor, y eso te vuelve humilde”.

La mayoría de los atletas se quedaron solos para poder anotar sus pensamientos en un diario, siguiendo las instrucciones del personal de Wake. Habría una sesión de terapia comunitaria a la mañana siguiente.

A cada uno se le pediría que compartiera algo de su viaje.

***

Al final, la mayoría de los curiosos sobre la psilocibina simplemente quieren saber: ¿Funciona? Y, ¿cómo funciona? Los científicos dicen que esas son preguntas difíciles de responder en este momento.

Investigadores han descubierto que los psicodélicos clásicos, como la psilocibina y el LSD, actúan sobre el receptor de serotonina 2A, el mismo receptor al que se apuntan los antidepresivos más comunes del mercado. Pero más allá de eso, la comprensión de cómo funcionan para ayudar a las personas es, en este punto, más teoría o conjetura que hecho científico.

Johnson, el investigador de Johns Hopkins, dijo que la psilocibina ayuda a aumentar la apertura en las personas, permitiéndoles salir de su visión de quiénes son. Alguien que se resigna a ser un fumador que no puede dejar de fumar o una persona con depresión que no puede encontrar la felicidad puede, bajo la influencia de los psicodélicos, verse a sí mismo de una manera diferente, explicó.

“Una vez que están fuera de la trampa mental, se vuelve tan obvio para las personas con estos diferentes trastornos que, ‘¿Sabes qué? Puedo simplemente decidir dejar de fumar. Puedo dejar de lado mi tristeza’”, dijo Johnson.

Estudios con ratas muestran que los psicodélicos también parecen aumentar la conectividad neuronal en el cerebro, incluso después de una sola dosis. Eso podría ayudar al cerebro a recuperarse de lesiones traumáticas o conmociones cerebrales, encontrando nuevos caminos alrededor de las áreas dañadas.

La teoría predominante de cómo la psilocibina y otros psicodélicos podrían ayudar a tratar la salud mental es que reprimen la actividad en la red de modo predeterminado del cerebro. Es un conjunto de regiones del cerebro que se activan cuando las personas reflexionan sobre algo, y una de las pocas partes que está hiperactiva en las personas con depresión.

A menudo revisan los errores que cometieron una y otra vez o se castigan continuamente por ellos, dijo LaPratt, el investigador de Sheppard Pratt. Esa hiperactividad en la red de modo predeterminado conduce a patrones repetitivos de pensamientos negativos. ¿Qué me pasa? ¿Por qué soy tan infeliz? De los cuales la persona no puede escapar.

Las personas con depresión suelen reflexionar sobre el pasado; personas con ansiedad, sobre el futuro.

“Es posible que surja algo y luego el cerebro comience a pensar, y nuevamente, como ese disco rayado”, dijo LaPratt. “Puede ser muy fácil comenzar a pensar en cómo todo podría salir mal y comenzar a dramatizar”.

Ese pensamiento repetitivo también prevalece en personas con otras afecciones, incluido el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo y el trastorno por estrés postraumático. Comienza a afectar el sentido de quiénes son; se definen a sí mismos por su condición.

Pero los psicodélicos parecen ayudar a las personas a examinar viejos traumas sin volver a caer en el mismo ciclo destructivo. Pueden ayudar a las personas a sentirse más conectadas con los demás. La depresión y la ansiedad no se borran simplemente, dijo LaPratt, sino que las personas pueden obtener una nueva perspectiva de sus problemas y comenzar a sentir, tal vez por primera vez, que pueden deshacerse de ellos.

“Vemos una mayor apertura y cierta motivación para cambiar los comportamientos”, dijo.

La mayoría de los psicodélicos están fuera del sistema de una persona a la mañana siguiente, pero, según los investigadores, esa mayor apertura puede durar semanas o meses sin dosis adicionales, lo que brinda una ventana durante la cual pueden comenzar a abordar sus problemas.

“Quizás estemos ayudando a las personas a llegar al punto de poder aceptar las cosas que no pueden cambiar y cambiar las cosas que sí pueden”, dijo Aaronson, haciéndose eco de la Oración de la serenidad, que a menudo se usa en los ejercicios de 12 pasos de los programas de recuperación. “Se les quita autonomía personal a las personas con depresión. No sienten que puedan operar en su mejor interés. Se ven atrapados en un conflicto interno. Y creo que esto les ayuda a ir más allá de eso”.

Por la mañana, los atletas se reunieron en un patio para una forma de terapia de grupo llamada integración. Estaba previsto que durara al menos dos horas. Macleod explicó que era una parte esencial para comprender el viaje de la psilocibina. Todos los asistentes tuvieron la oportunidad de compartir algo de su experiencia, ya fuera esclarecedor, confuso, edificante o una mezcla de muchas emociones.

Lee habló sobre su ansiedad, sobre tratar de entender cuál sería su identidad ahora que no era boxeador. Al alejarse del ring, temía estar decepcionando a todas las personas que lo apoyaron cuando eligió una carrera de boxeo en lugar de un trabajo en finanzas después de graduarse de Notre Dame.

Pero ahora había llegado a comprender que esas eran sus propias inseguridades. Podía seguir su propio camino. Podría ayudar a las personas que experimentan un dolor físico y emocional similar.

Renfrow respiró hondo varias veces mientras buscaba las palabras. Durante la mayor parte de su vida, se había visto a sí mismo como un jugador de fútbol americano. Pero en su viaje de psilocibina, sintió como si los miembros de su familia le dijeran que estaba bien dejarlo ir. Cuando se puso de pie durante la ceremonia y se quitó la camisa con sus iniciales, dijo que, simbólicamente, estaba soltando algo.

“Está bien dejar de perseguir el viaje del fútbol”, dijo Renfrow. “No voy a vestirme bien este año y eso está bien para mí. Seré capaz de resolverlo.

Al decir adiós al fútbol, dijo, se estaba despidiendo de su abuela.

“El fútbol era ella”, dijo Renfrow, y comenzó a llorar. “Fuimos a todos mis viajes de reclutamiento. Así que tuve que dejarla ir dejando ir al fútbol. Y ese fue un gran momento cuando me puse de pie. Tuve que dejarla ir. Así que fue difícil, pero tenía que hacerlo”.

Cuando fue el turno de Downie, trató de calmar la tensión bromeando, diciendo que era hora de ir a comer. No quería abrirse al grupo, dijo. Había escrito algunas notas en una hoja de papel. Sus manos temblaban mientras trataba de leerlas.

“No estaba bebiendo y no estaba consumiendo drogas por diversión”, dijo Downie con voz temblorosa. “Estaba adormeciendo mi cerebro porque estaba jodido. No pude salir de mi camino de entrada durante un año. Me senté en cuartos oscuros y recurrí a las drogas y el alcohol”.

Pero dijo que en el viaje psicodélico pudo conectarse con su pasado. “Estoy sentado allí y estoy repasando mi cerebro, estoy hablando con mi papá, estoy hablando con los miembros de mi familia. He pedido perdón a todos los que podría pedir perdón”, dijo. “Me hizo llorar. Me hizo sentir bien”.

Se dio cuenta, a través del viaje, que quería ser un mejor hombre. Su voz temblaba mientras trataba de pronunciar las palabras.

“Al final de todo esto, creo que lo que he aprendido es cómo controlar lo que sucede. yo tengo el control. Puedo controlar esto”, dijo. “Me iré a casa y me identificaré y ejecutaré y seré un mejor padre y me quedaré para mis hijos, lidiaré con mis conmociones cerebrales lo mejor que pueda”.

Se giró para mirar directamente a Cote, las lágrimas corrían por sus mejillas detrás de sus gafas de sol.

“Quiero decir esto, hermano, cuando digo que me salvaste la vida”.

Cuando las palabras de Downie dieron paso al silencio, Lee se levantó de su silla. Cruzó el círculo, se acercó a Downie y abrió los brazos. Los dos luchadores, que llegaron a Jamaica tristes y destrozados, se abrazaron.

***

Si bien los estudios han encontrado que la psilocibina junto con la terapia es más efectiva que la terapia sola, no está claro si la psilocibina sola, sin el trabajo preparatorio o la integración posterior, tiene algún efecto.

“Hay una razón por la cual las personas que van a raves y toman psilocibina no se curan”, dijo Aaronson. “La psilocibina no es un antidepresivo”.

Incluso dentro de los estrictos protocolos de ensayos clínicos, la pregunta sigue siendo si la terapia asistida por psilocibina funciona. Los estudios preliminares han sido prometedores, pero el número de sujetos de prueba ha sido pequeño. Se necesitan estudios mucho más amplios para determinar tanto la seguridad como la eficacia.

Aún así, eso no ha impedido que los defensores de la psilocibina promocionen la investigación hasta la fecha, lo que implica que es más definitiva de lo que es. Además, muchos evangelistas de los hongos atribuyen los efectos positivos de los ensayos clínicos al consumo de psilocibina en general, descartando los protocolos utilizados en los estudios.

En el retiro de Wake en Jamaica, por ejemplo, los atletas tomaron psilocibina en ceremonias grupales guiadas por Cowan, la chamán local, mientras que las sesiones de integración grupal fueron dirigidas por un médico osteópata. Ninguno de los dos era un psicoterapeuta autorizado, dijo Murray. No está claro si los beneficios de la terapia con psilocibina sugeridos por la investigación clínica se aplicarían a un entorno grupal, para la dosificación o la integración.

Murray, director ejecutivo de Wake, dijo que si bien la investigación clínica se esfuerza por eliminar cualquier variable, como las interacciones entre los participantes, los líderes de Wake sienten que el entorno grupal ofrece beneficios a sus clientes.

“Es ese grupo que siente que, ‘Estamos juntos en esto. Mi divorcio es como tu divorcio. Perdí a un hermano’”, dijo. “Eso es difícil de poner en un ensayo clínico”.

Wake se había registrado para realizar un ensayo clínico en Jamaica, pero Murray dijo que la compañía finalmente decidió no continuar, centrándose, en cambio, en ofrecer tratamiento.

Aún así, Murray dijo que Wake está contribuyendo a la investigación científica: recolectaron muestras de sangre y saliva, y se les pidió a los participantes que completaran cuestionarios antes y después del retiro para ayudar a evaluar si el tratamiento había funcionado.

Murray dijo que Wake usa los mismos cuestionarios validados clínicamente que se usan en el consultorio de un psiquiatra.

“Entonces, no es teatro. Estas son las herramientas reales que se utilizan”, dijo. Sin embargo, sería difícil con el enfoque de Wake analizar si los hongos y la integración ayudaron a los participantes u otras influencias, como estar de vacaciones en Jamaica, estar entre un grupo de compañeros de apoyo o la marihuana que muchos de ellos fumaban regularmente durante el retiro.

“Al menos tienes que escuchar y tomarlo en serio. Hay anécdotas de personas que dicen que se habrían suicidado”, dijo Johnson. “A veces ves solo la experiencia de ‘full monty’, donde esta persona está allí en una trayectoria oscura, oscura y toda su vida cambia. Sospecho que esto es real. Algo está pasando con estos atletas que hacen estos informes”.

Las anécdotas brillantes, particularmente cuando provienen de atletas o celebridades de alto perfil, tienen peso entre el público y ayudan a impulsar medidas como las de Oregon y Colorado que están estableciendo vías para el tratamiento con psilocibina, independientemente de lo que piensen los investigadores o los reguladores.

“Cuando las personas están molestas y no satisfacemos sus necesidades, van a probar cosas”, dijo Atheir Abbas, profesor asistente de neurociencia del comportamiento en la Oregon Health & Science University. “Con suerte, los científicos pueden ponerse al día para comprender por qué las personas piensan que esto es realmente útil. Y tal vez sea útil, pero tratemos de averiguar si lo es y cómo”.

Pero existe el peligro de tomar estas historias, sin importar cuán convincentes sean, y extrapolar su seguridad o eficacia.

“La parte difícil es que el plural de anécdota no son datos”, dijo Sabet, el CEO de Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “Y los datos aún no están allí”.

