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DPMC Moderators: thegreenhand | tryptakid
Tackling depression with ketamine
- Thread starter 7zark7
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RobotRipping
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30-60mg/day, usually administered in the morning then 8 hours after in 15-30mg increments. depends on the person though of course and tolerance.
Unbreakable
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Ketamine, a drug also known as Special K or K, may have some untapped benefits for people suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
A clinical trial presented on May 20 at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. showed that ketamine was able to rapidly treat symptoms in patients who do not respond to antidepressant medications.
Ketamine is a general anesthetic that is used on humans and animals such as cats. It is often abused due to its ability to alter perceptions of sounds and sights, and to create a feeling of detachment from the environment. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, ketamine was used by 1 percent eight graders, 1.3 percent of tenth graders and 1.7 percent of twelfth graders, per a 2009 survey.
Ketamine interacts with a glutamate receptor (NMDA receptor), and is usually snorted or injected. Taken at low doses, ketamine can result in impaired attention, learning ability and memory. Higher doses can cause a feeling of dreamlike-states and hallucinations, which is commonly referred to as a "K-hole." But, taking the drug at extremely high levels can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure and fatal respiratory problems.
Researchers for the study wanted to explore ketamine's therapeutic uses. Previous studies have linked the drug with benefits for people with treatment-resistant depression and suicidal depression.
"Ketamine has many identities and certainly it is known as a drug of abuse," author Dr. James Murrough, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, told CBSNews.com. "It's also a drug that's used medically as an anesthetic both in humans and veterinary medicine in adults and pediatric patients since the 1950s."
Murrough and the team were specifically interested in treatment-resistant depression, in which patients do not respond to any form of treatment. Major depression is caused by problems with the communication between nerve cells, which is controlled by chemicals called neurotransmitters. Murrough estimates that about one-third of people diagnosed with depression are somewhat treatment-resistant. Most of them will be able to manage their condition with a mix of different medications and therapies, but they will never be completely well and will have an incomplete response to treatment.
The researchers looked at a group of 72 treatment-resistant patients with depression. For the purposes of the study, patients were deemed treatment-resistant if they didn't have any improvements after trying at least three different biological treatments, meaning forms of medication and/or physical treatments like electroshock therapy................
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162...fective-treatment-for-untreatable-depression/
A clinical trial presented on May 20 at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. showed that ketamine was able to rapidly treat symptoms in patients who do not respond to antidepressant medications.
Ketamine is a general anesthetic that is used on humans and animals such as cats. It is often abused due to its ability to alter perceptions of sounds and sights, and to create a feeling of detachment from the environment. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, ketamine was used by 1 percent eight graders, 1.3 percent of tenth graders and 1.7 percent of twelfth graders, per a 2009 survey.
Ketamine interacts with a glutamate receptor (NMDA receptor), and is usually snorted or injected. Taken at low doses, ketamine can result in impaired attention, learning ability and memory. Higher doses can cause a feeling of dreamlike-states and hallucinations, which is commonly referred to as a "K-hole." But, taking the drug at extremely high levels can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure and fatal respiratory problems.
Researchers for the study wanted to explore ketamine's therapeutic uses. Previous studies have linked the drug with benefits for people with treatment-resistant depression and suicidal depression.
"Ketamine has many identities and certainly it is known as a drug of abuse," author Dr. James Murrough, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, told CBSNews.com. "It's also a drug that's used medically as an anesthetic both in humans and veterinary medicine in adults and pediatric patients since the 1950s."
Murrough and the team were specifically interested in treatment-resistant depression, in which patients do not respond to any form of treatment. Major depression is caused by problems with the communication between nerve cells, which is controlled by chemicals called neurotransmitters. Murrough estimates that about one-third of people diagnosed with depression are somewhat treatment-resistant. Most of them will be able to manage their condition with a mix of different medications and therapies, but they will never be completely well and will have an incomplete response to treatment.
The researchers looked at a group of 72 treatment-resistant patients with depression. For the purposes of the study, patients were deemed treatment-resistant if they didn't have any improvements after trying at least three different biological treatments, meaning forms of medication and/or physical treatments like electroshock therapy................
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162...fective-treatment-for-untreatable-depression/
poledriver
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- Jul 21, 2005
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Ketamine: a potential rescue drug for depression takes a step forward
For years, physicians have been inching their way to a better understanding of how -- and how well -- the drug ketamine, a "twilight drug" used to sedate some patients before a painful procedure, can lift someone with severe depression almost immediately from the abyss.
A new study, presented in San Francisco this week at the American Psychiatric Association's yearly meeting, shows that ketamine's rapid antidepressant effect is no incidental effect of sedation: it's real, and it lasts -- albeit with diminishing effects -- for at least a week.
Ketamine, which is also a drug used recreationally to achieve a sort of "out of body" high, "is not at all ready for prime time," said Dr. James Murrough, an associate professor of psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. But it is approved for use in anesthesia, so it's available legally. And years of small and preliminary trials have offered tantalizing evidence of its powerful and fast-acting antidepressant effect on patients whose depression has failed to yield to other treatments.
The result, said Murrough, is that some physicians appear to be using it already in patients.
