Tales from a clinical trial

I’ve wrapped up my first (but hopefully not last) clinical trial! Last October I was tipped off about this trial by my group facilitator at the Harmony Hill 3-day Cancer Retreat I attended. She suggested I might want to apply. The doctors running this trial are looking at the effects psilocybin has on relieving anxiety in cancer patients, when given in a group setting. It’s run by the University of Washington; here is the official page if you want more details. After several interviews, thick stacks of paperwork, and approval from my oncologist, I was accepted! The facilitators have been running sessions since last August; my cohort of eight patients was the last one for this particular study.

Held at the same beautiful nestled-in-nature retreat Harmony Hill retreat center in Union, WA that I visited in October, the first day was all about setting expectations for the experience and getting to know my fellow participants and our facilitators (a 1:1 ratio). The second day was the application of the medicine, and the third day was “reintegration” a.k.a making sure we were all in a safe headspace. I’m attaching a picture of the agenda at the bottom of this post.

The facilitators were kind, gentle, and consummate professionals. They kept us very safe, with blood pressure monitoring and frequent check-ins. Before and after the experience we were asked lots of questions about our mental state, and they followed up a few days later too. We have two more Zoom meetings as well to see how we are doing.

We took the medicine in a beautiful large meeting space with gorgeous views of trees and the Hood Canal. Gentle music was playing, and we were given cozy air mattresses with blankets, pillows, and eye masks.

I’ve been to Burning Man three times, so I am not unfamiliar with psilocybin; but never with a quiet, intentional, inward-looking experience. To summarize, the medicine gave me an experience that was both exactly what I expected and also nothing like I expected… I was able to access deeper parts of myself than I have ever been able to. I’m still processing it all and it might be too early to tell for sure, but I think my anxiety around my cancer has been better. 🙂

This is really exciting, cutting-edge science, and I am very pleased to be a part of it. I truly think that psilocybin has a place in healing, and I hope that my small piece of participation helps move it along to greater acceptance. I am so grateful that I have had this experience, and looking forward to reading the final summary of the clinical trial’s findings.

I’d like to do more clinical trials in the future. Clinicaltrials.gov is the official website, but it’s a little hard to navigate; fortunately LACNETS has put together a more accessible list. I’m keeping an eye out to see what future treatments I might be eligible for!