Researchers have found that a drug used to treat a sleep disorder may benefit people with laryngeal dystonia (LD) – a neurological condition that makes a person’s voice sound hoarse and strained due to spasm of the vocal cords.
BBC reports that some of the volunteers treated with sodium oxybate found that it eased their speech and voice in a similar way that alcohol does, but without intoxicating them.
LD has gained attention since US President-elect Donald Trump appointed Robert Kennedy Jr. to his new White House administration, as the politician also suffers from the condition.
The condition is often treated with botox injections, but the solution proves ineffective for up to 40 percent of patients with the disease, say researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
“We hear many stories of broken lives and careers from laryngeal dystonia patients and they were desperate for new treatments,” said lead researcher Dr Kristina Simonyan.
“Our trial gives us hope for a new, effective treatment that can be offered to some of these patients,” he added.
Simonyan’s team decided to try to treat the problem with low-dose sodium oxybate because some patients said their LD symptoms subsided after a few alcoholic drinks.
The researchers first gave 106 LD patients doses of vodka as part of the treatment, after which 56 of them showed no improvement, while the other 50 showed ease in speaking.
On another date, all study volunteers were given a single dose of sodium-oxybate, while some were given a placebo or placebo.
Just as the vodka shots showed no signs of improvement for 56 volunteers, the drug showed no improvement in them, while the remaining 50, who were from the alcohol responder group, showed positive results for five hours.
The researchers report that the volunteers experienced some mild side effects such as nausea and dizziness, but no serious consequences, and they are now starting a larger phase of the study.
“Our findings suggest that sodium oxybate can be taken as needed, such as before work or a social event, so that patients can tailor treatment to their own daily needs and control their symptoms. “, they said.
“Dr Simonyan’s work gives promising evidence for an effective alternative treatment and future hope for our service users who suffer from this debilitating communication disorder,” said Jemma Haines from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
Dayna Ferdinadni from Dystonia UK said that although the study showed promising signs, further work needed to be done.
“The drug has not yet been approved by NICE [National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] or the NHS for use in the treatment of dystonia and further rigorous evaluation is needed to assess its safety, effectiveness and long-term impact,” he said.
“We welcome any research into dystonia, but it is important that new treatments are thoroughly tested before they are considered for widespread use,” he added.
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