"That reflects desperation out there" for antidepressant medicine that does not take between four and six weeks to take effect, as is the case for many patients with the most widely used class of antidepressants, the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). But the fact that ketamine is already being used off-label makes good clinical research on its safety and effectiveness a matter of urgency, said Murrough.
Ketamine's only one of many drugs of abuse getting a closer look these days for their therapeutic potential. Read here -- Turn on, tune in, and get better? -- to find out about the potential uses of Ecstasy, LSD and other abused drugs as legitimate treatments.
At Icahn School of Medicine's Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, researchers recruited 72 people whose major depressive disorder persisted despite trials of two or more antidepressants. Half of their subjects were given a single, 40-minute infusion of ketamine at a much lower dose than is used in anesthesia. The other half got a 40-minute infusion of another sedative, midazolam, which is not known to have an antidepressant effect.
A day later, both groups' depression had abated, but the response rate among those who got the ketamine was stronger -- 63.8% vs. 28% in the midazolam group. A week after the infusions, the ketamine group's response rate had fallen to 45.7%, but remained much stronger than that among the midazolam group, which had a response rate of 28% at the end of a week.
Murrough said the subjects who got ketamine seemed to suffer no ill effects from their infusion. "It seems eminently safe and tolerable," he said. But if the medication needs to be re-administered periodically or on a regular schedule, the safety, effectiveness and dosing schedules of its longer-term use -- an ongoing subject of clinical trials at the Mt. Sinai programs -- will have to be established, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-ketamine-depression-20130521,0,5968432.story
For years, physicians have been inching their way to a better understanding of how -- and how well -- the drug ketamine, a "twilight drug" used to sedate some patients before a painful procedure, can lift someone with severe depression almost immediately from the abyss.
A new study, presented in San Francisco this week at the American Psychiatric Association's yearly meeting, shows that ketamine's rapid antidepressant effect is no incidental effect of sedation: it's real, and it lasts -- albeit with diminishing effects -- for at least a week.
Ketamine, which is also a drug used recreationally to achieve a sort of "out of body" high, "is not at all ready for prime time," said Dr. James Murrough, an associate professor of psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. But it is approved for use in anesthesia, so it's available legally. And years of small and preliminary trials have offered tantalizing evidence of its powerful and fast-acting antidepressant effect on patients whose depression has failed to yield to other treatments.
The result, said Murrough, is that some physicians appear to be using it already in patients.
"That reflects desperation out there" for antidepressant medicine that does not take between four and six weeks to take effect, as is the case for many patients with the most widely used class of antidepressants, the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). But the fact that ketamine is already being used off-label makes good clinical research on its safety and effectiveness a matter of urgency, said Murrough.
Ketamine's only one of many drugs of abuse getting a closer look these days for their therapeutic potential. Read here -- Turn on, tune in, and get better? -- to find out about the potential uses of Ecstasy, LSD and other abused drugs as legitimate treatments.
At Icahn School of Medicine's Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, researchers recruited 72 people whose major depressive disorder persisted despite trials of two or more antidepressants. Half of their subjects were given a single, 40-minute infusion of ketamine at a much lower dose than is used in anesthesia. The other half got a 40-minute infusion of another sedative, midazolam, which is not known to have an antidepressant effect.
A day later, both groups' depression had abated, but the response rate among those who got the ketamine was stronger -- 63.8% vs. 28% in the midazolam group. A week after the infusions, the ketamine group's response rate had fallen to 45.7%, but remained much stronger than that among the midazolam group, which had a response rate of 28% at the end of a week.
Murrough said the subjects who got ketamine seemed to suffer no ill effects from their infusion. "It seems eminently safe and tolerable," he said. But if the medication needs to be re-administered periodically or on a regular schedule, the safety, effectiveness and dosing schedules of its longer-term use -- an ongoing subject of clinical trials at the Mt. Sinai programs -- will have to be established, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-ketamine-depression-20130521,0,5968432.story
Between 60-80 mg spread out over a day. I'll sometimes take more, as the feeling I get from it is just too awesome. I'm afraid I'm building up a tolerance though
I'll just have to skip days more often.
foolsgold
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- Aug 11, 2010
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Ketamine & Depression: Changing Your State Of Mind
[video]http://www.newschannel5.com/story/23047605/ketamine-depression-changing-your-state-of-mind?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9166633[/video]
Ketamine & Depression: Changing Your State Of Mind
Posted: Aug 05, 2013 5:03 PM Updated: Aug 05, 2013 10:15 PM
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - One in ten adults in the U.S. suffers from depression. For many, the symptoms are debilitating and the current treatments just don't work. Researchers said a drug that's used in hospitals and abused on the streets may dramatically change your state of mind.
In hospitals, it's a commonly used anesthetic. In the clubs, ketamine is ‘aka, Special K,' a popular hallucinogenic drug, but what can make ketamine truly "special" for millions of people is its potential to, quickly and effectively, treat chronic depression.
"It has been one of the major new findings in the field for at least a few decades," Doctor Gerard Sanacora, MD., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Director of the Yale Depression Research Program, told Ivanhoe.
Unlike standard antidepressants, which can take weeks or months to work, Yale researchers said ketamine can improve your mood in hours.
