Propranolol is a beta blocker that is sometimes used in the treatment of hypertension and migraines. The Sixty Minutes segment The Memory Pill looked at its use for treating post-traumatic stress syndrome. Apparently, one of its effects is to lessen the intensity and immediacy of traumatic memories. Various patients were interviewed, all of whom showed astounding improvement after years– even decades– of suffering from severe PTSD following car accidents, physical debilitation, and rape.
Although the results are more than promising– there seem to be few side-effects– research in the US was effectively shut down after a White House bioethics report questioned the ethics of “altering memory.” Research continues in Canada, though, and it looks like the U.S. Military is going to start funding that research…
Critics worry about the effects of manipulating memory. Learning to deal with traumatic events is part of psychological growth. What happens if we short-circuit that process? How will it effect not just what we learn, but how we handle similar situations in the future? What role does memory– even traumatic memory– play in the formation and effectiveness of conscience? Could this become a drug that people take to forget their bad behavior at a party, that criminals take to make them more effective in pursuing their nefarious tasks, or that the military force feeds soldiers to make them better able to “kill, kill, kill”?
These are fascinating and interesting questions, but ultimately they are irrelevant. This cat is out of the bag– both in substance and peoples’ desires– and one can only imagine the kinds of memory manipulation we’ll see in the next few decades: memory erasers, intensifiers, enhancers. It’s the road humanity is on, love it or leave it (like you have a choice).
This is fascinating and terrifying. Certainly, I’d love to be less impaired than I presently am by posttraumatic stress. In the last two years of being forced to reopen all manner of proverbial “worm cans” by the truckload, my basic functioning as a human being is markedly worse than during the period that preceded this one, during which I was just stuffing it all.
But all of one’s memories, even the horrific ones, are precious, and I’d be a shell of myself without an intact power of recall.
If a magic bullet type of pill were out there that muted the debilitating effects of posttraumatic stress, without actually impairing or altering memory in any way - something that perhaps made memories easier to workwith, I’d be the first one to sign up for it, but I can’t imagine there could be such a convenient shortcut through all the horror and rot of it. (”The only way out is through” and all that…)
I don’t know… judging from the people they interviewed, that’s exactly what this drug does– it doesn’t alter the memory– they can still recall everything– it just makes it less immediate/threatening/overwhelming. If I suffered from PTSD I would be looking into it!
Duly noted (with gratitude, btw), though if only for self-protective reasons, I’ll retain my characteristic skepticism for now. I’m on no meds whatsoever right now (save for asthma Rx without which I would have keeled over a few months ago - in a really bad spell), after some very bad experiences. For my apparent ADD, I went on Concerta (an extended-release stimulant), only to find that it helped initially, then made my existing anxiety disorder stuff (most of which ties directly into the trauma history) so much worse than it had been, I subsequently went on a variety of benzodiazepenes (Xanax and the like). Which helped, if you call “knocking me out so hard that I couldn’t even stay awake, much less suffer from anxiety” “helpful.” This, in turn, knocked me into such a depressed state I wanted to kill myself (and at one point, tried): if I can’t even stay awake during the day in order to get anything done, what the fuck am I even breathing for? - etc. And the Ambien, etc. I tried for middle-of-the-night trauma- and anxiety-related insomnia just made me do weird shit, like calling people and leaving surreal, 10-minute long messages on their voicemail and dying my hair blue. (At least I didn’t go driving, like some Ambien users have apparently done.)
It got to where I couldn’t tell what I was taking medication for: actual diseases/disorders or for the side effects of other medications? It was totally stupid.
But if there is something out there that could help to faciliate me getting through this particular impasse of late, without fucking me up further in the process, I might have to overcome my reluctance and try it.
I’ll see what the good people at Crazymeds.org (and its companion bb site, Crazyboards.org), then think about whether or not to go back to the MD shrink for further adventures in pharmacological tx. (For now, the Talky Doc continues to serve as basic life-support, and not just because he’s dealt with writers before.)
Always good to read you, Chris.
“the road”…. is that an allusion to Cormac McCarthy’s latest novel?
V– Let me make clear I’m in no way making a recommendation, just wanted to report what the people were saying accurately. I have had bad experiences with pretty much every drug I’ve ever been given for mental issues– from the mild Zolofts and Prozacs to the various MAOIs and Welbutrin, which truly sucked. I don’t like being a guinea pig and I don’t like the guesswork! For now it’s just me, lots of journals, and email/snail mail friends who don’t mind my occasional ravings… you may be the missive of more of those anytime…
M.Hales– no, not an allusion though I do have _The Road_ on my list of “soon to be read” books. If it’s half as good as the reviews (or 1/4 as good as the Border trilogy) it will be a great and occasionally discomfiting pleasure.
Recently finished the excellent audiobook version of The Road, pretty intense. Here is the representative sentence, according to Believer magazine:
“He made train noises and diesel horn noises but he wasn’t sure what these might mean to the boy.â€
Not an allusion, ah ok. But then I won’t go to KFC because the letters spell out a curse word.
re: recurring emotions to traumatic events
I can relate. I was a virgin. My guy I were waiting until we wed. I knew I needed to mature & develop me to be a full partner. My
traumas were betrayals by mom and multiple rapes and stalkings in my late teens to early 20’s by a “time-filler” from before me & my guy. Mom insisted I take his calls & see him. No big deal but then he raped, gave it a break, did it again and so on. My house, my rules narcissistic mom kept forcing us together. I tried to tell her by starting with he hits me. She yelled he did not, he leaned over, brushed my leg & he treats me like a queen! Cops did not help. Decades later I learned they often pow-wowed on ways to break up my guy & me. Their goal was to be “mom & son-in-law”! She provided all sorts of info. He paid my guy’s mom a visit, showed up at my work and when my guy & I were together. When my guy was out of the country (men were drafted into Service then), he showed up at family gatherings to my shock. It got much worse.
