Is the mechanism of action known?
Not fully. One part is pretty persistent NMDA receptor blockade. How does that tie into depression if at all, we do not know.
Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
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Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#22If 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 because "the research is still out" (though that may still be). It's because there are no financial interests to get it over the hoops into the highly convoluted state that enables affordable medical care.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#23How hard would it be to create a ketamine nasal spray at home, if you possess some in powder form?
Not at all. I know people who have done this. They claim it works well.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#24Ketamine 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.
Paracetamol, metamizol, acetil acid, diclofenac and ibuprophen all fall into the same category (I have chronic headaches) but I really doubt any of them are good for depression. For stress I take small amount of frontin (xanaxish thing) and it acts all differently (for me at least) from the rest.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#25Is the mechanism of action known?
"Ketamine lifts depression via a byproduct of its metabolism" " rel="nofollow">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160504141131.h...
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#26pipiolo
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#27@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...
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.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#28If 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…
Yes, healthcare sounds pretty screwed up. But even though ketamine for depression might never get FDA approved, I think it's still good that these positive effects are still being reported on. The fact that there are new articles on ketamine shows that there is still some interest.
And this interest isn't completely fruitless just because the pharma industry will never support it. Individuals (admittedly, only those who can afford it) can still try to benefit from e.g. off-license prescriptions.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#29If 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…
https://adisinsight.springer.com/drugs/800037644
The very article you're commenting on directly contradicts what you're saying. Big pharma is actively running studies and trying to get this fast tracked for treatment in the US and Europe.
Granted the article is somewhat poor reporting because the title should read "esketamine" not ketamine.
Re: Ketamine has 'fast-acting benefits' for depression
#30If 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…
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