"By reconnecting brain regions and allowing proper control of mood and emotion," Doctor Ron S. Duman, Ph.D., at Yale University School of Medicine, told Ivanhoe.
Even for treatment-resistant patients. However, researchers are still figuring out how to safely administer ketamine as a routine treatment.
"It's not strongly addictive, but it does have high abuse potential," Doctor Duman said.
While ketamine is currently not FDA approved for depression, a growing number of private clinics across the country are offering it "off label." Doctor Gerard Sanacora is concerned.
"There are several very important questions that we still don't know about ketamine and probably the most important is what is the long term benefit? Is repeating dosing of this actually a good idea," said Doctor Sanacora.
Doctors said the fast-acting quality of ketamine can help save lives of those in danger of committing suicide. Infusions at the private ketamine clinics can run thousands of dollars, with no guarantee of any results; they're also not covered by insurance.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
DEPRESSION: Depression can come in many forms, but when the symptoms begin to interfere with people's daily lives these feelings become an illness. Signs of depression include feelings of hopelessness or guilt, loss of interest in activities that used to be enjoyable, thoughts of suicide, and many more. Some people have minor bouts of depression, but major depressive disorder can be disabling. Other forms of depression are postpartum depression, which occurs after giving birth, and seasonal affective disorder, which comes on during the winter months due to lack of natural sunlight. Medications and psychotherapy may help to alleviate depression symptoms, but are ineffective in helping some individuals. (Source:http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml)
KETAMINE: The drug ketamine was first developed in 1963 to be used as an anesthetic in humans as well as animals. When used for medical purposes, ketamine comes as a liquid that is injected into patients and is chemically similar to PCP. Although doctors and veterinarians continue to administer the drug as an anesthetic, ketamine is also used recreationally as a "street drug." Typically snorted or ingested in powder form, ketamine has been known to cause dream-like states and hallucinations. When taken in large amounts ketamine can cause an effect called the "K-hole" in which people experience an inescapable, often terrifying out-of-body experience. (Source: http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/ketamine)
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH: A new study, conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, shows that the experimental party drug, ketamine, can alleviate depression symptoms in just hours. The drug was shown to quickly reduce depression in participants after just one 40-minute IV dose. Most medications available today can take days, if not weeks, to reduce symptoms. The drug also has long-lasting results. After one week, 46 percent of the ketamine-assigned patients still reported reduced depression symptoms after taking the ketamine, compared to 18 percent in the placebo group. Although the ketamine has obvious benefits, it is still a hallucinogenic drug that is very dangerous. (SOURCE: www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/ketamine-cures-depression-study)
INTERVIEW
Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Director of the Yale Depression Research Program, talks about a new treatment option for depression.
Can you tell us a little bit about ketamine the drug and what makes it so special?
Dr. Sanacora: Most of the antidepressant drugs that are currently being used were developed out of the monoaminergic hypothesis, which really focuses on serotonin or norepinephrine and dopamine to some extent. Ketamine is a very novel drug that actually targets glutamate, which is a completely different neurotransmitter system that up to this point has not really been targeted for the treatment of depression or other mood disorders.
The other thing about ketamine is it has been around for a while.
Dr. Sanacora: Correct, ketamine is one of what is called a dissociative anesthetic class of drugs which has been around for quite a while and it is actually a very commonly used anesthetic in pediatric anesthesia or in the emergency room setting.
Who does it work best for?
Dr. Sanacora: There have not been hundreds of studies for us to really look at which patient population would benefit most from this. There are some hints that it might work better in people with more severe depression; there are some hints that it might work better with people with certain subtypes or certain symptoms of depression, but there has also been some very preliminary studies suggesting that it might be beneficial even in cases of PTSD, and in patients that have comorbid alcohol abuse, so I think the short answer is we really do not know at this point. It is too early to say.
What about your own clinical studies? What sort of things are you finding out?
Dr. Sanacora: We remain very interested in the mechanism by which ketamine is producing this antidepressant effect. A lot of our work is actually trying to understand the changes that occur after a dosing of ketamine that are associated with the clinical benefit. We are currently doing a lot of neuroimaging studies trying to understand exactly what ketamine is doing in the brain to generate this rapid onset of antidepressant effect. We also have several other studies looking at drugs very similar to ketamine, but maybe having fewer side effects and a little bit better safety profile that might also have the antidepressant effect.
Tell us a little bit more about the clinical studies and the research you are continuing to undertake
Dr. Sanacora: My laboratory and our clinic are very interested in several aspects of ketamine. We are very interested in pursuing studies that will help us learn more about the mechanism of action. What is the drug doing to the brain that is leading to these antidepressant like effects? We are also very interested in some of the very simple questions about the drug that have not been answered like what is the exact, or what is the optimal dose to be giving; how frequently can it be dosed to maintain a response, and whether other drugs that are very similar to ketamine, but potentially with a better side effect profile or safety profile, could also be used to generate the antidepressant effect without having to worry about the same side effects as you would with ketamine?
There are private clinics popping up across the US, which are offering ketamine to patients. What sort of advice would you give to people and is it a wise choice or should they be guarded about this?