I hope you see that I do understand. Fear was a great controller. I assume differences in body chemistry, self talk, friends, free time outlets and whatever can explain why, after a reasonable period, I could reflect without wretching distress, i.e. wasn’t my idea to lose my virginity so when the time came my choice can count as my first time. Can’t change it. Self-improvement courses helped me find my voice, confidence and right to speak my mind.
The reason I share this is perhaps something in the physical toll that still remains 40 years later may have some implications for those still hostage to recurring trauma emotions. Seems stress needs an outlet or acceptance of sorts or it turns inward.
I had colitis & diverticulits by age 19. I was told I’d probably be on the bowel Rx for my life. I chose to stop it rather than train my body to rely on it. It passed.
By early/mid 20’s, mild transient Reactive Hypoglycemia symptoms were not recognized as such. Each year it was just a bit worse. Doctor wanted me on depression drugs. I worked & had active life. My problem was an energy drain when I shouldn’t be tired. It was the same even on great fun vacation with a large group of friends.
I was told my uterus was tilted and I may not be able to get pregnant. It had to be from rapes in a sitting position unable to move and why the pain went so deep and made using the toilet so painful for 1-2weeks each time. Except for painful teen periods that the gyn fixed, my virgin uterus was perfect.
At 33 I was blessed with a C-section son. I was a single parent. It took about 11 yrs for doctors to figure out he wasn’t ADHD, Oppositoonal Behavior Disorder and whatever else. He was born with Reactive Hypoglycemia. The diet therapy gave him access to his high IQ, well adjusted, joy to be with social butterfly self that his genes and my parenting predisposed him to be.
Before he was diagnosed, in my late 30’s my Reactive Hypoglycemia was dibilitating. I was finally diagnosed. Diet therapy helped a lot but not as expected. I was able to work part time. My first adult upper respiratory infection set me back. The next year another disabled me. About age 40 I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). It’s not as bad as it was but it’s never good. My doctor thought my great immune system was weak from uncontrolled hypoglycemia so long that it couldn’t fend off the CFS. It came close after the 1st attack.
Local & Network News recently interviewed CFS suffers and told of the CDC push to educate the public and doctors about it. I went to http://www.cdc.gov/cfs. I learned that those exposed to traumatic stress as children/adolescents (and me) are more likely to get CFS. Symptoms also prompt many doctors to prescribe psych drugs and claim success when high risk side effects cause mania highs!
CAUTION: If you explore a possible hypoglycemia connection beware of what test is suggested or ordered. Reactive hypoglycemia is not revealed in a short or 6 hr Glucose Tolerance Test. You’d have to be physically active and endure some sort of emotional stress to manipulate the test and hope results are consistent with chronic low blood sugar. 2 hr Post-prandial (after eating) is also unreliable.
The most likely reliable Reactive Hypoglycemia Test is when you are symptomatic. That’s when I took my son to the ER. Our wait was long. Adults will wait much longer. Delay may allow blood sugar levels to improve giving a false borderline or normal result when blood is drwan. Plan ahead. Learn about hypoglycemia symptoms. Don’t change your diet. Keep a daily log of times & what you eat, drink, take Rx, stressors and times of changes in energy, emotions and all else, good or bad. Give it 1-3 wks. A reaction pattern may emerge to one or more things.
If you feel there may be a connection, get an order to draw blood to “Draw blood immediately upon receipt to test Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels while symptomatic”. Ask doctor to include other levels that may help when sumptomatic. The worse the symptoms are the better for testing. Bring good healthy food to eat after blood is drawn. Then doing the hypoglycemic food list and timed small portions may help. It can’t hurt. It’s standard for kids and in many elderly facilities. The worst is to learn it has no role in physical or emotional issues and the search isn’t over.
Based on the 60 Minutes story I Googled Propranolol. My friend’s son was in Iraq. That’s how I found this site. Sorry this is much lengthlier than intended.
Hmmm… very interesting. About 7 yrs ago I was on Propranolol for migraines after several years of receiving only motrin while I was active duty. At that time there was only a faint whisper of the drug to be used for PTSD and that was soemthing they had on the agenda for me later. It definately put a stop to my migraines which thrilled me, however, I do not have BP problems and being on the Propranolol created another problem; my BP would drop suddenly causing near syncope most times, and actual syncope once. That was scary to me. They said though, that this would probably pass with some adjustment to dosage. By then they had gotten a handle on the migraines, and well… being with the VA my medical providers often change. The plan to use it for PSTD fell by the wayside completely. I’d since forgotten about it completely. This is worth a revisit. I wish I’d caught that Sixty Minutes airing.
It appears that Propranolol does the same thing as Alpha-Theta Brainway training developed by the Menninger Clinic and the VA Hospital in Texas. They both seem to leave the memory 100% in tact but uncoupled it from the crippling emotion. Brainway training is very expensive, emnotional draining and can take six weeks. It sounds as if Propranolol works in less time without the emotional turmoil of brainway training.
The idea that we should not change who we are is a rather strange notion. A car crashes into you because a drunk gets behind the wheel and for some reason you are supposed to live with the emotional trauma for the next 60 years? Suppose your child gets cancer. Should we let him suffer and die so that we do not interfer with the laws of probability that dropped this fate into his life? Where is it mandated that allow out lives to be endless needless suffering because some drunk ran a red light or some toxic molecule logded in a child’s lung?
[...] responded at length concerning my past travails with medications I have taken (while also participating in [...]
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