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Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#51

Post by sh4z »

swarnie_ wrote: post #27
mathieuh wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a chemist either but as someone who as partaken and knows other people who have also partaken, the dosages you have to take in order for this to become an issue are way beyond what would seem reasonable for someone who's not heavily dependent and tolerant. You would have to be taking grams and grams of the stuff on the regular; infrequent or one-off dosages won't cause bladder damage. Edit: even in the articl…

15g a day is a truly insane amount, i'm shocked the person mentioned didn't die... I've known 1/2 a gram leave people catatonic for hours.

If you use Ketamine regularly you build up a long lasting resistance pretty fast. I've met someone who was doing 5-10 grams a day and it barley had any noticeable effect on him

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#52

Post by eip »

Knufen wrote: post #41
ry_ry wrote: post #5

@HN's chemists - I was under the impression regular ketamine use caused irreversible bladder damage[0] - Is that due to much higher recreational dosage vs medical, or would this be something that couldn't be prescribed long-term? [0] http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/29811499/k-bladder-the...

Ketamine can do that under the extreme dosages used by recreational users. It's also important to remember that a lot of the bad long term effects of drugs can be attributed to impurities, which there should be next to nothing off when you get it from a doctor. https://www.addiction.com/4311/contaminants-illicit-drugs/

> the bad long term effects of drugs can be attributed to impurities, which there should be next to nothing off when you get it from a doctor.

Ketamine is sourced pretty much exclusively from pharmaceutical manufacturers and is medical grade.

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#53

Post by quantumwoke »

I've heard that ketamine usage long term can affect your microbiome [0], which seems to play a much greater role in depression that previously thought [1]. Has anyone had similar experiences?

[0] https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2011/03/20/ketam...

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016622361...

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#54

Post by mtgx »

TTPrograms wrote: post #22

If you're an American, every time you read a new article on Ketamine for depression your thought should be "Jeese, healthcare is screwed up". Pharma companies don't benefit from getting Ketamine approved (since it's no longer patent protected), so no one is putting it through FDA for depression. As a result insurance will never cover it (under the current model). The reason this treatment isn't mainstream isn't becau…

Same with Vitamin D, almost. If it were patent-protected, you'd probably get a big list of features promoted for an almost "miracle pill" that would probably cost a few dollars per pill.

But Vitamin D is not patent protected and it's dirt cheap, so not only does Big Pharma have no interest in promoting it, but it would rather you take much more dangerous drugs and much more expensive drugs to cure the same things Vitamin D does.

This is what a private healthcare system gets you, where profit is always a bigger priority than the well-being of the patient.

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#55

Post by amelius »

themodelplumber wrote: post #15

Ketamine is an anesthetic. Has anyone compared it to e.g. ibuprofen for this use case? Ibuprofen works very well for me when experiencing depressive symptoms. I'm down to about 2h max per depressive episode (logged at 10-30 depressing thoughts per minute, compared to none after). Mechanism intuitively "feels" inflammatory and looking at my logs seems related to exhaustion due to over-productivity, lack of rest, etc.

Warning for long-term ibuprofen users:

https://www.nhs.uk/news/medication/ibuprofen-linked-testoste...

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#56

Post by andrewingram »

pw wrote: post #7

My girlfriend receives ketamine treatment for her depression, so I’ve the results first hand. It’s truly astounding. She’s seen more improvement from the ketamine than from a decade of psychotherapy and traditional psychopharmacology. The only downside is the cost (it’s not covered by insurance) and the potential that there are long term side effects that have yet to be discovered. We pay $375 for a 40-minute infusio…

That's still cheaper than a private psychologist or psychiatrist (after the initial course).

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#57

Post by andrewingram »

proverbialbunny wrote: post #35
pw wrote: post #7

My girlfriend receives ketamine treatment for her depression, so I’ve the results first hand. It’s truly astounding. She’s seen more improvement from the ketamine than from a decade of psychotherapy and traditional psychopharmacology. The only downside is the cost (it’s not covered by insurance) and the potential that there are long term side effects that have yet to be discovered. We pay $375 for a 40-minute infusio…

Doesn't ketamine stimulate growth in the same areas of the brain that exercise does, and does therapy prescribe routine daily exercise? I can imagine there being a great short term benefit to ketamine, as people who are severely depressed can't exercise due to the depression. Has there been any mention switching from ketamine to daily exercise, or doing both?

Anecdote alert, but I get about 10 hours of exercise a week and at best it's stopping things getting worse.

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#58

Post by Liquix »

tmsh wrote: post #14
pw wrote: post #7

My girlfriend receives ketamine treatment for her depression, so I’ve the results first hand. It’s truly astounding. She’s seen more improvement from the ketamine than from a decade of psychotherapy and traditional psychopharmacology. The only downside is the cost (it’s not covered by insurance) and the potential that there are long term side effects that have yet to be discovered. We pay $375 for a 40-minute infusio…

Can confirm. I’m in a similar boat. Some other tidbits of information: - only thing that seemed to work even after TMS and other treatments. - New pathways (SF and San Mateo locations) is really good. - more and more treatment places opening up in different cities etc. - uber assist or drive the patient home (full lucidity afterwards but you don’t want to drive). - long-term benefits aren’t apparent after the first t…

Do you have any idea what the dosage is? Is it an immersive 'K-hole' dose where you go deep and become unresponsive for a bit? Or are the infusions smaller doses just meant to build up the anti depressive afterglow effects in the body?

Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression

#59

Post by toomanybeersies »

eip wrote: post #52
Knufen wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ketamine can do that under the extreme dosages used by recreational users. It's also important to remember that a lot of the bad long term effects of drugs can be attributed to impurities, which there should be next to nothing off when you get it from a doctor. https://www.addiction.com/4311/contaminants-illicit-drugs/

> the bad long term effects of drugs can be attributed to impurities, which there should be next to nothing off when you get it from a doctor. Ketamine is sourced pretty much exclusively from pharmaceutical manufacturers and is medical grade.

It is normally cut with other shit though to bulk it out and get more profit.
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