Dr. Sanacora: It is a very difficult question to answer. As we know depression is in some cases an incredibly disabling and very severe for many people. When the classic treatments have not been effective, there is a real desire to go out and get whatever treatment may be beneficial. In that sense, I think ketamine does offer some hope, but what I really caution people about is, there are several very important questions that we still do not know about ketamine and probably the most important is what is the long term benefit? Is repeated dosing of this actually a good idea? Both in terms of efficacy, does it actually work when it is used repeatedly, but also in terms of safety? We really do not have all that much information on repeated dosing in patients with depression.
How important is this research overall in the field of depression? We hear about medical breakthroughs in other areas of medicine all the time, so is this really major stuff for this area of medicine?
Dr. Sanacora: At this point, I would say it has been one of the major new findings in the field for at least a few decades. For two reasons, one is it might actually offer a more direct immediate benefit to the patients, clinical benefit for the patients, but also in terms of the scientific knowledge that it is giving us. It has really opened up a new vista or a whole new landscape of new targets and treatments that can be developed for the treatment of depression that is not specifically ketamine by itself.
I was going to say, because ketamine is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Dr. Sanacora: I really think ketamine is the tip of the iceberg here. It has opened our eyes to new avenues to pursue for the treatment of not only depression, but many other neuropsychiatric disorders.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Madonna Fasula, A.P.R.N
Yale University School of Medicine
203-764-9131
[video]http://www.newschannel5.com/story/23047605/ketamine-depression-changing-your-state-of-mind?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9166633[/video]
Ketamine & Depression: Changing Your State Of Mind
Posted: Aug 05, 2013 5:03 PM Updated: Aug 05, 2013 10:15 PM
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - One in ten adults in the U.S. suffers from depression. For many, the symptoms are debilitating and the current treatments just don't work. Researchers said a drug that's used in hospitals and abused on the streets may dramatically change your state of mind.
In hospitals, it's a commonly used anesthetic. In the clubs, ketamine is ‘aka, Special K,' a popular hallucinogenic drug, but what can make ketamine truly "special" for millions of people is its potential to, quickly and effectively, treat chronic depression.
"It has been one of the major new findings in the field for at least a few decades," Doctor Gerard Sanacora, MD., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Director of the Yale Depression Research Program, told Ivanhoe.
Unlike standard antidepressants, which can take weeks or months to work, Yale researchers said ketamine can improve your mood in hours.
"By reconnecting brain regions and allowing proper control of mood and emotion," Doctor Ron S. Duman, Ph.D., at Yale University School of Medicine, told Ivanhoe.
Even for treatment-resistant patients. However, researchers are still figuring out how to safely administer ketamine as a routine treatment.
"It's not strongly addictive, but it does have high abuse potential," Doctor Duman said.
While ketamine is currently not FDA approved for depression, a growing number of private clinics across the country are offering it "off label." Doctor Gerard Sanacora is concerned.
"There are several very important questions that we still don't know about ketamine and probably the most important is what is the long term benefit? Is repeating dosing of this actually a good idea," said Doctor Sanacora.
Doctors said the fast-acting quality of ketamine can help save lives of those in danger of committing suicide. Infusions at the private ketamine clinics can run thousands of dollars, with no guarantee of any results; they're also not covered by insurance.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
DEPRESSION: Depression can come in many forms, but when the symptoms begin to interfere with people's daily lives these feelings become an illness. Signs of depression include feelings of hopelessness or guilt, loss of interest in activities that used to be enjoyable, thoughts of suicide, and many more. Some people have minor bouts of depression, but major depressive disorder can be disabling. Other forms of depression are postpartum depression, which occurs after giving birth, and seasonal affective disorder, which comes on during the winter months due to lack of natural sunlight. Medications and psychotherapy may help to alleviate depression symptoms, but are ineffective in helping some individuals. (Source:http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml)
KETAMINE: The drug ketamine was first developed in 1963 to be used as an anesthetic in humans as well as animals. When used for medical purposes, ketamine comes as a liquid that is injected into patients and is chemically similar to PCP. Although doctors and veterinarians continue to administer the drug as an anesthetic, ketamine is also used recreationally as a "street drug." Typically snorted or ingested in powder form, ketamine has been known to cause dream-like states and hallucinations. When taken in large amounts ketamine can cause an effect called the "K-hole" in which people experience an inescapable, often terrifying out-of-body experience. (Source: http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/ketamine)
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH: A new study, conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, shows that the experimental party drug, ketamine, can alleviate depression symptoms in just hours. The drug was shown to quickly reduce depression in participants after just one 40-minute IV dose. Most medications available today can take days, if not weeks, to reduce symptoms. The drug also has long-lasting results. After one week, 46 percent of the ketamine-assigned patients still reported reduced depression symptoms after taking the ketamine, compared to 18 percent in the placebo group. Although the ketamine has obvious benefits, it is still a hallucinogenic drug that is very dangerous. (SOURCE: www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/ketamine-cures-depression-study)
INTERVIEW
Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Director of the Yale Depression Research Program, talks about a new treatment option for depression.
Can you tell us a little bit about ketamine the drug and what makes it so special?
