Woman with dementia shares first words in five years after taking controversial drug
A woman with dementia was able to temporarily speak for the first time in years after taking a controversial psychedelic. The anonymous Japanese-American woman, who was in her 80s, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a decade earlier and lived with family members for support. About five years after her diagnosis, the woman's speech became increasingly stunted as she would only use one-syllable words and refuse to start a conversation. She also suffered from incontinence, mobility issues and problems with executive function, which includes planning, self-control and attention. While dementia, which affects 7 million Americans, worsens over time, doctors in Brazil, where the woman lives, sought to find out if the hallucinogen psilocybin - found in 'magic mushrooms' - could stall her decline. Doctors writing in a medical journal said the woman was given 5g of psilocybin - a large dose sometimes nicknamed a 'heroic dose' - in a supervised session, which triggered profuse sweating and a drop in body temperature before she entered a long sleep-like state. But after about 19 hours, the woman began having conversations on her own, which lasted several hours. Over the next few days, she was also able to control her bladder, dress and walk by herself and hold eye contact and smile at her loved ones. An unidentified woman reportedly regained her speech abilities after taking psilocybin, a compound found in 'magic mushrooms' (stock image) Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in over 200 species of mushrooms, also known as 'magic mushrooms'
A month later, the woman was given a second 3g dose of psilocybin. Instead of falling asleep, she was reportedly conversational and expressive the whole time, describing emotional scenes like surfing with her son on a peaceful island. The woman also spontaneously told her healthcare team, 'It is pleasant to come here.' 'Facial expressivity, emotional reciprocity, spontaneous humor, and gait agility appeared markedly improved,' doctors from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil wrote in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. There were no adverse effects, which can include agitation and cardiovascular instability, such as a high heart rate or blood pressure. It's unclear if the woman's improvements continued or if she reverted to her previous state.The researchers cautioned that the study has important limitations, such as only relying on a single case study and not measuring the woman's brain activity or giving her cognitive tests related to her dementia. 'The findings should not be interpreted as a reversal of Alzheimer's pathology,' the doctors said. Instead, they said the findings 'raise the possibility' that dormant abilities like speech in dementia may become 'temporarily accessible' under specific conditions, such as psilocybin tapping into certain regions of the brain. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in over 200 species of mushrooms, also known as 'magic mushrooms.' It's considered a Schedule I drug in the US, meaning the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has deemed it as a drug 'with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.' Pop music icon Harry Styles (pictured above) has said he used magic mushrooms while recording his album 'Fine Line'
However, a growing body of research has suggested psilocybin may lead to improvements in depression, anxiety and some forms of chronic pain. Experts believe it promotes the growth of new connections between neurons called dendritic spines and neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to adapt. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are currently recruiting adults with early Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment - a precursor to dementia - to determine if supervised psilocybin sessions may reduce patients' depression and anxiety. Additionally, a 2022 study in The New England Journal of Medicine found taking one dose of psilocybin reduced depressive feelings in people with treatment-resistant depression. And one recent survey of 3,000 Americans ages 42 to 92 found that those who reported using a hallucinogen in the past year had fewer depressive symptoms and improvements in brain functions like working memory and processing speed. The researchers in the new case report wrote that 'systematic investigation is warranted' to further determine the benefits of psilocybin on dementia.
