HI all,
So today i had my first visit with Dr. Bosio, who was kindly suggested me by a member of this forum and who's the author of this article:
Levetiracetam efficacy in Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorders:
a prospective study. Casa, B, Bosio, A. Drug Monitoring Service, New
York NY; USA; Mater Dei Clinic, Rome, Italy. Journal of the Neurological
Sciences, Volume 238, Supplement 1, 2005, p. S504.
Abstracts of the XVIIIth World Congress of Neurology
"Background: The occurrence of flashbacks following use of drugs is a
recognised condition known as Hallucinogen Persisting Perception
Disorders (HPPD), therapy for wlffch is based on neuroleptic and
attticonvulsant medication. Tiffs prospective study assessed the efficacy
of the novel antiepileptic drug levetiracetam (LEV) in treating patients
with HPPD over a 1-year period.
Method: Patients with HPPD were treated with LEV 1500 mg/day
(500 mg in the morning, 1000 mg in the evening) for 1 year. Daily
flashback frequency and electroencephalogram (EEG) assessments
were conducted at Day 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, 180 and 360. The incidence of
adverse events was monitored throughout the study.
Results: 27 patients (121 males, 6 females), with a mean age of 21.8
(range 18-26) years, were enrolled. At baseline, mean daily flashback
frequency was 9.3 (range 1-45) and EEG assessment demonstrated
temporal slow patterns in all patients. Over the 1-year treatment
period, 20/27 (74.1% ) patients became flashback-free. After 15 days,
7/27 (25.9% ) patients were already without clinical manifestations,
with 6 patients demonstrating > 75% reduction in flashback frequency
and 1 demonstrating 50-75% reduction. EEG patterns normalised in
18/27 (66.7% ) patients after 30 days and in 23/27 (85.2% ) after
90 days. 3/27 (11.1% ) patients continued to have flashbacks, despite
complete disappearance of EEG abnormalities. Side effects were
few in incidence and mild in severity. No patient discontinued
treatment.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated LEV to be highly efficacious in
the treatment of HPPD, with very good tolerability and ease of use."
In the past few months, before meeting him, I’ve seen 10 doctors who obviously didn’t know shit about HPPD. Thankfully he does and he told me I have it.
He told me very honestly that the 30% of those who have it will never heal and that a way to know if i’m among them is to have a sleep-deprived EEG (my normal EEG, PET and RMI were all negative).
After the result he’ll decide how to go about it. In the meanwhile he prescribed me DELECIT 600 (http://www.dica33.it/DELECIT/?f=rwxufkxupz)..