Dr. Sanacora: Most of the antidepressant drugs that are currently being used were developed out of the monoaminergic hypothesis, which really focuses on serotonin or norepinephrine and dopamine to some extent. Ketamine is a very novel drug that actually targets glutamate, which is a completely different neurotransmitter system that up to this point has not really been targeted for the treatment of depression or other mood disorders.
The other thing about ketamine is it has been around for a while.
Dr. Sanacora: Correct, ketamine is one of what is called a dissociative anesthetic class of drugs which has been around for quite a while and it is actually a very commonly used anesthetic in pediatric anesthesia or in the emergency room setting.
Who does it work best for?
Dr. Sanacora: There have not been hundreds of studies for us to really look at which patient population would benefit most from this. There are some hints that it might work better in people with more severe depression; there are some hints that it might work better with people with certain subtypes or certain symptoms of depression, but there has also been some very preliminary studies suggesting that it might be beneficial even in cases of PTSD, and in patients that have comorbid alcohol abuse, so I think the short answer is we really do not know at this point. It is too early to say.
What about your own clinical studies? What sort of things are you finding out?
Dr. Sanacora: We remain very interested in the mechanism by which ketamine is producing this antidepressant effect. A lot of our work is actually trying to understand the changes that occur after a dosing of ketamine that are associated with the clinical benefit. We are currently doing a lot of neuroimaging studies trying to understand exactly what ketamine is doing in the brain to generate this rapid onset of antidepressant effect. We also have several other studies looking at drugs very similar to ketamine, but maybe having fewer side effects and a little bit better safety profile that might also have the antidepressant effect.
Tell us a little bit more about the clinical studies and the research you are continuing to undertake
Dr. Sanacora: My laboratory and our clinic are very interested in several aspects of ketamine. We are very interested in pursuing studies that will help us learn more about the mechanism of action. What is the drug doing to the brain that is leading to these antidepressant like effects? We are also very interested in some of the very simple questions about the drug that have not been answered like what is the exact, or what is the optimal dose to be giving; how frequently can it be dosed to maintain a response, and whether other drugs that are very similar to ketamine, but potentially with a better side effect profile or safety profile, could also be used to generate the antidepressant effect without having to worry about the same side effects as you would with ketamine?
There are private clinics popping up across the US, which are offering ketamine to patients. What sort of advice would you give to people and is it a wise choice or should they be guarded about this?
Dr. Sanacora: It is a very difficult question to answer. As we know depression is in some cases an incredibly disabling and very severe for many people. When the classic treatments have not been effective, there is a real desire to go out and get whatever treatment may be beneficial. In that sense, I think ketamine does offer some hope, but what I really caution people about is, there are several very important questions that we still do not know about ketamine and probably the most important is what is the long term benefit? Is repeated dosing of this actually a good idea? Both in terms of efficacy, does it actually work when it is used repeatedly, but also in terms of safety? We really do not have all that much information on repeated dosing in patients with depression.
How important is this research overall in the field of depression? We hear about medical breakthroughs in other areas of medicine all the time, so is this really major stuff for this area of medicine?
Dr. Sanacora: At this point, I would say it has been one of the major new findings in the field for at least a few decades. For two reasons, one is it might actually offer a more direct immediate benefit to the patients, clinical benefit for the patients, but also in terms of the scientific knowledge that it is giving us. It has really opened up a new vista or a whole new landscape of new targets and treatments that can be developed for the treatment of depression that is not specifically ketamine by itself.
I was going to say, because ketamine is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Dr. Sanacora: I really think ketamine is the tip of the iceberg here. It has opened our eyes to new avenues to pursue for the treatment of not only depression, but many other neuropsychiatric disorders.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Madonna Fasula, A.P.R.N
Yale University School of Medicine
203-764-9131
TheRapperGoneBad
Bluelighter
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- Oct 30, 2013
- Messages
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The sooner they lose the stigma associated with this the faster people can receive effective treatment into crippling depression.
If our government really cared for its citizens this would have happened a long time ago but they dont they wsnt to keep us blinded and trapped under big pharmas money making ability.
This was an interesting read, I have never done k but would love to for these reasons alone.
well I guess id like the trip of it as well lol
If our government really cared for its citizens this would have happened a long time ago but they dont they wsnt to keep us blinded and trapped under big pharmas money making ability.
This was an interesting read, I have never done k but would love to for these reasons alone.
well I guess id like the trip of it as well lol
Captain.Heroin
Bluelight Crew
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- Nov 3, 2008
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I have done ketamine. It is an Amazing substance.
LogicSoDeveloped
Bluelighter
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- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
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It is a godsend for people like me with depression from both genetic and environmental causes. I feel much more balanced as a person when I have access to this drug. I have also used MXE for this effect, though for some reason, I get some jaw issues from MXE so I somewhat prefer K, though mxe seems to be a little less physically sedating due to the dopamine release.
TheRapperGoneBad
Bluelighter
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Informative post lsd been reading your post for a long time man.
Sounds like i struggle with..
Do you feel one is more effective?
I feel like id lean towards k but shit id be down to try both.
had a chance to at edc Chicago and turned it down. Really kicking myself over it, but I didnt know much about it and our tent neighbor was eyeballing bags out of an oz or some shit. He thiught it was k when he bought it. Then after him and his buddy tripped on it the first night I heard them talking about how they thought it was mxe lol. Two of the dopest kids I've met straight outta jersey.
