Researchers here in Jacksonville are testing a potential new treatment for
obsessive compulsive disorder
or OCD and they’re asking
patients to enroll in a study
to test a new drug
joining us to discuss the study
and help us really better
understand OCD is Mike better
who has the condition
and clinical psychologist
doctor Jeffrey romell a
Jacksonville clinical research
good morning. Thank you for
being here to appreciated.
Doctor let me start with you if
I could could you explain to
our viewer. You know what OCD
because some people may feel
like maybe they have the
condition but don’t realize
it’s not necessarily what it is
see is a chronic
psychiatric condition.
>> And this really has 2 main
parts to it
on the one hand there’s the
obsessions and these are
recurrent an wanted distressing
thoughts. They can be about
things being clean unclean
things
>> you know. They’re
like germs. Orderliness things
being undone and the starts kind of Hunt, the person may be all day for you know they
interfere
with their. Relationships with
their job with
family life and then on the
other side are the compulsions
and the compulsions are the
behaviors that the person is
kind of feels driven to perform
because of the obsessions
and so that’s that you know
like the hand washing or the
checking the light switches are
checking the stove. And again
it’s the degree of it I think
we’re start to draw the line of
you know like everybody double
checks or door at night maybe
before they go to bed,
but we’re starting to spend
maybe hours a day and has
prevented from going to work in
this you know impacting
relationships were start to
kind of draw the line to OCD
and might be then the the
signal then to yourself it’s
time to speak to someone in
maybe get some help me bring
Mike into this conversation
then.
>> You thank you because you’re
here just share your story
about this disorder or this
condition. I should say how has
it
affected you.
>> Well so I in hindsight.
My symptoms started showing up
and it was very little 3 or 4
years old but um I wasn’t
diagnosed until I was in my
late 30’s, 36 years old and I
was first misdiagnosed with
bipolar disorder.
Which is not uncommon a lot of
therapist think that that’s
something else before they go
to OCD with it manifests as
intrusive thoughts as doctor
almost said, a
lot of it skin picking up pick
up my nails out until they
bleed out to the inside of my
lip, I don’t do a lot of the
like locked checking in making
sure the stove is off kind
of thing I do counting. Um I do
a lot of will for example, one
of them dealing with
at this moment I’ve lost a pair
of shoes and I don’t know where
they are I know I had him on
last night and I were them in
the House can’t find them,
I’ve no idea where they are and
I’m thinking about that in the
back of my mind
and to deal with that I’m
picking up my cuticles right
now because it’s like it,
although it’s hurting me
physically it calms way,
rain.
>> And so there’s this new
treatment that’s available to
talk to the doctor about the
clinical study in just a minute
but first
>> have you had trouble finding
treatment and what you what are
your thoughts on this.
>> This new drug that may help.
>> I think any treatments that that work for the individual and every individual is
different than any treatments
that work are a good thing you
know it even I’m you know, and
I don’t like to do placebo
around because you know that’s
kind of a a term that people
throw around his office to
throw around the term OCD
because it’s you know it’s
always a accurate.
But if it works for the
individual I applaud it, you
know I’ve taken things a trick
medications. I’ve done
therapies that work for me that
don’t work for someone with the
exact same type see that I have
and that works for them and
then work for me, I applaud it
so doctor tell us about
the study.
>> So basically I’m this is
stay the targets a different
part of the brain that any kind
of current treatment that’s
available.
So far we’ve used traditional
more into the present
medications which like which
work toward serotonin and help
lots of people. Gear decrease
anxiety help their mood.
But what we found with teichner
neural imaging techniques is
that there’s this part of the
brain. The gloom an urgent
systems and the glutamate
and that’s what this medication
targets what we found is people
who suffer from OCD have higher
levels of glutamate activity
and this medication reduced
works to reduce level and we
seeing some video then of how
it works within the brain I
assume that said what do you
need from
the public.
>> So right now you know we’re
very excited about where things
you know this could lead to
but we Volunteers and the
people who have OCD who
have traditional treatments and
they feel like
there’s still room for
improvement or it’s not helping
them as much as it could be or
maybe not even at all
to come down to um you know get
involved in clinical trials
like but we haven’t seen us
Healthcare, sometimes when
people hear this they like or
you’re going to do all these
probes in tests on May anything
you could say to allay their
concerns about that
with this medication is
actually pretty far along this
life and has gone to lots of
safety testing already by the
time we get
to it, we’re just interested in
it does it lots of people have
tried before it’s been. At
this point we’re looking at
what we call Africa C
or does it work and so we’re
excited about that thank you
both for being here really
appreciate thank you for
sharing your story know that it
helps people who are watching
anyone interested in the study
can visit OCD trial
dot org.
>> Or you can call 8, 5, 5, 9,
4, 5, 0, 8, 6, 7, we will post
this later this morning on news
4 Jax dot com. He probably also
have questions about any