***

Un año después del retiro, Downie, Renfrow y Lee dijeron que creían que su viaje con la psilocibina los había ayudado. No solucionó mágicamente todos sus problemas, pero cada uno lo consideró una experiencia positiva.

Downie ya no siente que está atrapado en un lugar oscuro. Dijo que cuando regresó a Ontario, su familia notó una diferencia de inmediato.

“Ese viaje me dio mucha claridad”, dijo Downie. “Te da direcciones. Te da respuestas internamente. Es algo único que experimenté. Mi año fue definitivamente mejor que el año anterior, eso es seguro… ¿Creo que podría ayudar a otras personas? Yo diría que sí. ¿Me ayudó? Absolutamente”.

Sin sentirse más como un prisionero en su casa, Downie comenzó un campamento de motos de nieve que lleva a los adultos en aventuras guiadas por Moosonee, cerca de James Bay. Es algo que solía hacer con su familia antes de que despegara su carrera en el hockey.

“No es mucho de lo que presumir, pero es lo más al norte al que puedes ir en una moto de nieve en Ontario”, dijo Downie. “Vienen muchos adultos de todas partes. Es una experiencia genial. Siempre ha sido una de mis pasiones”.

Todavía tiene problemas persistentes por sus conmociones cerebrales y sospecha que siempre los tendrá.

“Es lo que es”, dijo. “¿Diría que está mejorando? Es un proceso”.

El resultado más positivo ha sido la alegría que ha encontrado en ser padre.

“Mi pequeño está empezando a enamorarse del hockey, que es algo que he estado esperando”, dijo Downie.

Aunque Downie no ha realizado otro viaje con psilocibina, dijo que estaría abierto a hacerlo.

Renfrow salió de la ceremonia con la intención de retirarse del fútbol profesional, pero tres meses después volvió a firmar con Edmonton Elks de la Canadian Football League. Este año, se unió a los Jacksonville Sharks de la National Arena League, en parte para estar más cerca de su hijo.

“En ese momento, pensé que iba a dejar el fútbol”, dijo.

Pero se siente cómodo donde está y dice que está cumpliendo sus objetivos, incluido presentar ese programa de cocina en YouTube que esperaba hacer. Y dijo que se está divirtiendo de nuevo. Ahora recurre a los hongos cada vez que tiene que tomar una gran decisión.

“Creo de todo corazón en eso y en todo el tipo de orientación que me ha dado”, dijo. “No podrías pedir algo mejor, haber seguido la guía de un viaje con hongos”.

Lee se mudó de California a Austin, Texas, y ahora dirige un negocio de CBD con su hermana. Encontrar su identidad posterior al boxeo sigue siendo un proceso. En sus viajes psicodélicos en el retiro de Wake, dijo Lee, nunca pensó en deportes o boxeo. Sus visiones eran todas sobre la familia, Dios, el universo.

“Simplemente me hace darme cuenta de la importancia que le estoy dando a algo que a mi subconsciente ni siquiera le importa”, dijo. “A mi subconsciente no le importa que sea boxeador, que fui luchador e hice esto y aquello. Es todo tipo de ego”.

La experiencia, dijo, lo ayudó a comprender cuán poderosa puede ser la mente, que puede ser un amigo o un enemigo.

“Salí de eso dándome cuenta de que tengo todas las herramientas para curarme a mí mismo”, dijo. “Eso es enorme. Porque, especialmente para los muchachos que han tenido conmociones cerebrales o atletas o lo que sea, te sientes un poco aislado, te sientes solo, te sientes sin esperanza. Así que te da un sentido de esperanza”.

Le permitió ir más allá de la necesidad de probarse a sí mismo, en el ring o fuera de él, para dejar de medir su valor por sus logros. Se ha obsesionado con actividades mucho más tranquilas y no violentas: el surf y el pickleball.

“Puedo apagar mi cerebro como en el boxeo”, dijo. “Pero al mismo tiempo, es más fácil para mi cuerpo y simplemente, no sé, más satisfactorio. No tengo que probar nada”.

El viaje a Jamaica le está permitiendo salir adelante, hacer el trabajo necesario para sanar.

“Una parte de mí entró con la esperanza de que todos mis problemas se resolvieran, pero poner esas expectativas puede ser difícil”, dijo. “¿Estoy curado? No. ¿Pero realmente ayudó? ¿Y fue como una de las experiencias más profundas de mi vida?

“Yo diría que sí”.

Este artículo fue producido y escrito por Markian Hawryluk de KFF Health News y Kevin Van Valkenburg de ESPN. El investigador John Mastroberardino colaboró con la historia.

Si tu mismo o alguien que conoces puede estar experimentando una crisis de salud mental, llama o envía un mensaje de texto a la Línea de vida de crisis y suicidio al 988 o a la Línea de texto de crisis enviando un mensaje de texto con “HOME” al 741741. En Canadá, llama a Talk Suicide Canada al 1-833- 456-4566 o envía un mensaje de texto al 45645 de 4 pm a medianoche ET.

[Nota del editor: como parte del reportaje de este artículo, algunos miembros del equipo de reporteros de ESPN, bajo la guía del personal de Wake Network, usaron psilocibina. Wake Network fue compensado, pero no por ESPN.]

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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This Probiotic Helps People Poop Regularly & Ease Bloat From Day 1* - mindbodygreen

This Probiotic Helps People Poop Regularly & Ease Bloat From Day 1* mindbodygreen
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Probiotics: What you need to know | Health Jamaica Gleaner
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PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization

Vaccination Week in the Americas starts: Get up to date, #EachVaccineCounts

Cristina Mitchell

24 Apr 2023

…

Vaccination Week in the Americas starts: Get up to date, #EachVaccineCounts

Cristina Mitchell

24 Apr 2023

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Global partners announce a new effort – “The Big Catch-up” – to vaccinate millions of children and restore immunization progress lost during the pandemic - World Health Organization

Global partners announce a new effort – “The Big Catch-up” – to vaccinate millions of children and restore immunization progress lost during the pandemic World Health Organization
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Barbados health minister urges people of the Americas to get vaccinated Jamaica Star Online

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Health News Today on Fox News

Carbon monoxide deaths are climbing, putting families in peril: ‘My son is lucky to be alive’

Often dubbed "the silent killer," carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless — it’s been shown to cause severe injury or death in hours or even minutes.

Between 2009 and 2019, deaths from non-fire-related carbon monoxide poisoning have been on the rise, according to a new report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) last month.

…

Often dubbed "the silent killer," carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless — it’s been shown to cause severe injury or death in hours or even minutes.

There were 250 deaths related to consumer products in 2019, more than in any other year in the report.

Some 40% of those deaths were caused by engine-driven tools, including generators, power washers and lawn mowers.

BAHAMAS SANDALS DEATHS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING, A QUIET KILLER

Heating systems were behind another 28% of the deaths, the report said.

Kristie Dusenberry, a mother and grandmother who lives with her family on a farm in American Falls, Idaho, knows all too well the devastating impacts of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Her 21-year-old son, Brenden Dusenberry, nearly died recently when fumes filled his small apartment.

About four months ago, her son had moved to Utah, where he was living in an apartment above his uncle’s garage.

"He was excited about living closer to friends and had started a new job," Dusenberry told Fox News Digital in an interview.

When a few family members tried to call Dusenberry’s son over the weekend, no one was able to reach him.

Around midnight on Sunday, Dusenberry got a call from her niece, who also lives at the house.

"She said Brenden was on the floor in the bathroom, couldn’t feel his left side and was throwing up," she said. "No one had seen or heard from him for more than 24 hours."

When first responders arrived, they suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Tests confirmed dangerously high levels in the room where Dusenberry’s son was found.

Over the next few hours, Dusenberry slowly pieced together what had happened.

Her son had gotten very sick over the course of the day, then woke up in the middle of the night with severe thirst. When he tried to get out of bed, his entire left side had gone completely numb.

"Brenden fell and hit his head on a dresser, then tumbled down the stairs to the bathroom, and that's where they found him," Dusenberry explained.

The source of the fumes was a new heater for the outdoor swimming pool, which had just been hooked up and was kept in the garage below the room where Dusenberry’s son was living.

Something had malfunctioned with the heater — causing carbon monoxide to fill the air.

One of the doctors told Dusenberry that carbon monoxide is lighter than air.

"It actually floats and can go through sheet rock, or through any crack in the wall," she said.

While Dusenberry realizes her son is lucky to be alive, she worries about his long and uncertain road to recovery.

"Brenden’s heart is not fully working right now," she told Fox News Digital. "His lungs were inflamed when he got to the hospital, and he had to be put in a hyperbaric chamber to increase his oxygen levels."

TEXAS CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK HOSPITALIZES 6, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is sometimes used for people who have moderate to severe carbon monoxide poisoning as a means of reducing the long-term cognitive effects. That's according to Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, medical toxicologist and co-medical director at the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C.

"People who have confusion, heart rhythm abnormalities or other evidence of heart damage, and other serious signs or symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, are potential candidates for hyperbaric oxygen therapy," she told Fox News Digital.

The doctors also realized that Dusenberry’s son’s kidneys weren’t functioning correctly, which meant he had to receive dialysis treatments.

"Brenden also has nerve damage on the left side of his body, and the doctors said it could take up to a year before he can use his left arm again," Dusenberry said.

"He still can’t walk, and he can’t keep any food or fluids down."

She added, "They did say that all the carbon monoxide is gone — but all the damage it caused is not."

Dr. Dung Trinh, a brain health expert and owner of The Healthy Brain Clinic in Long Beach, California, said the most dangerous outcomes of carbon monoxide poisoning can include death, permanent organ damage and long-term neurological effects.

"Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that can bind to hemoglobin in the blood, reducing its ability to carry oxygen, leading to tissue hypoxia and damage to vital organs," he told Fox News Digital via email.

LOVE THAT ‘NEW CAR SMELL’? STUDY SAYS THERE ARE CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICALS TO CONSIDER

In cases where carbon monoxide poisoning is fatal, Trinh said the specific cause of death is often related to severe tissue hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in the tissues) and damage to the brain, heart or lungs, which can lead to respiratory failure, cardiac arrest or other life-threatening complications.

The effects of carbon monoxide poisoning can vary, depending on the severity of the exposure and individual factors, the doctor explained.

"In some cases, with prompt and appropriate medical treatment, the effects may be reversible, while in other cases, they may be permanent," he said.

Certain people may be at a higher risk of dying or not recovering fully from carbon monoxide poisoning, such as infants, elderly individuals, pregnant women and those with pre-existing respiratory or cardiac conditions, the doctor said.

Those who survive carbon monoxide poisoning may experience adverse long-term effects.

"These can include neurological symptoms like memory problems, difficulty concentrating and mood changes, as well as respiratory and cardiac issues, depending on the severity and duration of exposure," Trinh said.

Dawn Quintana, a 56-year-old former IT worker in Lake Point, Utah, experienced carbon monoxide poisoning at her workplace in 2013, when machinery was being used inside with all the doors and windows closed.

TOXIC CHEMICAL POISONING: HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED? HOW TO KNOW

After repeated daily exposure — 10 hours a day, five days a week, for 90 days — Quintana was regularly experiencing severe flu-like symptoms and lost her sense of taste.

When she was finally tested at the hospital, her levels of exposure were dangerously high.

To this day, even after seven years of therapy, Quintana still experiences the lingering cognitive effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Sometimes I know what I want to say, but it doesn't come out," she told Fox News Digital in an email.

She also struggles with reading: "I can look at something and read it silently just fine, but if I try to read out loud, the letters start to fall away from the page and the left side of the page goes blank."

Quintana has not been able to return to work. She can no longer look at computer screens without getting dizzy and nauseated. Her relationships with friends and family have suffered.

"The struggle that I go through daily — the loss of dignity — I would not wish it upon my worst enemy," she said.

Each year, carbon monoxide poisoning claims the lives of at least 420 people and sends more than 100,000 people to emergency rooms in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The good news is that it’s 100% preventable.

"Some strategies for safety and precaution against carbon monoxide poisoning include regular maintenance and inspection of fuel-burning appliances, proper ventilation in enclosed spaces, using carbon monoxide detectors and avoiding the use of fuel-burning appliances indoors or in enclosed spaces without proper ventilation," Trinh said.