Sounds like i struggle with..
Do you feel one is more effective?
I feel like id lean towards k but shit id be down to try both.
had a chance to at edc Chicago and turned it down. Really kicking myself over it, but I didnt know much about it and our tent neighbor was eyeballing bags out of an oz or some shit. He thiught it was k when he bought it. Then after him and his buddy tripped on it the first night I heard them talking about how they thought it was mxe lol. Two of the dopest kids I've met straight outta jersey.
slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2008
- Messages
- 6,483
Ketamine 'exciting' depression therapy
The illegal party drug ketamine is an "exciting" and "dramatic" new treatment for depression, say doctors who have conducted the first trial in the UK.
Some patients who have faced incurable depression for decades have had symptoms disappear within hours of taking low doses of the drug.
The small trial on 28 people, reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, shows the benefits can last months.
Experts said the findings opened up a whole new avenue of research.
Depression is common and affects one-in-10 people at some point in their lives.
Antidepressants, such as prozac, and behavioural therapies help some patients, but a significant proportion remain resistant to any form of treatment.
A team at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust gave patients doses of ketamine over 40 minutes on up to six occasions.
Eight showed improvements in reported levels of depression, with four of them improving so much they were no longer classed as depressed.
Some responded within six hours of the first infusion of ketamine.
Lead researcher Dr Rupert McShane said: "It really is dramatic for some people, it's the sort of thing really that makes it worth doing psychiatry, it's a really wonderful thing to see.
He added: "[The patients] say 'ah this is how I used to think' and the relatives say 'we've got x back'."
Dr McShane said this included patients who had lived with depression for 20 years.
cont at
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26647738
The illegal party drug ketamine is an "exciting" and "dramatic" new treatment for depression, say doctors who have conducted the first trial in the UK.
Some patients who have faced incurable depression for decades have had symptoms disappear within hours of taking low doses of the drug.
The small trial on 28 people, reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, shows the benefits can last months.
Experts said the findings opened up a whole new avenue of research.
Depression is common and affects one-in-10 people at some point in their lives.
Antidepressants, such as prozac, and behavioural therapies help some patients, but a significant proportion remain resistant to any form of treatment.
A team at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust gave patients doses of ketamine over 40 minutes on up to six occasions.
Eight showed improvements in reported levels of depression, with four of them improving so much they were no longer classed as depressed.
Some responded within six hours of the first infusion of ketamine.
Lead researcher Dr Rupert McShane said: "It really is dramatic for some people, it's the sort of thing really that makes it worth doing psychiatry, it's a really wonderful thing to see.
He added: "[The patients] say 'ah this is how I used to think' and the relatives say 'we've got x back'."
Dr McShane said this included patients who had lived with depression for 20 years.
cont at
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26647738
slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2008
- Messages
- 6,483
Of course, if someone went and got some ketamine "on the black market" to treat their own depression, and were caught, they would be put in jail with thugs. 
'medicine cabinet'
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,250
Yuup. Since its the animal tranq club date rape drug that's killing everyone. I love k, ive had so many awesome times on it. Esp when I ran into 2 vials last year. But great article, the possibilities sound promising.
Doctor_Ew420
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
- Messages
- 286
The iv infusions seem to have a marked improvement on intranasal or even im. Ketamine was not often used iv before this realization. I bet this was all originally discovered by recreational users.
The one time i gave my dad ketamine the next day he stated that "i feel like myself for the first time in 20 years" that one dose provided him with nearly 3 months of nearly untouchable antidepression.
The one time i gave my dad ketamine the next day he stated that "i feel like myself for the first time in 20 years" that one dose provided him with nearly 3 months of nearly untouchable antidepression.
InvisibleEye
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2010
- Messages
- 734
Ketamine Raises Hopes and Concerns as a Treatment for Depression (NYT)
Special K, a Hallucinogen, Raises Hopes and Concerns as a Treatment for Depression
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/business/special-k-a-hallucinogen-raises-hopes-and-concerns-as-a-treatment-for-depression.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1
It is either the most exciting new treatment for depression in years or it is a hallucinogenic club drug that is wrongly being dispensed to desperate patients in a growing number of clinics around the country.
It is called ketamine — or Special K, in street parlance.
While it has been used as an anesthetic for decades, small studies at prestigious medical centers like Yale, Mount Sinai and the National Institute of Mental Health suggest it can relieve depression in many people who are not helped by widely used conventional antidepressants like Prozac or Lexapro.
And the depression seems to melt away within hours, rather than the weeks typically required for a conventional antidepressant.
But some psychiatrists say the drug has not been studied enough to be ready for use outside of clinical trials, and they are alarmed that clinics are springing up to offer ketamine treatments, charging hundreds of dollars for sessions that must be repeated many times.
“We don’t know what the long-term side effects of this are,” said Dr. Anthony J. Rothschild, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Some psychiatrists say the drug has not been studied enough to be ready for use outside of clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies hope to solve the problem by developing drugs that work like ketamine but without the side effects, which are often described as out-of-body experiences.
