Recovery Michigan

An already-approved muscle relaxant may offer relief for U.S. military veterans and first responders suffering from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Phase 2 trials of the drug, TNX-102 SL, which contains the same chemical property as Flexeril, identified a dose and administration method that statistically improved participants’ PTSD symptoms among several mental health indices.

TNX-102 SL, which is the chemical cyclobenzaprine, blocks certain neurotransmitters in the brain and receptors that scientists believe causes arousal responses and recurrent thinking, two signs of PTSD. The drug blocks the histamine receptor, too, which causes the side effects dry mouth and day sedation.

For the study, Croft’s team randomized 230 patients to take either 2.8 milligrams or 5.6 milligrams, or a placebo once a day for 12 weeks, sublingually, before bedtime. Flexeril is typically taken at a 30 milligram dose and orally. Neither researchers nor the patients knew which dose they received, making it double-blinded.

Periodically, researchers assessed patients’ CAPS scores. At the outset they found those patients who received the higher dose resulted in statistically significant PTSD symptom improvement. Those patients’ CGI scores, which evaluate how an individual’s health changes over time, showed similar results to that of effective antidepressants.

Not only did TNX-102 SL help patients sleep better, but it also reduced arousal and reactivity, anxiety, hypervigilance, and trouble concentrating— all symptoms of PTSD— Croft said.

“The good news is because it goes directly into the bloodstream at a much smaller dose than the oral medication used for muscle relaxation, it seems to be well tolerated, and it was well tolerated in this study,” Croft said.

Study participant Mark Bratton was deployed five times overseas, two that were combat related, during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2004 to 2013. His personal relationships suffered and he began coping with depression in 2007, when he returned home to Harlingen, Texas, from Iraq. But he pushed his discomfort aside because he didn’t want to be perceived negatively in the military or risk not being deployed again, he said.

He was diagnosed four months before he was discharged from the Marines, and since then he’s tried several approaches— from Zoloft to cognitive behavioral therapy, to Wellbutrin, a mood stabilizer— to ease his symptoms.

Therapy helped for a while, as did the Wellbutrin, but Zoloft made him feel “cloudy” and “zombie like,” he said.

TNX-102 SL, along with his service dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Benny, has helped Bratton feel safer in crowds by reducing hypervigilance, and has helped him sleep better at night with fewer nightmares.

“My depression started to ease up, and all these feelings of worthlessness, and just not feeling good about myself, started to subside,” Bratton, 30, told FoxNews.com of his experience with the drug.