You may not be able to see, smell or taste carbon monoxide — but a working carbon monoxide detector can enable you to "hear" it, said Johnson-Arbor.

"Carbon monoxide detectors can be purchased for [about] $20 at big-box retailers, home improvement stores or even on Amazon," she told Fox News Digital.

Residential carbon monoxide detectors can be plugged into an electrical outlet or can be hard-wired into a home’s electric system, Johnson-Arbor said.

"Because carbon monoxide poisoning can cause excessive sleepiness, it’s important to have a detector installed within 10 feet of every sleeping area of your home," she said.

Additionally, she recommends bringing a portable carbon monoxide detector when traveling, because some hotels or vacation rentals may not have them installed.

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For plug-in detectors, the batteries should be replaced every six months or after any prolonged power outage.

"Never ignore an alarming carbon monoxide detector," Johnson-Arbor added. "These devices can save your life."

While many people associate carbon monoxide poisoning as a risk during the winter months due to malfunctioning furnaces and lack of ventilation, precautions should be taken year-round, warned Johnson-Arbor.

"During the summer months, people can be poisoned by carbon monoxide from faulty swimming pool heaters, indoor use of barbecue grills, gas-powered clothes dryers and other equipment," she told Fox News Digital.

If you suspect a case of carbon monoxide poisoning, it is crucial to immediately evacuate the affected area and seek medical attention without delay, Trinh said.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning is a medical emergency and requires prompt medical intervention," he added.

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1 year 12 months ago

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Health News Today on Fox News

Be well: Catch skin cancer warning signs early with regular self-exams

Every day, more than 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, a New York City-based nonprofit.

Early detection and treatment is the key to a positive outcome, doctors say — and performing regular self-exams is the best way to catch the warning signs.

…

Every day, more than 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, a New York City-based nonprofit.

Early detection and treatment is the key to a positive outcome, doctors say — and performing regular self-exams is the best way to catch the warning signs.

The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends checking your skin from head to toe at least once a month.

HUGH JACKMAN UNDERGOES BIOPSIES FOR CANCER SCARE, EMPHASIZES SUNSCREEN USE

"A change to a mole, a sore that won’t heal or a new growth may be a warning sign of skin cancer," said Dr. Nandini Kulkarni, medical director of surgical oncology for Inspira Health in Vineland, New Jersey.

"By conducting regular skin checks, you will become familiar with the pattern of moles, blemishes, freckles and other marks on your skin," she said.

"When you notice a change, you should see your dermatologist."

Keep an eye out for any new, expanding or changing growths, spots or bumps on the skin, says the American Cancer Society.

Other warning signs include a sore that bleeds and/or doesn’t heal after several weeks, a rough or scaly patch of skin, a wart-like growth, or an irregularly shaped or colored mole.

"The letters A-B-C-D-E can help you remember what to look for," said Dr. Kulkarni.

These include:

A - Asymmetry

B - Borders (irregular, raised)

C - Color (especially change in color of a prior mole)

D - Diameter (larger than a pencil eraser)

E - Evolving changes

The best time to do a skin self-exam is after a shower or bath, according to Dr. Kulkarni.

For consistency, do the exam the same way each time.

Choose a well-lit room and use both a full-length mirror and a hand mirror to ensure that nothing gets missed, the doctor said.

SKIN CANCER CHECKS AND SUNSCREEN: WHY THESE (STILL) MATTER VERY MUCH FOR GOOD HEALTH

In addition to the more obvious areas, such as the face, arms, legs and sides, remember to check hidden spots like between the fingers, the soles of the feet and the scalp.

"If needed, ask someone for help when checking your skin," Dr. Kulkarni suggested.

"This can help with hard-to-see areas like your back and scalp."

"Skin cancer can occur anywhere on the body, even areas that are not exposed to the sun," said Dr. Kulkarni.

When examining your scalp, she suggests using a comb or blow-dryer to move your hair as you look so you can see more clearly.

The experts agree that self-exams should be a supplement to regular checks at the dermatologist, not a replacement.

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"Although you might become proficient at noticing changes to moles, freckles and other marks on your skin, differentiating between benign and malignant skin conditions takes years of training and practice," said Dr. Kulkarni.

She recommends seeing a dermatologist at least once a year, or more frequently if you have specific concerns about changes to your skin.

To read more pieces in Fox News Digital's "Be Well" series, click here.

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Medical News, Health News Latest, Medical News Today - Medical Dialogues |

Top Medical Colleges In Gujarat

Gujarat is situated along the western coast of India. Famous around the world for its rich cultural and historical heritage along with vibrant art, crafts, and textiles.

…

Gujarat has several medical colleges and institutions offering undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses. Gujarat, as of 2023, has 22 government colleges and 13 Private Medical Colleges, which collectively offer 6500 MBBS seats and 2483 PG seats.

Under Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS), 5 new medical colleges were set up in Gujarat in 2022, in Morbi, Porbandar, Navsari, Godhra and Rajpipla, which increased the number of medical seats in the state by 500. This goes in harmony with the central Governments endeavour to set up a medical in every district of India.

Admission to medical colleges in Gujarat is based on entrance exams conducted at the national level. The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) is the primary exam for admission to medical courses at the undergraduate level, while postgraduate admissions are based on NEET PG. The admission process is competitive, and students need to qualify for the entrance exam and meet the eligibility criteria set by the respective colleges and universities.

In Gujarat, the state counselling for NEET is conducted by the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Courses (ACPUGMEC). ACPUGMEC is responsible for conducting centralized counselling for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses in all government, grant-in-aid and self-financed colleges in the state.

To participate in counselling, candidates must first register on the ACPUGMEC website and pay the registration fees. The counselling process is conducted in several rounds, each allowing candidates to choose from the available seats and modify their choices based on their preferences and eligibility criteria.

After the counselling rounds are completed, the seat allotment list is published on the website. Candidates allotted a seat must report to the designated college within the specified timeframe to complete the admission process.

It is essential for candidates to regularly check the ACPUGMEC website for updates and announcements related to the counselling process. Candidates should also ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria for the counselling process, such as qualifying for NEET and meeting the minimum cutoff score required by the state.

Government Medical Colleges in Gujarat:1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot

AIIMS Rajkot is one of the six new AIIMS institutions announced by the Government of India in 2018.

The campus of AIIMS Rajkot is spread over an area of 201 acres and it has been built at the cost of around Rs 1,195 crore. The institute is expected to have 960 beds, including 300 beds for critical care, and it will offer undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical courses.

The institute aims to provide quality healthcare and medical education to people in the region and conduct research in various areas of medicine. AIIMS Rajkot will have several facilities, including an auditorium, library, laboratories, classrooms, and hostels for students and faculty. The institute will also have a helipad, which will be used to transport patients in emergencies.

2. B J Medical College, Ahmedabad

B J Medical College is a government medical college in Ahmedabad. It was established in 1871 and is affiliated with Gujarat University. The college offers MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS courses in various specialities of medicine and surgery.

The college has a campus with modern infrastructure and facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, a library, a hospital, and sports facilities. The hospital associated with the college, Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, is one of the largest government hospitals in India and serves as a major referral centre for patients from all over Gujarat.

3. Medical College, Baroda

The Medical College in Vadodara is a government medical institution situated in Vadodara. It was founded in 1946 and is affiliated with the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The college offers MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS programs in various fields of medicine and surgery.

The Medical College, Vadodara, is home to a knowledgeable and experienced faculty and is renowned for its outstanding academic achievements.

4. MP Shah Medical College, Jamnagar

MP Shah Medical College is a government medical college located in Jamnagar. It was established in 1954 and is affiliated with Saurashtra University. The college offers MBBS) and postgraduate (MD/MS) courses in various specialities.

The college has a modern campus with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, a library, a hospital, and sports facilities. The hospital associated with the college, Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, is a tertiary care hospital.

MP Shah Medical College has a highly qualified and experienced faculty and is renowned for its academic excellence. The college strongly emphasises research and has produced many renowned doctors and medical professionals who have made significant contributions to medicine.

5. Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad

Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College is a government medical college located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded in 1963 and is affiliated with Gujarat University. The college offers undergraduate (MBBS) and postgraduate programs MD/MS in various specialities.

The college features a state-of-the-art campus with excellent facilities and amenities, including classrooms, labs, a library, a hospital, and sporting venues. Smt. S. C. L. Hospital, a tertiary care facility affiliated with the institution, acts as a significant referral hub for patients from Ahmedabad and the surrounding areas.

Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College has a highly qualified and experienced faculty and is known for its academic excellence.

6. Government Medical College, Surat

GMC, Surat is a government medical college that was established in 1964. It is affiliated with Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS programs in diverse medical and surgical specialities.

The highly qualified and experienced faculty at Government Medical College, Surat, is renowned for its academic prowess, emphasizing research greatly. The college boasts a modern and well-equipped campus with advanced facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, a library, a hospital, and sports amenities. New Civil Hospital is a leading tertiary care centre associated with the medical college.

7. Government Medical College, Bhavnagar

Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, is a government-run medical college located in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Established in 1995, the college is affiliated with the Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University and offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS programs in various specialities of medicine and surgery.

The college campus has modern facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, a library, a hospital, and sports amenities. The hospital associated with the college, Sir T. General Hospital, is a large tertiary care hospital and acts as a major referral centre for patients from the Bhavnagar district and surrounding areas.

The college's highly experienced and qualified faculty is well-known for its academic excellence.

8. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College, Rajkot

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College, located in the city of Rajkot in Gujarat, is a government medical college. It was established in 1995 and is affiliated with Saurashtra University. The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS programs.

The campus of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College is modern and well-equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including lecture halls, laboratories, a library, a hospital, and sports amenities. The hospital associated with the college, Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, is a tertiary care hospital that serves patients from Rajkot.

9. Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education & Research, Surat

Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education & Research (SMIMER) is a Government medical college located in Surat. The institute was established in 1999 and is affiliated with the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. SMIMER offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate MD/MS programs in various specialities of medicine and surgery.

Modern, state-of-the-art facilities, such as lecture halls, labs, a library, a hospital, and sporting facilities, are all on the SMIMER campus. Surat Municipal Corporation Hospital, a major tertiary care facility affiliated with the college, is a key location for patients from Surat.

10. Narendra Modi Medical College, Ahmedabad

Narendra Modi Medical College formerly known as Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Medical Education Trust (AMC MET) Medical College is a government medical college in Ahmedabad. The college is affiliated with Gujarat University and is recognized by the NMC.

AMCMET Medical College offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs, including MD, and MS. The hospital is attached to the college and serves as a teaching hospital for the students.

The college has a team of experienced and dedicated faculty members who provide high-quality education and training to the students. The curriculum is designed to meet the international standards of medical education and focuses on both theoretical and practical aspects of medicine.

11. GMERS Medical College, Gotri, Vadodara

GMERS Medical College, Gotri, Vadodara is a government medical college. The college was established in 2011 and is affiliated with MS University of Baroda. It offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

The college has a modern infrastructure with classrooms, laboratories, and a library. The college has a 900-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities such as an ICU, NICU, CCU, and emergency department that provide healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions. The hospital has advanced medical technology and well-trained staff to provide quality medical care. The college also offers various scholarships and financial assistance to deserving students.

12. GMERS Medical College, Sola, Ahmedabad

GMERS Medical College, Sola, Ahmedabad, is a government medical college in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The college is affiliated with Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs, including MBBS, MD, MS, and various diploma programs. The faculty at GMERS Medical College, Sola is highly experienced and dedicated, providing top-quality education and training to the students.

13. GMERS Medical College, Valsad

GMERS Medical College, Valsad is a government medical college in the Valsad district of Gujarat. The college is affiliated with Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs MD, MS, and diploma courses. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital. The attached hospital serves as a teaching hospital for students and is equipped with the latest medical technology.

The faculty at GMERS Medical College, Valsad is highly qualified, providing top-quality education and training to the students.