On Tuesday, at a medical conference in Phoenix, a privately held company called Naurex reported that its drug caused no such psychotic side effects in a midstage trial involving about 400 patients. The drug, called GLYX-13, showed signs of reducing depression in about half the patients tested.
“It’s definitely the most promising compound in the depression space in terms of effect and durability,” said Harry M. Tracy, the publisher of the newsletter NeuroPerspective, which follows companies developing drugs for psychiatry.
Naurex, based in Evanston, Ill., recently raised $80 million and will start a Phase 3 trial to confirm the safety and efficacy of GLYX-13 next year with hopes of receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2019, said Norbert G. Riedel, the chief executive.
GLYX-13 is given by intravenous injection every week or two weeks. Naurex is also working on a version that can be taken orally. Cerecor, a privately held company in Baltimore, hopes to have results from a midstage study of a once-a-day pill this month. Johnson & Johnson is in midstage trials of a nasal spray containing esketamine, a derivative of ketamine.
But achieving safety and efficacy for this type of drug can be challenging, and some attempts have failed. About a year ago, AstraZeneca dropped an experimental drug after it failed in a clinical trial.
Some doctors and patients are not waiting for the pharmaceutical industry. Because ketamine has long been approved for anesthesia, doctors are allowed to use it off-label to treat depression. Clinics charge from $300 to more than $1,000 per treatment. Insurance rarely covers the cost. Schedules vary by clinic and by patient, but some patients are treated every few days at first, then every two weeks to two months.
Critics say that severely depressed patients might be too desperate to adequately weigh the risks of the experimental therapy.
“We are talking about a population that is particularly vulnerable,” said Dominic A. Sisti, an assistant professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, who was one of the authors of a recent commentary in a journal expressing concern about the clinics.
He and other critics say that some clinics are run by anesthesiologists who are familiar with ketamine but do not provide overall psychiatric treatment. Others are run by psychiatrists who might not have experience administering the drug.
Besides the psychoticlike effects, ketamine can raise blood pressure and heart rate. Evidence from people who abuse the drug indicates that it can cause a decline in brain function and bladder problems.
Some patients say they are ready to take that risk.
“I look at the cost of not using ketamine — for me it was certain death,” said Dennis Hartman, 48, a businessman from Seattle.
He said that after a lifetime of severe depression, he had chosen a suicide date when he entered a clinical trial of ketamine at the National Institutes of Health two years ago. His depression lifted and since then he has gone to a clinic in New York every two months or so for infusions. He started the Ketamine Advocacy Network to raise awareness of the treatment.
Advocates say that the dose used for depression is smaller than that used for anesthesia or by abusers and can be given safely.
Dr. David Feifel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, said that what is essentially a psychedelic trip is over quickly after the treatment is ended.
“More often than not, they really like it,” said Dr. Feifel, who is one of the only academic psychiatrists to offer ketamine as a treatment, as opposed to in a clinical trial, though only to people who have exhausted other options. He said that if he did not offer the drug, “I’m consigning you to lose another decade until ketamine might be ready. I just don’t feel that presumptuous.”
One of his patients, Maggie, said that when she got her first infusion she was aware enough to change the tunes on her iPod, albeit slowly, but was “transported into a completely different dimension.” She added, “Everything there is completely vibrant or molten.”
The trip ended quickly, but within hours, a lifetime of depression began to lift. “Never ever ever before have I felt like that,” said Maggie, 53, who lives in Orange County, Calif., and spoke on the condition that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with depression. “I woke up the next morning, and I didn’t take an antidepressant for the first time in 20 years.”
A common refrain among ketamine advocates is that questions about its safety are emanating from drug companies, which have no financial incentive to develop ketamine because it is generic, but see it as a threat to their proprietary products.
“Let’s trash ketamine to justify producing something patentable and turn it into a blockbuster,” said Dr. Glen Z. Brooks, an anesthesiologist who runs NY Ketamine Infusions, a clinic in Manhattan.
Drug company executives say that ketamine itself has too many problems to ever gain wide acceptance for long-term use, especially as an off-label treatment.
There is clearly a need for new drugs. “Almost half of depressed patients are not being treated adequately by existing drugs,” said Dr. Sheldon H. Preskorn, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
That, he said, is because virtually all the antidepressants used in the last 60 years work essentially the same way. They raise levels of serotonin or one or two other neurotransmitters, chemicals that transmit signals in the brain.
Ketamine would represent a new mechanism of action. It is believed to work mainly by blocking receptors in the brain for N-methyl-D-aspartate, or NMDA, which interact with a different neurotransmitter called glutamate. The blockage sets off a cascade of changes that are not yet completely understood.
“Synaptic connections that help us to cope seem to grow back,” said Dr. John H. Krystal, chairman of psychiatry at Yale and a pioneer in the study of ketamine for depression. He dismissed any suspicions that people are simply getting high and not experiencing a true antidepressant effect, saying the lifting of depression occurs after the side effects end.
Naurex says its drug avoids the side effects because it interacts with the NMDA receptor in a different way, not totally blocking it. Cerecor says its drug blocks only a particular subunit of the receptor.
Dr. Feifel said the biggest obstacle to ketamine use is not the side effects but that its effect on depression wears off so quickly.
