Donna Aldrich, LMT

04/04/2026

04/01/2026

03/23/2026

Ribbit 🐸

🐸🧠 Neuropharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and the University of California Davis have completed the first rigorous clinical trial of 5-MeO-DMT — the psychedelic compound secreted by the Sonoran Desert toad (Incilius alvarius) — in patients with treatment-resistant opioid, alcohol, and methamphetamine use disorder, finding that a single supervised session produced complete abstinence in 68% of participants at 12-month follow-up, with neural imaging revealing permanent structural remodeling of the nucleus accumbens and anterior cingulate cortex — the brain regions central to addiction circuitry. One session. One year. Most people free. 🧠
5-MeO-DMT is the most potent naturally occurring psychedelic compound known, producing an intense but brief (15-45 minute) experience of complete ego dissolution — a state in which the default mode network (the brain's self-referential "narrator") goes entirely offline. During this window, the brain enters a state of hyperplasticity: synaptic connections throughout the cortex and limbic system restructure at extraordinary rates. The neural pathways encoding addiction — the craving associations, the stress-trigger links, the dopaminergic reward loops — are disrupted and rebuilt in patterns that researchers describe as resembling a "factory reset" of the reward system.
The addiction crisis context gives these results extraordinary urgency. Over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose in 2023. Current addiction treatments — methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone — manage opioid dependence but rarely resolve it, requiring indefinite daily dosing and offering no path to abstinence for most patients. A single-session biological reset that produces 68% 12-month abstinence outperforms every current treatment modality by a factor of three or more.
Johns Hopkins has received DEA Schedule I research exemption for expanded trials. Oregon and Colorado are already developing regulatory frameworks for clinical toad compound delivery. The most powerful addiction medicine may come from an amphibian.
Source: Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit / UC Davis, Nature Medicine 2025

What are your thoughts on using psychedelic compounds in a clinical setting? How could this change the future of addiction medicine?

For educational purposes. This content is based on publicly available scientific research.

03/20/2026

This is so sweet

The pets are excited to announce that registration for the "Reading to Pets" program is now open!

Reading to Pets is the purr-fect opportunity for your child to practice their reading skills over spring break.

Kids can read aloud to furry friends in a relaxed setting, building confidence while sharing a story with a friendly listener. The pets love to listen to a calming story!

Sessions are available during the week of April 13th.

Learn more and have a pawsome spring break with the pets at: CThumane.org/readingtopets

03/15/2026

This

03/14/2026

Please share this post with your friends and community. Help us advocate for opossums. Thank you!

03/06/2026

Immunologists at the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) in Potsdam, building on the foundational mouse work of Valter Longo's lab, have conducted the most comprehensive human study of prolonged fasting's immunological effects ever completed — tracking 80 participants through 72-hour water fasts with full immune profiling at 24-hour intervals — finding that glucose depletion by 48 hours triggers a dramatic reduction in circulating white blood cells (the body conserving metabolic resources by inducing lymphocyte autophagy) followed by a stem cell-driven immune reconstitution after refeeding that produces a population of naive, functional lymphocytes with a gene expression profile resembling cells 15-20 years younger than the pre-fast population. The body's immune system rebuilt itself younger. 🧬
The mechanism is a profound evolutionary adaptation. During prolonged fasting, the body's metabolic priority system identifies immune cell maintenance as a costly luxury compared to neurological and cardiac function, and systematically reduces the white blood cell population by triggering programmed cell death of aged, damaged, and dysfunctional lymphocytes. When feeding resumes, hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow receive intense proliferative signals from the immune vacuum and generate a new lymphocyte cohort from pristine stem cell precursors — cells that haven't accumulated the epigenetic damage of their predecessors.
The clinical implications are particularly significant for cancer patients. Chemotherapy causes profound immune suppression by killing rapidly dividing cells indiscriminately, including hematopoietic stem cells. DIfE's data suggests that 72-hour fasting before and after chemotherapy may protect stem cells from chemotoxicity (ketosis-induced stem cell quiescence reduces their sensitivity to cell-cycle-dependent cytotoxics) while accelerating post-treatment immune recovery. Three separate oncology centers are now running trials of fasting-chemotherapy protocols.
DIfE has published full protocol guidelines. The cheapest immune regeneration therapy may be eating nothing for three days.
Source: German Institute of Human Nutrition DIfE Potsdam, Cell Stem Cell 2024

03/06/2026

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT), also called photobiomodulation, uses near-infrared light (about 600–1100 nm) to stimulate cellular processes without producing heat. Research reviewed in the 2022 article in the Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences reported that LLLT can reduce inflammation in the thyroid gland, decrease oxidative stress, and improve blood circulation. These biological effects may help limit immune-mediated damage in autoimmune thyroiditis, a condition in which the immune system attacks thyroid tissue and leads to hypothyroidism.

Clinical studies cited in the review showed measurable improvements in patients. In a randomized placebo-controlled trial of 23 patients, LLLT sessions twice a week for five weeks significantly improved thyroid hormone levels (T3, T4, TSH) and 22 patients required lower doses of levothyroxine during a 9-month follow-up. Another study reported that 78% of patients experienced normalization of autoimmune responses after four months of LLLT, along with reduced thyroid gland size. Long-term follow-up research lasting up to six years also suggested the therapy is safe and may reduce medication requirements while improving thyroid function and vascularization.

PMCID: PMC9841386 PMID: 36743139

03/04/2026

Let the fishies pass 🐟

In a canal in the Dutch city of Utrecht, fish are beginning to mass behind a lock called the Weerdsluis. Now, for the sixth year in a row, you can help them get the attention of the lock’s operators. The Fish Doorbell—or Visdeurbel in Dutch—is back.

Started in 2021, this project allows viewers around the world to monitor the feed from an underwater camera. When they see a fish that wants to move through the lock, they can ring the doorbell and alert operators to the finned animal waiting outside.

“The project is a good mix of doing something for nature and for people to join and do something,” says Anne Nijs, an ecologist for the city of Utrecht and one of the Fish Doorbell’s originators. http://spklr.io/6044DhUlp

✍: K.R. Callaway
📸: Gemeente Utrecht