14. GMERS Medical College, Dharpur Patan

GMERS Medical College, Dharpur Patan is a government medical college in Patan. The college is affiliated with Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs, including MBBS, MD, MS, and various diploma courses. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital. The hospital serves as a teaching hospital for the students and provides quality healthcare services to the patients.

The faculty at GMERS Medical College, Dharpur Patan is highly experienced and qualified, providing excellent education and training to the students. The curriculum is designed to meet international standards of medical education and emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects of medicine.

15. GMERS Medical College, Gandhinagar

GMERS Medical College, Gandhinagar, is a reputed medical college that provides quality medical education and training to its students. The college has a strong track record of academic excellence and the success of its alumni in the medical field.

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs. The college is affiliated with Gujarat University and is recognized by the NMC. The hospital serves as a teaching hospital for the students, providing hands-on experience in patient care and treatment.

16. GMERS Medical College, Hadiyol, Himmatnagar

GMERS Medical College, Hadiyol, Himmatnagar is a renowned government medical college in Sabarkantha. The college is affiliated with Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical programs MD, MS, and diploma courses. The curriculum is designed in such a way that it meets international standards of medical education and emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects of medicine

The faculty at GMERS Medical College, Hadiyol, Himmatnagar is highly experienced and qualified, providing excellent education and training to the students.

17. GMERS Medical College, Junagadh

GMERS Medical College, Junagadh is a prestigious medical college in the Junagadh district of Gujarat. The college is affiliated with Saurashtra University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical courses, including MD, MS, and diploma courses. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital. The hospital serves as a teaching hospital for the students and provides quality healthcare services to the patients.

18. GMERS Medical College, Vadnagar, Mehsana

GMERS Medical College, Vadnagar, Mehsana, is a well-known government medical college in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. The college is affiliated with Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The faculty at GMERS Medical College, Vadnagar, Mehsana offers students excellent instruction and guidance as they are highly skilled and experienced. The college offers undergraduate MBBS and postgraduate medical courses, MD, MS, and diploma courses. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital. The hospital serves as a teaching hospital for the students and provides quality healthcare services to the patients.

19. GMERS Medical College, Rajpipla

GMERS Medical College, Rajpipla is a prominent medical college in the Narmada district of Gujarat. The college is affiliated with Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and is recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

The college offers undergraduate course MBBS and postgraduate medical courses, MD, MS, and diploma courses. The faculty is extremely skilled and knowledgeable, offering the students excellent instruction and training.

20. Government Medical College, Porbandar

Government Medical College, Porbandar is a renowned medical college in the coastal town of Porbandar. The college is affiliated with Bhakta Kavi Narsing Mehta University, Bikha Roa, Khadia, and is recognized by the NMC.

The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses, including MBBS, MD, MS, and diploma courses. The curriculum is designed to meet international standards of medical education and emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects of medicine. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital. The hospital is a teaching hospital for students and provides quality healthcare services to patients.

21. Government Medical College, Morbi

The state government in line with Prime Ministers aim to establish a medical college in every district of the country has decided to set up 5 new medical colleges. The GMC in Morbi is one of them. It will have 100 MBBS seats with state-of-the-art infrastructure and the latest technology.

The facility has been equipped with modern facilities including labs, and a hospital. The hospital offers its patients high-quality medical care while also acting as a teaching facility for students. The curriculum emphasises academic and practical parts of medicine and is created to match worldwide standards for medical education.

22. Government Medical College, Panchmahal Godhra

Government Medical College, Panchmahal is a well-known medical college in Godhra. The college is affiliated with Shri Govind Guru University, Godhara and is recognized by the NMC. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses, including MBBS, MD, MS, and diploma courses. The campus has modern facilities such as a library, laboratory, and hospital.

Private Medical Colleges in Gujarat:1. Pramukhswami Medical College, Karmsad

Pramukhswami Medical College is a private medical college in Karamsad, a town in the Anand district of Gujarat. It was established in 1987 and is affiliated with Sardar Patel University. The college offers MBBS and postgraduate undergraduate medical courses in specialities such as Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Pathology, Anesthesia, Radiology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The college is known for its quality medical education and state-of-the-art facilities. The campus has a 750-bedded teaching hospital equipped with modern medical equipment and technology. The hospital provides healthcare assistance to the local community and neighbouring regions.

PMC has been recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with an 'A' grade.

2. CU Shah Medical College, Surendra Nagar

CU Shah Medical College is a private medical college in Surendranagar. It was inaugurated in 2000 and is affiliated with Saurashtra University. The college offers undergraduate medical courses (MBBS) as well as postgraduate courses in various medical specialities such as Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Community Medicine, Forensic Medicine, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

CU Shah Medical College has a 600-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and state-of-the-art technology. The hospital provides healthcare to the local community and surrounding areas. The college focuses on providing quality medical education and training to its students, strongly emphasising research and community service. The college also has a well-established research program, and faculty members actively engage in research activities in various medical fields.

3. SBKS Medical Institute & Research Centre, Vadodra

SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre is a private medical college in Vadodara, Gujarat. Established in 2002, it is affiliated with the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Deemed University. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS as well as postgraduate courses in various medical specialities such as Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Community Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Pediatrics, Surgery, Orthopedics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Anesthesia, Radiology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre has a 1200-bedded teaching hospital, equipped with modern medical facilities and advanced technology. The college also has a well-established research program, and faculty members actively engage in research activities in various medical fields.

4. Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhuj

Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences (GAIMS) is a private medical college in Bhuj, Gujarat. The institute was established in 2009 and is affiliated with KSKV Kachchh University. The college provides undergraduate medical courses MBBS as well as postgraduate programs in various medical specialities such as Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Forensic Medicine, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Pediatrics, Surgery, Orthopedics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Anesthesia, Radiology, Psychiatry, Dermatology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

GAIMS has a 750-bedded teaching hospital, well-equipped with modern medical facilities and advanced technology. The hospital offers healthcare services to the local community and surrounding areas.

5. GCS Medical College, Ahmedabad

GCS Medical College is a private medical college in Ahmedabad. It was set up in 2011 and is affiliated with Gujarat University. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

GCS has been recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with an 'A' grade. Various ranking agencies have also ranked it among the top medical colleges in Gujarat.

6. Parul Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Vadodara

Parul Institute of Medical Sciences & Research is a private medical college in Vadodara, Gujarat. Established in 2016, it is affiliated with Parul University and offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

The college has a 1200-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and advanced technology that provides healthcare services to the people of Vadodara. The faculty actively engages in research activities in various medical fields, and the college has a well-established research program.

7. Dr M.K. Shah Medical College & Research Centre, Ahmedabad

Dr M.K. Shah Medical College & Research Centre is a private medical college in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Established in 2017, it is affiliated with Gujarat University and offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS.

The college has a 650-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and advanced technology that provides healthcare services. The faculty members actively engage in research activities in various medical fields, and the college has a well-established research program.

8. Zydus Medical College & Hospital, Dahod

Zydus Medical College & Hospital is a private medical college in Dahod, Gujarat. Established in 2018 and is affiliated with Shri Govind Guru University, Godhara. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS.

The college has a 700-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and advanced technology that provides healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions. The faculty actively engages in research activities in various medical fields, and the college has a well-established research program.

The college was established in 2016 by the Ramanbhai Foundation, a charitable trust set up by the Zydus group, a leading pharmaceutical company in India. The college aims to provide high-quality medical education to students and produce competent healthcare professionals who can contribute to society. The college has a team of experienced and dedicated faculty members who use innovative teaching methodologies and modern technology to provide a stimulating and challenging learning environment for students. The curriculum is designed to build a strong foundation in basic medical sciences, clinical skills, and ethical values.

9. Banas Medical College and Research Institute, Palanpur

Banas Medical College and Research Institute is a private medical college in Palanpur. Established in 2018, it is affiliated with the Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University. The college offers MBBS and postgraduate medical courses in various medical specialities.

The college has a team of experienced and dedicated faculty members who use innovative teaching methodologies and modern technology to provide students with a stimulating and challenging learning environment. The curriculum is designed to build a strong foundation in medical sciences and clinical skills.

Apart from academic activities, the college also emphasizes extracurricular activities like sports and cultural events, and community service. The college has various student clubs and organizations that promote social responsibility, leadership, and teamwork.

10. Shantabaa Medical College, Amreli

Shantabaa Medical College, also known as Smt. S. M. Shah Medical College and Research Centre is a private medical college in Vadodara. It was established in 2019 and is affiliated with the Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS.

The college has a 700-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and advanced technology that provides healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions. The faculty engages in research activities in various medical fields, and the college has a well-established research program.

11. Nootan Medical College and Research Centre, Mehsana

Nootan Medical College and Research Centre is a private medical college located in Mehsana, Gujarat. Established in 2019 and is affiliated with the Sankalchand Patel University. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

The college has a 750-bedded teaching hospital that provides healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions. The hospital has modern medical facilities such as an ICU, NICU, CCU, and emergency department. The hospital is also equipped with advanced diagnostic equipment such as CT scans, MRIs, and digital radiography. The clinical training is designed to provide a hands-on experience to students and help them develop clinical skills.

12. Dr N.D. Desai Faculty of Medical Science and Research, Nadiad

Dr N.D. Desai Faculty of Medical Science and Research is a private medical college in Nadiad, Gujarat. Established in 2014 and is affiliated with Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadiad. The college offers undergraduate medical courses MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

The college has a 700-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities and advanced technology that provides healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions. The faculty actively engage in research activities in various medical fields, and the college has a well-established research program.

The college has well-equipped classrooms, laboratories, and a library. The library has a vast collection of medical books, journals, and research papers. The college also has a digital library with access to online medical resources.

13. Dr Kiran C.Patel Medical College and Research Institute, Ahmedabad

Dr Kiran C. Patel Medical College and Research Institute is a private medical college in Ahmedabad. The college was established in 2020 and is affiliated with Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. It offers undergraduate medical courses, MBBS and postgraduate courses in various medical specialities.

The faculty members of Dr Kiran C. Patel Medical College and Research Institute are highly qualified and experienced. The college has an 850-bedded teaching hospital with modern medical facilities such as an ICU, NICU, CCU, and emergency department that provide healthcare services to the local community and surrounding regions.

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1 year 12 months ago

Blog,News

KFF Health News

Pain, Hope, and Science Collide as Athletes Turn to Magic Mushrooms

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741. In Canada, call Talk Suicide Canada at 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645 from 4 p.m.-midnight ET.

…

WAKEFIELD, Jamaica — The boxer felt broken. Every day, he was waking up in pain. Some days, it was debilitating headaches. Other times, it was his back. Or his fists. His ribs. His nose. On top of that, he had mood swings. Depression. Anxiety.

Mike Lee didn’t regret his career. He had been one of the best professional fighters in the world in his weight class. He’d gone 21-1 professionally and fought in Madison Square Garden and in front of millions on TV.

But it had been more than two years since he’d been inside a ring, and every day was a reminder of the cost. At one point, Lee was taking eight prescription medications, all of them trying to help him cope. In his lowest moment, on a night when he was in the depths of an addiction to painkillers, he said, he contemplated driving his car into the median of a Chicago freeway at 140 mph. He was willing to do anything to escape the hell he felt trapped in.

The impulse faded, but the pain remained.

He was lost.

“When you’re in pain and you’re stuck in a corner, you’ll do anything to get out of it,” Lee said.

Now, he had come to a verdant jungle at the end of a dirt road halfway up a mountain.

Psychedelic mushrooms, he hoped, could change his life.

Lee was part of a small group — many of them retired athletes — who’d traveled to Jamaica in March 2022 for a retreat costing as much as $5,500. They each had come to the Good Hope Estate, a sugar plantation turned exclusive resort, hoping to rid themselves of depression, anxiety, and chronic pain they had experienced for years.

Two psychedelic mushroom ceremonies and two therapy sessions awaited them at the retreat run by a Canadian company called Wake Network. The participants were nervous, but also hopeful.

Along with Lee, there was a professional football player considering retirement and a former hockey star who had multiple concussions. They’d come from all over North America, from different backgrounds and different sports, but they had a few things in common: They were vulnerable, and they felt that prescription medications had failed them. They didn’t know what to expect, whether the treatment would work, whether they’d return home with a solution or just more disappointment.

