Posted by Tomatheus on November 21, 2010, at 15:05:40
As some of you may know from reading some of my more recent posts, I have been taking an herb called kanna, or sceletium tortuosum, for the past two weeks and getting reasonably good results from it. The first thing that I noticed after I started taking kanna was a reduction in the severity of some of my depressive symptoms, particularly psychomotor retardation, lack of energy, and anhedonia. After a few days, I also noticed that my cognition had improved to the point that I was no longer having difficulty reading long pieces of writing. My cognitive difficulties began after I took a medication called aminoguanidine, and since that time, reading anything longer than a short news article has been extremely difficult for me.
Now that it's been a full two weeks since I started taking kanna, I can say that my cognition has been consistently improved since I started taking the herb and that my mood and energy levels are also generally improved over what they were before I started kanna. When I say that my mood and energy levels are "generally" improved over what they were before I started the kanna, I mean that there's been some mild mood cycling since I started the herb. This does not come as a surprise to me, considering that one of kanna's mechanisms of action is serotonin reuptake inhibition. I would say that when I've been at my best on kanna, I've felt as though my depressive symptoms were in 80 percent remission, and when I've been at my worst on kanna, I'd describe my depressive symptoms as being in 40 percent remission. Even though there's a significant difference between the way that I feel when I'm at my best on kanna and the way that I feel when I'm at my worst on the herb, I would say that when I'm at my worst I still feel no worse than I did before I started taking kanna. So, basically, I've noticed nothing but improvements depression wise since I started taking kanna, although the antidepressant benefits have been inconsistent. Given the fact that my cognition is consistently better than it was before I started taking kanna and that I'm at least feeling less depressed some of the time than I was before I started the herb, I would say that I'm definitely benefiting from the kanna and that it's worth taking.
I take a liquid tincture version of kanna, and for most of the past two weeks I've been taking only 33.3 mg, or one drop of the herbal preparation. There was one day when I tried increasing my dose to 66.6 mg, and somewhat surprisingly, I felt significantly more depressed than I had been at any point when I was taking 33.3 mg. So, the next day, I lowered my dose back down to 33.3 mg, and I've been there ever since.
Kanna certainly hasn't put my depressive symptoms into full remission like Nardil did in the past, but I do think that it may be a promising treatment for others suffering from depressive disorders, cognitive impairment associated with a psychotic disorder, or possibly even attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As far as I know, kanna has never been studied for its potential to treat psychiatric illnesses, but one of its active ingredients (mesembrine) is believed to be both a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-4, or PDE4. SSRIs, of course, are established treatments for depressive disorders, and a PDE4 inhibitor called rolipram has been shown to be as effective as desipramine (Bobon et al., 1988) and imipramine (Bertolino et al., 1988) in comparative studies, despite a third study that found rolipram to be less effective than imipramine (Hebenstreit et al., 1989). So, being an SSRI, a PDE4 inhibitor, and an herb that has been shown anecdotally to boost mood and reduce anxiety, I think that kanna holds some promise in the treatment of depressive disorders. I also think that it it may be helpful in treating other disorders in which cognitive deficits or impairments may be present. I say this partially because of the cognitive improvement that I've noticed since I started taking kanna, but also because PDE4 levels have been shown to be elevated in a mouse model of sleep deprivation, with the sleep-deprivation-induced cognitive deficits being reversed by PDE inhibition (Vecsey et al., 2009).
I still struggle a lot with my negative psychotic symptoms, the side effects of the Abilify that I take, and to a lesser extent, my depressive symptoms, but I can definitely say that the kanna I'm taking has reduced the severity of my depressive and cognitive symptoms and has consequently reduced the overall impairment that I experience. I've been doing a lot more reading since I started taking kanna, and I've also been somewhat more productive and better able to take care of my needs since I've been on the herb. There aren't many mentions of kanna in the Psycho-Babble archives, so I thought that I'd add this thread detailing my positive response to the herb so others could be aware of its potential therapeutic benefits.
Tomatheus
Currently taking:
Abilify, 5 mg
Lamictal, 12.5 mg
Hydergine, 2.25 mg
folic acid, 800 mcg
coenzyme q10, 60 mg
Korean ginseng, 535 mg
kanna, 33.3 mg==
REFERENCES
Bertolino, A., Crippa, D., di Dio, S., Fichte, K., Musmeci, G., Porro, V., et al. (1988). Rolipram versus imipramine in inpatients with major, "minor" or atypical depressive disorder: A double-blind double-dummy study aimed at testing a novel therapeutic approach. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 3, 245-253. Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3153712
Bobon, D., Breulet, M., Gerard-Vandenhove, M.A., Guiot-Goffioul, F., Plomteux, G., Sastre-y-Hernandez, M., et al. (1988). Is phosphodiesterase inhibition a new mechanism of antidepressant action? A double blind double-dummy study between rolipram and desipramine in hospitalized major and/or endogenous depressives. European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 238, 2-6. Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3063534
Hebenstreit, G.F., Fellerer, K., Fichte, K., Fischer, G., Geyer, N., Meya, U., et al. (1989). Rolipram in major depressive disorder: Results of a double-blind comparative study with imipramine. Pharmacopsychiatry, 22, 156-160. Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2668980
Vecsey, C.G., Baillie, G.S., Jaganath, D., Havekes, R., Daniels, A., Wimmer, M., et al. (2009). Sleep deprivation impairs cAMP signaling in the hippocampus. Nature, 461, 1122-1125. Abstract: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7267/full/nature08488.html
Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Currently taking 5 mg Abilify, 12.5 mg Lamictal, 2.25 mg Hydergine, and four supplements.
poster:Tomatheus
thread:970936
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20100930/msgs/970936.html