MentalHealthDaily

Gabapentin Plus Hegu Embedding: 92% Postherpetic Neuralgia Response

by GLOOM

MHD featured image for gabapentin, Hegu catgut embedding, postherpetic neuralgia, and sleep quality.

A 210-person randomized assessor-blinded trial found that adding weekly Hegu-point catgut embedding to gabapentin improved 4-week postherpetic-neuralgia response from 80.00% to 92.38%; compared with gabapentin alone, the add-on arm also ended with lower sleep-problem scores and fewer adverse events.[1] This 2026 trial supports an add-on signal that still needs sham-controlled confirmation because follow-up lasted only …

Twin Study Finds No Broad Cytokine Link to Depression or Alcohol Use Disorder

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of cytokine molecules and brain imagery, conveying inflammation-depression hypothesis under scrutiny.

The broad cytokine story failed its most direct community test: in 972 adults, depression, alcohol use, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) were not associated with C-reactive protein (CRP) or a pre-registered pro-inflammatory cytokine index. The only multiple-testing-corrected cytokine hits ran opposite the hypothesis — AUD was linked to lower IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, and IL-12 — …

When Inflammation Drives Depression — and When It Doesn’t

by GLOOM

Stylized illustration representing the inflammation-depression connection, with the calibration that the link is stronger in clinical samples than in community samples.

‘Depression is inflammation’ holds for a subgroup of patients, not for everyone. Community-sample and twin data weaken the broader version of the claim.