Drinking to forget? OK. But first, eat a curry... QUICK!

If you've had the kind of Patch Tuesday that ends in a mass attack of BSODs, new vulns in Java and someone advertising your routes as traversing Norfolk Island, you're quite likely to head for the pub and thence to a curry. According to research published in Neuropsychopharmacology, is that one of curry's important active …

[frank ly]

Yes, but

I'm afraid of curry.

[FartingHippo]

Re: Yes, but

I'm not afraid of curry. It's delicious. That first twinge in the bowels though, some time the next day, makes my knees turn to rubber.

20 minutes of weeping later I have a backside like the Japanese flag, and I'm promising myself "next time I'm having a Korma". For some reason I never remember that ... wait ... hang on a minute ... damn you Turmeric!!

[VinceH]

Re: Yes, but

"It's delicious."

I kind of agree with you apart from one thing: Your spelling of the word "horrible" seems to be a bit wrong. But other than that, I'm with you 100%.

[Alan Ferris]

Re: Yes, but

You didn't by any chance contribute to the customer reviews for Veet for Men on Amazon, did you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veet-Men-Hair-Removal-Cream/dp/B000KKNQBK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422446751&sr=8-1&keywords=veet+for+men

[Mark 85]

So, if you ate enough curry, you'd forget it ever happened? Or you just wouldn't be afraid? Hmm.... sort of like not having a photo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm...

I wonder how far back it can reach in breaking the associated patterns. PTSD is no joke. I got it courtesy of aviation fire and rescue duties, so it would be nice to tamp down the nightmares. I'll definitely point the director of the local VA towards this study. His kind of research.

[h4rm0ny]

Re: Hmmm...

I remember some research being done by the US army on drugs that would help dampen memory formation or emotive context. So if you've just bombed a village in Iraq, the pills help you feel less traumatized afterwards. Not sure whatever happened to that research but I can see something like this being picked up by the military. Especially if they can say it's for the good of soldiers which in the USA is pretty much an Advance Directly to Go ticket.

[Tom 38]

Re: Hmmm...

I remember some research being done by the US army on drugs that would help dampen memory formation or emotive context.

Cannabis?

[Dave 126]

Re: Hmmm...

No, not cannabis. MDMA:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/11/mdma-molly-therapy-ptsd-cure/10683963/

There have been a few studies - dating back a fair few years now- each with enough promise to justify larger trials. Indeed, it was with therapeutic applications like this in mind that the drug was developed in the first place.

[David Pollard]

Re: Hmmm...

A more ideal solution might be to enable sufferers to face their ingrained fears in a safe and supportive environment rather than merely to obliterate the troublesome memories so that troops can carry on killing, which is what I seem to remember the army research was aiming to achieve.

There seem to have been one or two suggestions recently that LSD can be useful in a therapeutic environment; hopefully the hysteria that do-gooders created for it is fading. As with other approaches to PTSD, though, a necessary part is having caring people around.

[JDX]

It's 0820

And now I really want curry. You bastards.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It's 0820

Agreed, its that bloody picture...

Salivating at the thought....

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Re: It's 0820

Hmmm... It does look tasty.

[DropBear]

Waaaait a minute....

I just realized typing this is uncomfortable because one of my hands seems to be holding the sandwich I packed for lunch. Damn! Am I really this easy to manipulate?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

So not a meal to have…

… whilst studying for an exam then. Perhaps that explains the sorry state of IT in India…?

(Not all of India I should point out, just the small minority that gets all the press for bad code.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So not a meal to have…

Nope, Indian's eat proper curry, not the ghee loaded slop we enjoy, more often than not made by Pakistani's or Bangladeshi's.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So not a meal to have…

Good point: it's related to one particular ingredient curcumin. The question is, do the traditional Indian ones carry this ingredient in significant quantities or is it a Western addition?

[David Pollard]

Re: So not a meal to have…

@Stuart: The figure I saw one time for average Indian adult intake of turmeric was about 1.5 g/day. It's been suggested that turmeric and other spices in the largely vegetarian diet may be factors in the remarkable longevity of people living in Kerala.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: So not a meal to have…

It may well be the large amounts of Turmeric which explains rush hour in any large Indian city. Especially the willingness of cyclists and mutli-occupancy scooters to partake in the "fun".

[jake]

Hmmm ...

"If you've had the kind of Patch Tuesday that ends in a mass attack of BSODs, new vulns in Java and someone advertising your routes as traversing Norfolk Island ..."

Uh ... I think I divested myself of all that half a decade ago.

Redmond-free, since Jan 1st, 2010.

[chivo243]

Sounds like

Moe Szyslak's forget me shot...