Lee had learned about the retreat from a childhood friend who works as a doctor for Wake. Others had been recruited by Riley Cote, a former enforcer with the Philadelphia Flyers and now a psychedelics evangelist who is an adviser to Wake with an equity stake.

Cote was once just like Lee. He used to love punching people in the face. He loved the way his hand landed with a thud when his knuckles connected with flesh and bone at a violent speed. Snapping someone’s head back made Cote feel alive.

“I fought everyone and their brother in my career,” Cote said. “I would pick out the biggest guy I could find and challenge him. It was how I survived, how I made a name for myself. I was inflicting all this pain and inflammation on myself, always getting punched in the face, and I had to keep up with this macho type of personality, like, ‘Oh, you can’t hurt me. You can’t hurt me.’”

He was no longer that person. It made him cringe to think about the man he once was, someone who drank excessively and used painkillers to numb his brain. There was a time when he, like Lee, was in a dark place, but over the course of several years, psychedelic mushrooms, Cote believes, helped bring him back into the light.

“The world is in a crisis, a mental health crisis, a spiritual crisis,” Cote said. “And I think these are spiritual medicines, and I just feel like it’s the right path for me. I don’t think of it as anything more than my duty, my purpose on this planet is to be sharing the truth around natural medicine.”

For years, whispers have circulated about an underground network of athletes — primarily ex-athletes — using psilocybin, the compound in magic mushrooms, to treat traumatic brain injuries, anxiety, and depression. Many of them, like Cote, view psychedelics as a miracle cure, the one thing they’d been able to find that could help break a cycle of pharmaceutical painkillers and substance abuse. They gathered in small groups to ingest mushrooms in private or traveled to countries such as Jamaica where psychedelic mushrooms aren’t prohibited.

Now the use of psychedelic mushrooms is gaining traction in the United States. A number of cities have decriminalized possession of psilocybin, and Oregon and Colorado voters passed ballot measures to legalize magic mushrooms under supervised use. Many researchers predict FDA approval of a psychedelic treatment will come within the next five years.

But many of those same researchers warn the hype over psychedelics is outpacing the science — and that the treatment comes with significant risks for some patients. They fear that, unless research is conducted methodically and ethically, widespread use of psilocybin could result in a public backlash, as it did in the 1960s, relegating a promising treatment to the dustheap of banned substances.

They are urging corporate entities like Wake, which are already positioning themselves to take advantage of the potential legalization of psychedelics, to go slowly, ensure the research is done the right way, and allow the science to catch up.

“If you don’t do this safely, people are going to get hurt,” said Matthew Johnson, a psychiatry professor and psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

But many — including former pro athletes with battered bodies and brains — don’t want to wait for the slow grind of clinical research. They need help now. The painkillers, the antidepressants, the countless different pills they were prescribed over the years haven’t helped. In their minds, the stories told by fellow athletes who say they have benefited from psychedelics outweigh any scientific uncertainty.

“When you think of magic mushrooms, you think of hippies at Woodstock dancing around to music,” Lee said. “To think about you’ve got some of the best athletes in the world here that are dealing with some stuff and they’re taking it, it makes you feel more comfortable. It makes me feel like, ‘OK, maybe I’m doing the right thing.’ It’s a healing medicine; it’s not just a party drug.”

***

Cote, now 41, was a decent hockey skater growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, tenacious as hell from end to end and a tireless worker, but fairly average at handling the puck. He didn’t score enough goals to rise through junior hockey the way some prospects did. Yet as he got older, coaches didn’t mind as much. He had broad shoulders and a long reach. In an era of hockey where violence was still currency, he had found his golden ticket to the NHL: Cote would beat on people and get beat on in return. As a member of the Flyers, he saw it as his duty to uphold the traditions of the Broad Street Bullies, a group of players from the 1970s who were celebrated by the press for playing — and partying — hard.

He fought his way through the NHL for portions of four seasons, accumulating more than 400 career penalty minutes while scoring just one goal. Most of his fights were brutal, barbaric affairs. His highlight reel shows a hulking giant, his eyes filled with violence, the kind of goon who could break your jaw and laugh maniacally in the aftermath, blood dripping from his face down onto the ice.

“It was something I enjoyed doing, and I think it was just an element of competition for me,” Cote said. “And it was also probably something I was doing out of fear — fear of not living my childhood dream or letting my parents down or people down.”

He said he medicated his pain nearly every day with booze. Beers were an appetizer on the way to doing shots at the bar. Shots often led to harder drugs. He and his teammates would stay out until 3 a.m., sometimes later, then try to sweat out the poison the next day during practice.

After a few years, his brain started to fog. He got bigger and stronger through weightlifting, and he looked like a monster on the ice, but every hockey skill except his fighting deteriorated. As his career wound down, he said, it felt as if darkness was creeping in. He grew depressed. He was afraid of what he’d become.

Today, Cote bears little resemblance to that enforcer in the videos. Thinner and calmer, he teaches yoga classes in a Delaware studio three times a week. With shoulder-length hair, tattoos on his arms and chest, he speaks with a soft baritone voice. He seems more monk than monster.

“I look back and it just shows maybe how confused I was and what reality I was seeking, which was supposedly happiness and fulfillment within chasing my childhood dream,” Cote said. “But it’s hard for me to wrap my head around me doing that now, just knowing who I am now, and realizing it takes a lot of darkness to do what I did.”

Cote said he took mushrooms recreationally throughout his 20s, but never in a therapeutic setting or with the understanding they might help him process both his physical and emotional trauma. “It was just part of the scene or part of the party,” he said.

But when he retired in 2010, he felt like he was facing an identity crisis. He had been a fighter for so long, he thought that’s all he was. How could a washed-up enforcer raise two daughters?

He started reading. What he learned shocked him.

Researchers had quietly revived the study of psychedelics as a medical treatment in 2000, and early findings suggested psilocybin often had noticeable benefits for people diagnosed with anxiety and depression. It helped some patients shed their addictions to drugs or alcohol. Other research suggested that psilocybin may actually be capable of reshaping the anatomy of the brain, restoring neuropathways, and helping heal traumatic brain injuries.

For Cote, who was diagnosed with at least three concussions in his hockey career and probably incurred many more, it was transformative.

Cote now recruits clients for Wake, which hosts immersive psilocybin retreats outside the U.S.

“Some people come to these events and they’re borderline suicidal,” said Tyler Macleod, a Wake co-founder and its chief experience officer. “They’re not fixed after one ceremony, but they’re not stuck in the dark anymore. They wake up and they’re like, ‘Oh, I can navigate a relationship with my kids again.’”

The ex-athletes who attend these retreats are all struggling with something, Cote said. They need help. In many cases, they feel as if they have tried everything else. He asks why they need to wait when so many studies and anecdotes indicate positive results?

“It’s like with cannabis: How many stories did we have to be told before we had a medical program?” Cote said. “It’s just been roadblocked for so long.”

***

In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed into law the Controlled Substances Act, legislation that divided drugs into five levels, ranking them based largely on their potential for abuse. Magic mushrooms were categorized as Schedule 1 substances, alongside heroin and marijuana, meaning the government believed they had no medical benefit as well as high potential for abuse. (Cocaine, oxycodone, and methamphetamine were all classified as Schedule 2 drugs.)

Those decisions — which Nixon adviser John Ehrlichman later said were politically motivated — continue to have a ripple effect today. Research into psychedelic treatments was put on hold for 30 years.

While the recent studies have been small in scope, they have shown remarkable effects. Prescription drugs approved for conditions such as anxiety or depression help at best 40% to 60% of patients. In early trials, psychedelics have reached efficacy rates of more than 70%.

And unlike most prescribed medications, which stop working soon after patients quit taking them, one or two treatments of psilocybin can have lasting effects of six months, a year, or even longer, according to one Johns Hopkins study. With minimal risk of addiction or overdose and centuries of use by Indigenous cultures, psilocybin is seen by many researchers as a potential breakthrough treatment with great benefits and few risks.

Scott Aaronson, director of clinical research programs at Sheppard Pratt, a nonprofit psychiatric hospital outside Baltimore, has been studying difficult-to-treat mood disorders for 40 years, starting with some of the early studies on Prozac.

“I’m a cynical, skeptical, sarcastic human being,” Aaronson said. “And I will tell you, I have never seen anything like it in all my years.”

But psilocybin is not without risks. It can exacerbate heart problems and trigger schizophrenia in those with a genetic predisposition, and the combination of psilocybin and lithium may cause seizures. Clinical trials have generally screened out patients at risk for such complications. Still, a significant portion of those who consume psilocybin, even without any of those concerns, have a negative experience.

“At a high dose, about a third of people in our studies, even under these ideal conditions, can have what would be called a bad trip, some degree of substantial anxiety or fear,” said Johnson, the Johns Hopkins researcher. “A person can be very psychologically vulnerable. It can feel like they’re dying.”

Sometimes, though, even those “bad trips” can lead to help with depression or other issues, researchers have found, especially with follow-up help from a therapist to process the experience.

The psychedelic effects of psilocybin can also disconnect a person from reality, which can lead people to do dangerous things, like running out into traffic or jumping out a window.

“The very conception of reality and themselves in reality, like who they are — these things can be profoundly changed and it’s not a good recipe for interacting in public,” Johnson said.

Researchers also describe cases where psilocybin puts people with unresolved psychological issues into long-term distress.

That’s why researchers are adamant that psilocybin should be administered in a clinical setting with trained therapists who can guide people through the experience, deal with negative outcomes when they emerge, and help people process and integrate their experiences.

Clinical trials of psilocybin have relied on strict protocols, involving one or more sessions before the treatment to help the test subjects understand what to expect. The ingestion of the mushrooms is often done in a single day, with one or two therapists on hand. In the following days, the person returns for what’s known as integration, typically a one-on-one therapy session to help process the experience and to begin the journey toward healing. Some trials add an extra day of therapy in between two treatments.

Unlike with a typical medication, patients aren’t sent home with a bottle of pills.The entire protocol is more like a medical procedure.

But it’s a misconception that it’s the psychedelic medicine doing all the work, not the therapy that comes afterward, said Jeffrey LaPratt, a psychologist and psilocybin researcher with Sheppard Pratt. “It’s really hard work and it takes vulnerability. It takes courage. It can be really painful.”

***

Former NHL player Steve Downie felt as if something in him was broken when he was invited to the Wake retreat in Jamaica. His days were filled with fog. He was living with depression, often unable to leave his home.

“I got tired of going to those doctors and tired of talking to them,” Downie said. “Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying doctors are bad. I’m just saying, in my personal experience, what I went through, it wasn’t positive. And it just comes to a point where you got to try something new, and that’s why I’m here.”

He also had trauma in his life he’d never truly confronted. When Downie was 8 years old, his father died in a car crash driving him to hockey practice. Throwing himself deep into the sport was his only way of coping with his father’s death. Like Cote, his teammate on the Flyers for two years, he played the game with reckless abandon, launching himself into violent collisions that left both him and his opponents bloodied.

After a junior career marred by a hazing controversy, Downie started his first NHL season, in 2007, with a 20-game suspension for a brutal check into the boards in a preseason contest that sent his opponent off the ice on a stretcher. It remains one of the longest suspensions ever issued by the league. In the hockey press, he was labeled a villain, a thug, a goon, and borderline psychotic. The words stung a little, even when he tried to laugh them off.

“I got no teeth, and I am small, so they can’t be all that wrong,” Downie said. “Right? End of the day, it was a job. I did what I was asked.”

Over his nine seasons playing for five NHL teams, he endured more concussions than he could remember. Deaf in one ear, on the verge of tears every day, and fairly certain he was drinking too much, Downie, now 36, would look in the mirror some days and wonder if he would be dead in six months. He didn’t know anything about psychedelics, just that Cote had told him he would help when Downie was ready.

“I called Riley and I said, ‘I need something, man.’ I got tired of going to doctors and talking to them,” Downie said. “A lot of the pills they give you, they eat at your brain. They don’t really help you.”

