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Using ketamine to treat depression

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
A recent study by the National Institute of Mental Health suggested that ketamine could be useful in treating symptoms of depression.
From the the BBC:
The study involving 17 patients found ketamine - used as an anaesthetic but also taken as a recreational drug - relieved symptoms of depression.

Most existing treatments for depression take weeks or even months to relieve people's symptoms. But the team, writing in Archives of General Psychiatry, said ketamine would need to be altered so it lost its existing hallucinatory side-effects.

Scientists from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) injected 17 patients with either a very low dose of ketamine or a placebo of saline solution. The participants were all depression sufferers who had tried an average of six treatments that had failed.

The researchers then measured their levels of depression minutes, hours and days after the dose was given.

Lead researcher Dr Carlos Zarate Junior, head of the mood and anxiety disorders programme at NIMH, said: "Within 110 minutes, half of the patients given ketamine showed a 50% decrease in symptoms."

By the end of day one, he added, 71% had responded to the drug. And at this point the team found 29% of these patients were nearly symptom free.

The researchers also discovered one dose lasted for at least a week in more than one-third of the participants.

Link to abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16894061&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum
(I'll get the full text article when I'm on a machine with full access)

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    fair enough, I don't see why there should be any complaints just because some ppl happen to use it recreationally.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ket, I've found leaves me feeling depressed. Even spreading into the next few days after consumption.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    VinylVicky wrote:
    Ket, I've found leaves me feeling depressed. Even spreading into the next few days after consumption.
    :yes: i was going to say, ketamine is a depressant anyway so why would they use it to TREAT depression?!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    otter wrote:
    :yes: i was going to say, ketamine is a depressant anyway so why would they use it to TREAT depression?!!
    The chemical classification "depressant" does not refer to it's mental effects, but more on it's chemical process. Opiates are depressants and are euphoric as is alcohol.
    I don't really understand why they bother researching that. cocaine could be a great antidepressant, but the abusefactor is too great for it to be prescribed safely. I think ketamine would be the same thing.
  • JadedJaded Posts: 2,682 Boards Guru
    Ketamine isn't a depressant; they use it as an anaesthetic on children and elderly people precisely because it doesn't depress the respiratory system. Ket is classified as a disassociative anaesthetic - you can find more information in the Ketamine factsheet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    LadyJade wrote:
    Ketamine isn't a depressant; they use it as an anaesthetic on children and elderly people precisely because it doesn't depress the respiratory system. Ket is classified as a disassociative anaesthetic - you can find more information in the Ketamine factsheet.

    However it does act as a depressant when mixed with a depressant.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I find Ketamine is a very therapudic drug. I always have a feeling of well-being and rejuvenation after using it. It's good for the soul. ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Randomgirl wrote:
    .
    ?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Addict wrote:
    I find Ketamine is a very therapudic drug. I always have a feeling of well-being and rejuvenation after using it. It's good for the soul. ;)
    Strange, I love the feeling of it but when it wears off, it leaves me gagging for more with an empty low feeling.

    Also, on a side note. I can only take it when mixed with other drugs now. I never have it without anything else as, as soon as I do, I throw up and the feeling is horrible.
    I abused it quite a lot when I was younger, I took it loads without anything else. I think it's my body saying no.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ket can be very habit forming, so be careful.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    Ket can be very habit forming, so be careful.
    Tell me about it
    I have a friend who I’ve had to be harsh with and stop seeing her. For the last 8 years, she has done it every day and it’s not like bits here and there. She’ll do the whole gram in one go, so she doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing. Obviously her body is more used to it than our’s, so she doesn’t pass out but she needs looking after and it’s so dangerous. She has got a serious problem, her parents ground her(she’s 25 but they are strict since they found out about it), monitor her money and all sorts. She lost her bf doing it. If you nag she says you are boring and starts hanging around with people who do it too. Though, sometimes she does admit she has a problem. The girl even drives on it! There’s quite a few people like her, that I know but she’s defo the worst. I used to cain the stuff and love it but never to this extent.
    So now, I only ever see her if she doesn’t have it. I cant be bothered getting thrown out of pubs on a Tuesday lunch time, people staring, having to look after her. Everyone’s sick of it. After all these years she is the only one that hasn’t moved on and there’s not much I can do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ?
    I wanted to delete my post but as you can't do that you have to edit and put at least one character hence the "." :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Little bit of a question off subject, but does anyone find they feel a bit hyper and chatty after doing ket?

    Did it for the first time this weekend and find I can't shut up or chill out. It's cool though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Messy, messy stuff. I wouldn't take it to treat depression. I think it would do me more harm than good
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Randomgirl wrote:
    I wanted to delete my post but as you can't do that you have to edit and put at least one character hence the "." :)
    I just wondered what you'd said originally that's all!

    I can also find ket quite theraputic in some circumstances. Half an hour's journey into k-space feels like an eternity, and is so completely removed from reality. There's no escape quite like it. I can see how people can come to rely on it though.
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