[Google]

Better skip the post beer if putting traumatic events behind you is the objective:

"People often drink to 'drown sorrows'," according to Kalev. "Our results suggest that this could actually paradoxically promote traumatic memories and lead to further drinking, contributing to the development of alcoholism."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/03/kiwi_boffins_prove_booze_makes_you_clever/

Another curry!

[James 36]

more curry

or

have a curry ,

then your required dosage of beer ,

then another curry

then bed

Curry preventing alcoholism as it reduces the bad memories that alcohol promotes.

further research required to find the happy medium.

[Joe Drunk]

From personal experience I will testify that yes, alcohol won't eliminate stressful or traumatic memories. All it does is postpone them. So forget about drinking if you've been dumped by someone or work in a "dynamic, fast paced, results-oriented matrix environment". These are catalysts for alcoholism and other chemical dependencies. Lifestyle changes are the only way to alleviate chemical (alcohol) dependency.

Alcohol has helped relieve anxiety and allow sleep when I couldn't as a result of said anxiety. I did not like being dependent on booze or anything else just to sleep because my job was causing too much stress and I had bad taste in women.

I made some lifestyle changes and now drink because I want one, not because I need one.

Beer icon because that's all I drink now, the hard stuff reminds me too much of my IT tech days.

[Ripper38]

Two for the price of one

@Google. Icon says it all.... First Lewis Page + Comments

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/03/kiwi_boffins_prove_booze_makes_you_clever/

... then a Lester Haines special to round the day off to:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/23/irish_electricity_company_threatens_to_cut_off_graveyard/

[Velv]

I feel sorry for people who don't drink.

When they wake up in the morning they know that's the best they're going to feel all day.

(Dean Martin)

[Roj Blake]

I've spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars.

The rest I just squandered.

(George Best)

[Pen-y-gors]

Really useful food additive

If they can manage to get the circumin so that it's colourless and tasteless (ground turmeric is a bit of a giveaway) then it could be added to military rations, hospital food, school meals, macdonalds - anywhere where events likely to cause PTSD may happen.

[The last doughnut]

Interesting but is the result more general - does the substance inhibit memories of all types from being retained?

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Curry...

Is it that awfully looking anti-food, full of anti-taste and anti-flavour?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Curry...

Go find yourself a proper curry house, easy to spot, they are full of Indian's, not drunk white people. Leicester is a good place to start :-)

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Re: Curry...

But that would not be the curry being lusted over on these pages, would it?

[asiaseen]

Re: Curry...

Full of Indian's what...? Or is that a greengrocer I see before me...

[David Pollard]

As recommended by James Wong

His 'Grow Your Own Drugs' book and TV series contained a recipe for Teh Halia, an Ayurvedic turmeric tea. This certainly seems effective in mitigating a range of inflammatory conditions and digestive disorders. Piperine from black pepper in this remedy increases the body's absorption of curcumin.

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence of turmeric's antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, stretching back over a few millennia, but more research is needed. The problem is that there isn't much money for Big Pharma in a simple, cheap, safe and effective remedy.

Google Scholar is now full of promotions from health food purveyors and quackery, but there are some well researched pages to be found.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/

https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/10212

http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/genetics/genie/projects/sfwc/documents/Curcumin%20review%20paper-1.pdf

[William Boyle]

Curry for MREs?

So, it seems that for all of our soldiers in harm's way, we should make sure that all MRE's have curry? Neat! and nummy!

[Little Mouse]

Diversion therapy?

I concur - kind of.

With a good case of the spicy whirly-splats, all your mind can focus on is getting to the nearest loo in time.

And once you get there of course, a whole new set of problems open up...

[skeptical i]

1.5% of daily rations?

Presumably by weight (and not caloric content) ... trying to work out how much turmeric I'll need to distribute throughout my daily grazing (what percentage of turmeric is curcumin again?). And beer, of course, because it certainly can't hurt. :^)

[Sirius]

What causes the runs?

One or two people have commented that they find curry gives them the runs. I've not found that myself, but it seems to be common.

Given that some of the other conditions people are finding curcurmin useful for treating are inflammatory bowel disorders like IBS, IBD and so on, it can't be the turmeric that is causing the diarrhoea.

So what is it?

[jake]

@Sirius (was: Re: What causes the runs?)

Gut feeling?[0]

The problem is the lack of proper diet in the first place, PROBABLY caused by entirely too much fast-food[1] and not enough fiber & veggies. The Wife & I have no diarrhea/gas issues with this kind of food, nor do we get the supposed "ring of fire".

[0] If you'll pardon the expression in this context.

[1] I suspect it's the fat and salt, combined with entirely too much simple sugar, active yeast and actual alcohol. YMMV. Enjoy your ... err ... bliss.

[herman]

So if you eat a lot of curry, you won't be scared of getting the trots. Figures...