Justin Renfrow, a 33-year-old lineman who played in the NFL and in Canada, came seeking clarity. He was considering retiring from professional football, something that both scared and excited him. He’d been playing for half his life, and the game was a huge part of his identity. It was the last connection he had to his grandmother, one of the most important people in his life. She was the one who went on recruiting trips with him. After she died in 2021, Renfrow felt that a part of her was still with him as long as he played the game.

But after a decade of playing professionally, Renfrow’s body was battered. One of his knees was aching. He had come to loathe pharmaceutical drugs. He said he’d been prescribed so many different drugs by team doctors — including stomach coaters and nerve blockers so he could take more painkillers — that his body started to experience terrible side effects. Once, he said, he had such a bad reaction to a combination of painkillers he’d been given, he needed medical attention after he sweated through his clothes and began to have trouble breathing.

“It’s just, ‘We need to make the playoffs, so take this,’” Renfrow said. “It threw my body into a tailspin.”

He’d used psychedelic mushrooms numerous times, mainly as a way to cope with the pain brought on by football, but he’d never used them as part of a ceremony or to be meditative. On this trip, he sought clarity. Was it time to walk away from football? He was passionate about cooking and thinking of starting his own show on YouTube. Maybe it was time to shift his focus and let football fade away.

“I’ve got a lot of people who depend on me every day,” Renfrow said.

The ceremony, the athletes hoped, would guide them toward some answers.

***

The research into psychedelics is promising and exciting, but the effectiveness of mushrooms as a treatment isn’t fully settled. But even if psilocybin and other psychedelics prove to be nothing more than a placebo — which some researchers say is possible — many athletes swear they are finding real relief from the anxiety, depression, and other traumas lingering from their playing days.

With a potential multibillion-dollar global market, there’s also a huge financial incentive. Wake is just one of a growing number of for-profit startups backed by private investment money staking a claim in the psychedelic treatment space. They and others hope to open treatment centers or sell the drugs in the U.S. and Canada eventually. Magic mushrooms are illegal to produce, sell, or possess in Canada.

During the Jamaica retreat, Wake leaders gave a presentation to participants on how they could invest in the company.

Macleod said he grew interested in psychedelic therapy not as a business opportunity but after he lost his sister, Heather, six years ago to suicide. Losing her drove him to search for answers. His sister had been a competitive skier in Canada, but a series of falls led to multiple concussions, and throughout her adult life she had anxiety and depression. Traditional medicine repeatedly failed her, Macleod said. Every week, he finds himself wishing he’d known then what he knows now and used it to try to save her.

“I can’t tell you how many people come to me who are struggling like my sister was,” he said. “God, I wish she could be here. I know that she’d be cheering us on. I see her sometimes looking down on us and saying, ‘Help other people who were stuck where I was.’”

Eager to bring psychedelic treatments to consumers, corporate firms often extrapolate research findings from tightly controlled clinical trials with carefully selected patients to promote broader use by the general population in almost any setting.

“The push for psychedelics generally is being driven by people that want to make money, much more than it is about scientists,” said Kevin Sabet, a former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy senior adviser who’s now president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a political group opposed to marijuana legalization. “Why would we let the Wall Street investors, who are really the ones here trying to make money, be driving the conversation?”

Commercialization could be both good and bad for psychedelics. On the one hand, it could provide funding for research; on the other, the desire for a return on that investment could improperly influence the results and put patients at risk.

“Your business model isn’t going to work well when someone’s jumped out of a window and it’s on the front page of The New York Times,” said Johnson, the Johns Hopkins researcher.

Clinical research must also overcome the mushroom’s image as a party drug, something hippies share out of plastic baggies in the back rows of concerts. To change that narrative, Wake and other companies say, they are leaning hard into the science. This isn’t thrill-seeking, they say, but legitimate medicine treating real psychiatric conditions. It’s the same argument proponents of marijuana legalization made, whether they believed it or were using it as a means to an end — pushing to legalize cannabis as medicine before opening the floodgates to unfettered recreational use.

Wake leaders, like most executives in the psychedelic space, have said they are committed to assisting research to prove to federal regulators that psilocybin is safe and effective. Blood and saliva samples a doctor collected at the Wake retreat, they said, would be used to identify genetic markers that could predict who will respond to psilocybin treatment.

Wake’s team had participants use a helmet containing experimental imaging technology that had been used in clinical trials to track brain activity before, during, and after psychedelic experiences. As part of the research, participants wore the helmet while playing games of Wordle.

Many academic researchers wonder whether some companies are simply applying a veneer of science to a moneymaking endeavor, what many skeptics refer to as “placebo theater.”

Indeed, Aaronson fears the field could soon be “full of hucksters.”

“The problem you’ve got is that, not surprisingly, social media and communications works much faster than science does,” he said. “So everybody’s trying to get their hands on this stuff because they think it’s going to be incredible.”

Aaronson has designed clinical trial protocols for Compass Pathways, a competing for-profit company seeking to market psilocybin treatments, and has turned down other firms looking to create a footprint in the psychedelic space. (Aaronson receives funding from Compass to support his research but said he has no direct financial interest in the company.)

“I worry about who’s backing the play from some of these companies and try to figure out what somebody is really after,” he said. “You talk to people and you see whether there’s a real plan to do research or there’s a real plan to sell something.”

***

A hum of nervous tension lingered in the air as the athletes prepared for the ceremony. At breakfast, there wasn’t a lot of small talk. The attendees milled about, checking in with Wake’s medical personnel to offer up their blood and saliva samples. Some participated in a yoga class in an outdoor studio that overlooked the jungle.

Wake had hired a Jamaican shaman — a woman named Sherece Cowan, a vegan food entrepreneur who was a 2012 Miss Universe Jamaica runner-up — to lead the athletes in the ceremony. She asked to be called Sita and referred to herself as a plant medicine facilitator.

She spoke slowly and deliberately, waving smoke from an urn as she urged participants to gather in a circle on the lawn of the estate. After drinking a 3- to 5-gram dose of psilocybin, which had been ground into a powder and mixed with orange juice, the athletes would slip into a dream state for the next four to six hours.

“I hope that you get all that you need. It may not be all that you’re asking for, but I hope you receive all that you need,” Cowan said. “Blessings on your journey.”

A local musician began to play, his drums and chimes intended to enhance the journey. Most of the athletes lay on mats, as if sleeping. Cote sat in a yoga pose. Nick Murray, Wake’s CEO, had asked Cote to wear special headgear — an electroencephalography device smaller than the other helmet — to measure his brain activity. Except for the musician’s drums and chimes, it was quiet. The wind occasionally rustled the leaves on the trees at the edge of the property, but for the next six hours, inside the circle, time mostly stood still.

Two hours into the ceremony, after the psychedelic had kicked in, whatever was taking place was occurring inside the athletes’ heads. Cote, remarkably, was still holding his yoga pose.

The stillness was broken when Renfrow stood up from his mat after three hours. He’d worn a sweatshirt to the ceremony with his initials, JR, emblazoned across the chest. He peeled the shirt off his body in frustration and tossed it aside.

Tears spilled down his face.

As the ceremony wound down, the athletes began sitting up, and a few chatted quietly.

Most weren’t sure how to describe the experience. For some, it felt like a descent into the recesses of the mind, with colors and emotions swirling together. Others said they confronted traumas they thought they’d buried, or emotions they wanted to suppress. They expressed feeling a connection to the other people in the circle.

“It’s the ultimate ego killer because, for me at least, it gives you incredible empathy that you’ve never felt before,” Lee said. “When you’re doing a journey with other people, you see yourself in them. It’s almost like you’re walking past a mirror, different mirrors. You see parts of yourself in everybody and you realize that we’re all connected and we’re all going through something, we’re all in some sort of pain, and it humbles you.”

Most of the athletes drifted off to be alone so they could scribble down their thoughts in a journal, per instructions from Wake staffers. There would be a communal therapy session the next morning.

Each would be asked to share something from their journey.

***

In the end, most of those curious about psilocybin simply want to know: Does it work? And how does it work? Scientists say those are difficult questions to answer right now.

Researchers have discovered that classic psychedelics, like psilocybin and LSD, act on the serotonin 2A receptor, the same receptor targeted by the most common antidepressants on the market. But beyond that, the understanding of how they work to help people is, at this point, more theory or conjecture than scientific fact.

Johnson, the Johns Hopkins researcher, said psilocybin helps increase openness in people, allowing them to step outside of their vision of who they are. Someone who is resigned to being a smoker who can’t quit or a person with depression who can’t find happiness can, under the influence of psychedelics, view themselves in a different way, he said.

“Once they’re outside of the mental trap, it just becomes so obvious to people with these different disorders that, ‘You know what? I can just decide to quit smoking. I can cast aside my sadness,’” Johnson said.

Studies with rats show that psychedelics also appear to increase neuronal connectivity in the brain, even after a single dose. That could help the brain recover from traumatic injuries or concussions, finding new pathways around damaged areas.

The prevailing theory of how psilocybin and other psychedelics might help treat mental health is that they tamp down activity in the brain’s default mode network. It’s a set of regions in the brain that are engaged when people are ruminating about something and one of the few parts that is overactive in people with depression.

They often revisit mistakes they’ve made over and over again or continually beat themselves up about them, said LaPratt, the Sheppard Pratt researcher. That overactivity in the default mode network leads to repetitive patterns of negative thoughts — What’s wrong with me? Why am I so unhappy? — from which the person cannot escape.

People with depression often ruminate about the past; people with anxiety, about the future.

“You may have something coming up and then the brain starts thinking, and again, like that broken record,” LaPratt said. “It can be very easy to start thinking about how everything might go wrong and start catastrophizing.”

That repetitive thinking prevails in people with other conditions, too, including obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. It begins to affect their sense of who they are; they define themselves as their condition.

But psychedelics seem to help people examine old traumas without falling back into the same kind of destructive loop. They can help people feel more connected to others. Depression and anxiety aren’t simply erased, LaPratt said, but people can gain a new perspective on their problems and start to feel, maybe for the first time, that they can shake them off.

“We see increased openness and some motivation for changing behaviors,” he said.

Psychedelics are mostly out of a person’s system by the next morning, but, according to researchers, that increased openness can last for weeks or months without additional doses, providing a window during which they can begin to address their problems.

“It is maybe that we’re helping people get to the point of being able to accept the things they can’t change and to change the things that they can,” Aaronson said, echoing the Serenity Prayer, often used in 12-step recovery programs. “Personal autonomy is taken away from people with depression. They don’t feel like they can operate in their own best interest. They get caught in internal conflict. And I think this helps them get beyond that.”

***

In the morning, the athletes gathered on a patio for a form of group therapy called integration. It was scheduled to last at least two hours. Macleod explained it was an essential part of understanding a psilocybin journey. Every attendee had an opportunity to share something from their experience, whether it was enlightening, confusing, uplifting, or a mixture of many emotions.

Lee spoke about his anxiety, about trying to understand what his identity would be now that he wasn’t a boxer. By walking away from the ring, he feared he was letting down all the people who supported him when he chose a boxing career instead of a job in finance after he graduated from Notre Dame. But now he’d come to understand those were his own insecurities. He could walk his own path. He could help people experiencing similar physical and emotional pain.

Renfrow took several deep breaths as he searched for words. For most of his life, he’d viewed himself as a football player. But on his psilocybin journey, he felt as if members of his family told him it was OK to let go. When he stood up during the ceremony and peeled off his shirt with his initials, he said, he was symbolically letting go of something.

“It’s OK to stop chasing the football journey,” Renfrow said. “I’m not going to suit up this year and that’s cool with me. I’ll be able to figure it out.”

In saying goodbye to football, he said, he was saying goodbye to his grandmother.

“Football was her,” Renfrow said, and he began crying. “We went on all my recruiting trips. So I had to let her go with letting football go. And that was a big moment when I stood up. I had to let her go. So it was tough, but I had to do it.”

When it was Downie’s turn, he tried to defuse the tension by joking that it was time to go eat. He didn’t want to open up to the group, he said. He’d written some notes on a sheet of paper. His hands shook as he tried to read them.

“I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t doing drugs for fun,” Downie said, his voice trembling. “I was numbing my brain because it was f—ed. I couldn’t turn out of my driveway for a year. I sat in dark rooms and I turned to drugs and alcohol.”

But on the psychedelic trip, he said, he was able to connect with his past. “I’m sitting there and I’m going through my brain, I’m talking to my dad, I’m talking to my family members. I’ve said sorry to everyone I could possibly say sorry to,” he said. “It made me cry. It made me feel good.”

He realized, through the journey, he wanted to be a better man. His voice was shaking as he tried to get the words out.

“At the end of all this, I think what I’ve learned is how to control what goes on. I do have control. I can control this,” he said. “I’m going to go home and I’m going to identify and execute and be a better father and stay around for my kids, deal with my concussion problems as best I can.”

He turned to look directly at Cote, tears streaming down his cheeks from behind his sunglasses.

“I mean this, bro, when I say you saved my life.”

As Downie’s words gave way to silence, Lee stood up from his chair. He crossed the circle, walked over to Downie, and opened his arms wide. The two fighters, who came to Jamaica sad and broken, embraced.

***

While studies have found that psilocybin plus therapy is more effective than therapy alone, it’s unclear whether psilocybin alone, without the preparatory work or the integration afterward, has any effect.

“There’s a reason why people who go to raves and take psilocybin don’t get cured,” Aaronson said. “Psilocybin is not an antidepressant.”

Even within strict clinical trial protocols, the question remains whether psilocybin-assisted therapy works. Preliminary studies have been promising, but the numbers of test subjects have been small. Much larger studies are needed to determine both safety and efficacy.

Still, that hasn’t stopped psilocybin advocates from touting the research to date, implying it is more definitive than it is. Moreover, many mushroom evangelists attribute the positive effects from clinical trials to taking psilocybin in general, discounting the protocols used in the studies.

The Wake retreat in Jamaica, for example, had the athletes take psilocybin in group ceremonies guided by Cowan, the local shaman, while the group integration sessions were led by an osteopathic physician. Neither was a licensed psychotherapist, Murray said. It’s unclear whether the benefits of psilocybin therapy suggested by clinical research would apply to a group setting — for the dosing or the integration.

Murray, Wake’s CEO, said that while clinical research strives to remove any variables, such as interactions between test subjects, Wake leaders feel the group setting offers benefits to its clients.

“It’s that group feeling that, ‘We’re in this together. My divorce is like your divorce. I lost a brother,’” he said. “That’s tough to put into a clinical trial.”

Wake had registered to hold a clinical trial in Jamaica, but Murray said the company ultimately decided not to pursue it, focusing on offering treatment instead.

Still, Murray said Wake is contributing to scientific research: They collected the blood and saliva samples, and participants were asked to fill out questionnaires before and after the retreat to help assess whether the treatment worked.

Murray said Wake uses the same clinically validated questionnaires used in a psychiatrist’s office. “So, it’s not theater. These are the actual tools that are used,” he said. It would be hard with Wake’s approach, however, to parse whether participants were helped by the mushrooms and integration or by other influences, such as being on vacation in Jamaica, being among a supportive peer group, or the marijuana many of them smoked regularly during the retreat.

“You’ve got to at least listen and take it seriously. There’s anecdotes of people saying they would have killed themselves,” Johnson said. “Sometimes you do see just the ‘full monty’ experience, where this person is just there on a dark, dark trajectory and their whole life changes. I suspect this is real. Something’s happening with these athletes making these reports.”

Glowing anecdotes, particularly when they come from high-profile athletes or celebrities, carry weight with the public and help spur measures like those in Oregon and Colorado that are establishing pathways to psilocybin treatment regardless of what researchers or regulators think.

“When people are upset and we’re not meeting their needs, they’re going to try things out,” said Atheir Abbas, an assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University. “Hopefully, scientists can catch up to understanding why people think this is really helpful. And maybe it is helpful, but let’s try to figure out if it is and how.”

But there’s a danger in taking these stories, no matter how compelling, and extrapolating safety or efficacy from them.

“The hard part is the plural of anecdote is not data,” said Sabet, the Smart Approaches to Marijuana CEO. “And the data isn’t there yet.”

***

A year after the retreat, Downie, Renfrow, and Lee said they believed their psilocybin journey had helped them. It did not magically fix all their issues, but each considered it a positive experience.

Downie no longer feels that he is stuck in a dark place. When he returned to Ontario, he said, his family noticed a difference right away.

“That trip gave me a lot of clarity,” Downie said. “It gives you directions. It kind of gives you answers internally. It’s a unique thing I experienced. My year was definitely better than the previous year, that’s for sure. … Do I think it could help other people? I would say yes. Did it help me? Absolutely.”

No longer feeling like a prisoner in his house, Downie started a snowmobile camp that takes adults on guided adventures around Moosonee, near James Bay. It’s something he used to do with his family before his hockey career took off.

“It’s not much to brag about, but it’s the most northern you can go in Ontario in a snowmobile,” Downie said. “A lot of adults come from all over. It’s a pretty cool experience. It’s always been a passion of mine.”

He still has lingering issues from his concussions and suspects he always will.

“It is what it is,” he said. “Would I say it’s getting better? It’s a process.”

The most positive outcome has been the joy he’s found in being a father.

“My little guy is starting to fall in love with hockey, which is something I’ve been waiting for,” Downie said.

Although Downie hasn’t taken another psilocybin journey, he said he would be open to it.

Renfrow emerged from the ceremony intent on retiring from professional football but three months later re-signed with the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Elks. This year, he joined the National Arena League’s Jacksonville Sharks, in part to be closer to his son.

“At that time, I thought I was going to quit football,” he said.

But he feels comfortable where he is and says he’s fulfilling his goals, including hosting that cooking show on YouTube he’d hoped to do. And he said he’s having fun again. He now turns to mushrooms whenever he has a big decision to make.

“I wholehearted believe in that and all the kind of guidance it’s given me,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for a better thing, to have followed guidance from a mushroom journey.”

Lee moved from California to Austin, Texas, and now runs a CBD business with his sister. Finding his post-boxing identity has remained a process. In his psychedelic journeys at the Wake retreat, Lee said, he was never thinking about sports or boxing. His visions were all about family, God, the universe.

“It kind of just makes me realize how much importance I’m putting on something that my subconscious doesn’t even care about,” he said. “My subconscious doesn’t care that I’m a boxer, that I was a fighter and did this and did that. It’s all kind of ego.”

The experience, he said, helped him understand how powerful the mind can be — that it can be a friend or a foe.

“I came away from it kind of realizing that I have all the tools to heal myself,” he said. “That’s huge. Because, especially for guys who have had concussions or athletes or what have you, you feel kind of isolated, you feel alone, you feel hopeless. So it kind of gives you a sense of hope.”

It allowed him to move beyond the need to prove himself, in the ring or outside it, to stop measuring his worth by his accomplishments. He’s become obsessed with much calmer, nonviolent pursuits: surfing and pickleball.

“I can turn my brain off just like in boxing,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s easier on my body and just, I don’t know, more fulfilling. I don’t have to prove anything.”

The Jamaican trip is allowing him to move forward, to do the work necessary to heal.

“Part of me went into it hoping that all my problems would be solved, but putting those expectations on it can be difficult,” he said. “Am I cured? No. But did it really help? And was it, like, one of the most profound experiences of my life?

“I’d say yes.”

This article was reported and written by KFF Health News’ Markian Hawryluk and ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg. Researcher John Mastroberardino contributed to this report.

[Editor’s note: As part of the reporting of this article, some members of ESPN’s reporting team, under the guidance of Wake Network staff, used psilocybin. Wake Network was compensated, but not by ESPN.]

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1 year 12 months ago

Health Industry, Mental Health, Pharmaceuticals, States, Colorado, Oregon, texas

Jamaica Observer

More than just CRH

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton says the Government has spent more than $200 million to improve health centres or clinics across St James since he took office seven years ago.

…

"The truth is, our health centres have been doing better over time. This is not a political environment, but I am a politician and I'm proud to say that under this Administration we have seen significant improvements in our health centres here in the parish of St James, and Montego Bay in particular," Tufton said last Friday during a ceremony to mark Petrojam Limited's adoption of Montego Bay Comprehensive Health Centre.

The agreement, made under the Adopt-A-Clinic Programme, will see Petrojam donating $1 million per year over the next three years to meet the clinic's infrastructural and equipment needs.

During his speech, Tufton listed facilities across the parish that, he said, have benefited from millions of dollars being pumped into the system by the Government. He said that $51 million had been spent in 2019 to build the soon-to-be-officially-opened Adelphi Health Centre; another $56 million was spent on Catherine Hall Health Centre in 2020, and $47 million each on the Barnett Town, Flankers, and Granville health centres "Just to name a few".

"So, over the last couple of years, we have been building some health centres… and we have more to do. So, sometimes the narrative is around Cornwall [Regional Hospital] and I know it is a more exciting coverage for the media space and all the problems that are taking place. Some of them are not really real but in perception, they look [significant] and they make headlines," the minister added.

He also spoke of the importance of recognising the hard work being done by employees within the health care sector.

"Sometimes they're not recognised sufficiently… The adoption helps that process because it shows that those who are coming and playing their role appreciate the work of primary health care. And I want to say ditto to that. I appreciate that work," assured Tufton.

The minister, who took office in 2016, has received mixed reviews from the public for his handling of the problem-plagued Cornwall Regional Hospital rehabilitation project. On Friday he was staunchly and enthusiastically defended by St James Health Services Parish Manager Lennox Wallace.

Wallace also thanked the St James Municipal Corporation and the Member of Parliament for St James Central Heroy Clarke for the support they have given the health department over the years.

"Salt Spring Health Centre, $11.2 million; Glendevon, $9.2 million; and Green Pond Health Centre, $7.5 million: this is the work that this member of parliament has done to assist," stated Wallace, who pointed out that no other parish in the western region has received the kind of assistance St James has.

The four parishes that fall under the purview of the Western Regional Health Authority are Westmoreland, St James, Trelawny, and Hanover.

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1 year 12 months ago

Jamaica Observer

One woman's journey with cervical incompetence

AN incompetent cervix, also called cervical insufficiency, occurs when weak cervical tissue causes or contributes to premature birth or the loss of an otherwise healthy pregnancy.

…

Before pregnancy, the cervix — the lower part of the uterus that opens to the vagina — is normally closed and firm. As pregnancy progresses and you prepare to give birth, the cervix gradually softens, decreases in length (effaces) and opens (dilates). If you have an incompetent cervix, your cervix might begin to open too soon — causing you to give birth too early.

According to Mayo Clinic, an incompetent cervix can be difficult to diagnose and treat. If your cervix begins to open early, or you have a history of cervical insufficiency, your doctor might recommend preventive medication during pregnancy, frequent ultrasounds or a procedure that closes the cervix with strong sutures (cervical cerclage).

If you have an incompetent cervix, you may not have any signs or symptoms during early pregnancy. Some women have mild discomfort or spotting over the course of several days or weeks starting between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy.

There is no "cure" for cervical incompetence, but to lower the chances of the cervix opening too early a cervical cerclage was recommended for my second pregnancy after my previous experience with pregnancy loss at 22 weeks.

A cerclage is when a strong suture (stitch) is sewn into and around the cervix at around 14 to 16 weeks of pregnancy to keep the baby inside the womb to prevent preterm labour. In addition to the cerclage, taking progesterone was also recommended. It is administered vaginally and taken at the eighth week to the 36th week of pregnancy. He explained that this was to "keep the uterus quiet" while the baby develops. I felt overwhelmed even though I had read about cervical incompetence and knew that this was the best way to bring the baby to term. It was frightening to hear, still, but the unconditional love I had for my baby conquered my fears; I was ready to do whatever it took to bring her to viability.

An incompetent cervix poses risks for your pregnancy — particularly during the second trimester — including, premature birth, pregnancy loss.

After my first ultrasound at six weeks, I experienced light bleeding at eight weeks. This happened at 2:00 am and I was terrified that this pregnancy would end way sooner than the previous one. I wasn't experiencing cramping and the bleeding was extremely minor, but the sight of blood while pregnant (especially after losing a baby) caused instant panic. I called my doctor immediately and he assured me that this is normal, but knowing I have a problematic cervix kept me up all night so he advised me to do an emergency ultrasound. The sun slept in that morning, because it felt like 2:00 am would not move.

The ultrasound appointment concluded that it was implantation bleeding which is completely normal. Not all women will actively notice this or even experience implantation bleeding (another scare that happens to the minority). I was eager to have the procedure done. I anxiously counted the weeks so I could have it done to lessen my worrying and anxiety. All my fears of getting the procedure done moved swiftly to the background and impatience stepped in.

I had the cervical cerclage procedure done at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in October 2020 by an amazing doctor and a very patient and understanding anaesthesiologist. The entire medical team in the room during the procedure was surprisingly pleasant and professional. However, I had to wait a week in the hospital to have it done since there's not enough theatres to facilitate surgical procedures in a timely manner. Emergencies are top priority, naturally, but you can imagine how frustrating it was to wait with uncertainty — especially since we are only allowed to eat the food they provide while pregnant with raging hormones and sporadic cravings. I admit I grew impatient, as no official update was ever provided, I had to keep asking the nurses who directed me to the doctors who never really gave me any answers regarding a date. The reality was that I just had to wait because it was a preventative cerclage rather than an emergency one.

When it was finally time to have it done, my impatience was replaced by nervousness. Even though mentally I was ready, my body is never informed ahead of time so everything I went through physically during this pregnancy came fast and sudden for my body. The room felt like the first day of winter (you're expecting a change in temperature, but it's still shocking when the cold breeze touches your skin). The anaesthesiologist entered the room first and explained that she'd administer an injection that would make me numb from the waist down (spinal epidural). She also injected fluids in my access (or more drugs) and assisted with finding a comfortable position for me. The surgeon entered shortly after, introduced himself and proceeded. The procedure was done trans-vaginally and even though I was numb on the outside, I felt tucks and pulls and it certainly was not pain free. The anaesthesiologist coached me along and was very supportive throughout the entire procedure. I was grateful that I was finally able to get the needed support in a challenging and scary time at the Jubilee Hospital; because in reality the procedure lasted a half hour, but I felt like I was laying with my legs hoisted in the air for hours.

After it was done every discomfort left my body and blended with the numbness of the epidural, and for the first time in my pregnancy I felt like my baby was safe.

I experienced bleeding six times throughout my pregnancy. However, only implantation bleeding at eight weeks could be explained and I was hospitalised for two separate bleeding incidents. At 25 weeks I experienced the biggest scare — blood running down my legs like I had definitely miscarried. My body felt numb and the only feeling I had that secured hope was my baby's nudges and kicks reminding me that she was going nowhere until my body naturally let her out to meet me. The bleeding gradually got less as I made my way to the hospital. It practically disappeared when I arrived, but I was still kept overnight for observation. All tests performed came back normal and they could not conclude from where the blood came. However, the baby was fine and the doctors saw no cause for concern. At this point, getting off the bed to walk made me nervous. I tiptoed my way through the the second trimester as an even bigger threat awaited — COVID-19.

For the majority of my pregnancy I entertained minimal outdoor activities, but I somehow contracted the virus and had to be hospitalised again. My hospital stay was only for a day because I had trouble breathing and the hospital was not equipped with a CT scan machine to check and see if the breathing problems were as a result of clotting on my lungs. For the 14 days of my quarantine I had to be injected twice daily to prevent further clots, if any existed to begin with. Thankfully, the CT scan came back normal.

My baby girl hung tight in her temporary home, and I had no other complications for the rest of my pregnancy.

I removed the cervical cerclage at 38 weeks. Removing it was more invasive than getting it. There was no anaesthesia involved. It was a matter of the doctor finding the stitch and pulling it loose to remove it. As usual, I was a champ, even though I wanted to close my legs and scream at the top of my lungs. It was a hard 30 minutes. The whole half-hour was filled with me biting my lips to keep in the screams and visibly sweating. But, again, my anxiety of having my baby any day after the cerclage was removed helped me to conquer the pain and any other fears that still loitered.

Of course, I stayed overnight for observation. I began to dilate but it stopped at three centimetres, so I was discharged the following day to go home and wait for her to knock on my cervix and make her way out! Everyday was filled with anticipation, but to everyone's surprise, she went to 40 weeks. I didn't feel or see any signs of labour and I became worried that she'd be overdue and I'd have to be induced. I wanted to have her naturally, so I googled ways to help start the labour process, which led me to stretching exercises. I did as many as my body allowed. I cannot confirm that it was the stretches that helped, but I went into labour that same evening, one day after my due date.

The contractions were manageable and I even timed them before leaving for the hospital. Given the nature of my pregnancy, I can attest that giving birth was the easiest part. My water broke, and I only pushed once, and there she was, but with the umbilical cord around her neck. So the nurse advised me to stop pushing and removed it quickly. It may sound super corny but holding her for the first time in all her stickiness and goo was the happiest moment of my entire life. I don't know how I managed not to cry because she was absolutely perfect, very tiny, yet everything I needed — my perfect little bean that I grew and brought to life.

Further, while you can't prevent an incompetent cervix, there's much you can do to promote a healthy, full-term pregnancy. If you've had an incompetent cervix during one pregnancy, you're at risk of premature birth or pregnancy loss in later pregnancies. If you're considering getting pregnant again, talk with your doctor to understand the risks and what you can do to promote a healthy pregnancy.

Melanie Hanchard is a mother, poet, and blogger committed to educating women on the journey of motherhood and navigating the difficult phases. Her blog posts can be read at https://melaniehanchard.wordpress.com/

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1 year 12 months ago

One woman's journey with cervical incompetence

Jamaica Observer

Fever in the morning, all through the night

A barrage of virus-causing illnesses are circulating in Jamaica right now.

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These include respiratory viruses such as COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and common cold viruses, which all cause symptoms like cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, and fatigue. Many viral illnesses have similar symptoms that can make it hard to determine what specific virus is causing the illness.

The immune response to viral illnesses can also contribute to the similarity of symptoms. When the body detects a viral infection, the immune system responds by releasing chemicals to fight the virus. These chemicals can cause inflammation, which leads to symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, and fatigue. In other words, you feel "pop down".

Furthermore, some viral illnesses can cause multiple symptoms at the same time. For example, dengue fever (which is also circulating presently) can cause fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting, and rash. These symptoms can also occur in other viral illnesses, making it difficult to determine the cause of the illness based on the symptoms alone. To determine the specific virus causing the illness, we use various diagnostic tests such as blood tests and nose and throat swabs.

Most viral illnesses are self-limiting, which means they will resolve on their own with time. We treat the symptoms of the viral illness to alleviate discomfort until the virus is cleared out of the body.

Fever is a common symptom of many viral infections. It is important to know how to treat fever properly to alleviate discomfort and prevent further complications. It is important to note that fever medications only treat the symptom of fever, not the underlying viral infection.

The first step in treating fever is to monitor your temperature regularly. We measure a fever accurately using a thermometer. A normal body temperature ranges from 97°F to 99°F (36.1°C to 37.2°C). A fever is when your body temperature rises above 100.4°F (38°C). I strongly encourage every person to have a thermometer in your household.

If you have a fever, it is important to rest and stay hydrated. Drink plenty of fluids, like water, fruit juices, and electrolyte solutions, to avoid dehydration. Dress in lightweight and loose-fitting clothing to help regulate your body temperature. Use a damp washcloth or take a lukewarm bath to cool your body down. Avoid using cold water or ice baths as they can cause shivering and raise your body temperature.

Fever medication is commonly used to reduce fever and relieve discomfort. Paracetamol is a popular fever medication that is available over the counter. It is generally considered safe for adults and children when taken according to the recommended dose. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs ) like Diclofenac and Ibuprofen are also used to treat fever. NSAIDS, however, can be dangerous if taken when you have Dengue Fever.

While most people with dengue fever recover without any serious complications, in some cases the illness can progress to a more severe form known as dengue haemorrhagic fever, which can be life-threatening.

NSAIDs can increase the risk of bleeding, which is already a potential complication of dengue fever. When you have dengue fever, the virus can cause damage to the blood vessels, which can lead to bleeding under the skin, in the nose, and in other parts of the body. Taking NSAIDs can make this bleeding worse, which can lead to serious complications, such as internal bleeding and shock.

If you are diagnosed with dengue fever and experience any of the following symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately:

Severe abdominal pain

Persistent vomiting

Bleeding from the nose or gums

Difficulty breathing

Pale, cold, or clammy skin

Rapid or weak pulse

These symptoms could indicate that you are developing a more severe form of the illness, and prompt medical attention is essential to prevent serious complications.

Finally, it is important to take steps to prevent the spread of viral illnesses in the first place. This can include washing your hands frequently, avoiding close contact with people who are sick, and wearing a mask in public places to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses like COVID-19. By taking these steps and following the recommended guidelines for treating fevers, you can help protect yourself and those around you from these common illnesses.

Dr Tal's Tidbit

Fever is a common symptom of viral infections and can be managed with fever medication and other home remedies. It is important to monitor your temperature regularly, rest, stay hydrated, and seek medical attention if you experience severe or prolonged fever or other concerning symptoms, like bleeding. By taking steps to prevent the spread of these illnesses we can all do our part to protect ourselves and those around us.

Dr Taleya Girvan has over a decade's experience treating children at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, working in the Accident and Emergency Department and Paediatric Cardiology Department. Her goal is to use the knowledge she has gained to improve the lives of patients by increasing knowledge about the health- care system in Jamaica. Dr Tal's Tidbits is a series in which she speaks to patients and caregivers, providing practical advice that will improve health care for the general population. E-mail: dr.talstidbits@gmail.com; Instagram @dr.tals_tidbits

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1 year 12 months ago

Fever in the morning, all through the night

Jamaica Observer

FirstCare, Spectrum Insurance to expand affordable health care in Jamaica

HEALTH and wellness company FirstCare Medical Plan and Spectrum Insurance Brokers Limited, an insurance brokerage with a broad reach and a team of hundreds of agents, recently forged a partnership to offer affordable health care to Jamaicans who do not have major medical insurance.

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For over a decade FirstCare Medical Plan has provided access to affordable health care in the Caribbean. With Spectrum as a new partner, the company has expanded its reach in Jamaica, making it easier for individuals and families to access necessary medical care.

Speaking on the partnership, FirstCare Medical Plan Country Manager Jheanell Thompson said, "We are thrilled to partner with Spectrum and their extensive network of agents. Spectrum is a trusted name in insurance brokerage in Jamaica. Their broad reach and established reputation make them the perfect partner for FirstCare and their mission ties in with our mandate to improve access to affordable health care for all Jamaicans."

Since entering the Jamaican market in late 2022, FirstCare has established provider networks in more than seven parishes, including St Thomas, St Catherine, St James, Manchester, Clarendon, St Ann, Kingston, and St Andrew. More than 100 providers have joined the network, including general practitioners, who offer no-cost office visits for all FirstCare members. The FirstCare network also includes specialists, dentists, eye doctors, labs, pharmacies throughout Jamaica, and an extensive network in the United States.

"Almost everyone can agree on the importance of access to health care and the many challenges our people face as a nation," stated Carmen Taylor-Allen, Spectrum employee benefits manager. "Having recognised that many Jamaicans cannot afford health insurance, it was important to find an approach to providing a service that would meet these needs. It is within this space that we opted to partner with FirstCare. The plan has no age or medical restrictions, making it applicable to a large uninsurable demographic. We believe that FirstCare's offering is unmatched in the market and are thrilled to add their products to our portfolio and look forward to a long and successful partnership."

The new partnership between FirstCare Medical Plan and Spectrum Insurance Brokers is expected to benefit both companies and their clients and contribute to the overall improvement of health-care services in Jamaica.

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More than just CRH

One woman's journey with cervical incompetence

Fever in the morning, all through the night

FirstCare, Spectrum Insurance to expand affordable health care in Jamaica

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