To stretch the time between visits, some clinics are now providing ketamine that patients can inject themselves at home, or ketamine capsules prepared by a compounding pharmacy. That is a departure from the standard practice of closely monitoring patients while they take the drug.
The need for repeated treatments has been a problem for Tiffaney Israel-Ritchey, 41, of Lubbock, Tex., who said she was suicidal until she first tried ketamine in December 2012. “It saved my life,” she said.
But she had to stop in October 2013 because she could no longer afford the infusions, which cost $750 to $1,000. Now her depression is back, she said, though it is not as bad as before.
Special K, a Hallucinogen, Raises Hopes and Concerns as a Treatment for Depression
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/business/special-k-a-hallucinogen-raises-hopes-and-concerns-as-a-treatment-for-depression.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1
It is either the most exciting new treatment for depression in years or it is a hallucinogenic club drug that is wrongly being dispensed to desperate patients in a growing number of clinics around the country.
It is called ketamine — or Special K, in street parlance.
While it has been used as an anesthetic for decades, small studies at prestigious medical centers like Yale, Mount Sinai and the National Institute of Mental Health suggest it can relieve depression in many people who are not helped by widely used conventional antidepressants like Prozac or Lexapro.
And the depression seems to melt away within hours, rather than the weeks typically required for a conventional antidepressant.
But some psychiatrists say the drug has not been studied enough to be ready for use outside of clinical trials, and they are alarmed that clinics are springing up to offer ketamine treatments, charging hundreds of dollars for sessions that must be repeated many times.
“We don’t know what the long-term side effects of this are,” said Dr. Anthony J. Rothschild, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Some psychiatrists say the drug has not been studied enough to be ready for use outside of clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies hope to solve the problem by developing drugs that work like ketamine but without the side effects, which are often described as out-of-body experiences.
On Tuesday, at a medical conference in Phoenix, a privately held company called Naurex reported that its drug caused no such psychotic side effects in a midstage trial involving about 400 patients. The drug, called GLYX-13, showed signs of reducing depression in about half the patients tested.
“It’s definitely the most promising compound in the depression space in terms of effect and durability,” said Harry M. Tracy, the publisher of the newsletter NeuroPerspective, which follows companies developing drugs for psychiatry.
Naurex, based in Evanston, Ill., recently raised $80 million and will start a Phase 3 trial to confirm the safety and efficacy of GLYX-13 next year with hopes of receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2019, said Norbert G. Riedel, the chief executive.
GLYX-13 is given by intravenous injection every week or two weeks. Naurex is also working on a version that can be taken orally. Cerecor, a privately held company in Baltimore, hopes to have results from a midstage study of a once-a-day pill this month. Johnson & Johnson is in midstage trials of a nasal spray containing esketamine, a derivative of ketamine.
But achieving safety and efficacy for this type of drug can be challenging, and some attempts have failed. About a year ago, AstraZeneca dropped an experimental drug after it failed in a clinical trial.
Some doctors and patients are not waiting for the pharmaceutical industry. Because ketamine has long been approved for anesthesia, doctors are allowed to use it off-label to treat depression. Clinics charge from $300 to more than $1,000 per treatment. Insurance rarely covers the cost. Schedules vary by clinic and by patient, but some patients are treated every few days at first, then every two weeks to two months.
Critics say that severely depressed patients might be too desperate to adequately weigh the risks of the experimental therapy.
“We are talking about a population that is particularly vulnerable,” said Dominic A. Sisti, an assistant professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, who was one of the authors of a recent commentary in a journal expressing concern about the clinics.
He and other critics say that some clinics are run by anesthesiologists who are familiar with ketamine but do not provide overall psychiatric treatment. Others are run by psychiatrists who might not have experience administering the drug.
Besides the psychoticlike effects, ketamine can raise blood pressure and heart rate. Evidence from people who abuse the drug indicates that it can cause a decline in brain function and bladder problems.
Some patients say they are ready to take that risk.
“I look at the cost of not using ketamine — for me it was certain death,” said Dennis Hartman, 48, a businessman from Seattle.
He said that after a lifetime of severe depression, he had chosen a suicide date when he entered a clinical trial of ketamine at the National Institutes of Health two years ago. His depression lifted and since then he has gone to a clinic in New York every two months or so for infusions. He started the Ketamine Advocacy Network to raise awareness of the treatment.
Advocates say that the dose used for depression is smaller than that used for anesthesia or by abusers and can be given safely.
Dr. David Feifel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, said that what is essentially a psychedelic trip is over quickly after the treatment is ended.
“More often than not, they really like it,” said Dr. Feifel, who is one of the only academic psychiatrists to offer ketamine as a treatment, as opposed to in a clinical trial, though only to people who have exhausted other options. He said that if he did not offer the drug, “I’m consigning you to lose another decade until ketamine might be ready. I just don’t feel that presumptuous.”
One of his patients, Maggie, said that when she got her first infusion she was aware enough to change the tunes on her iPod, albeit slowly, but was “transported into a completely different dimension.” She added, “Everything there is completely vibrant or molten.”
The trip ended quickly, but within hours, a lifetime of depression began to lift. “Never ever ever before have I felt like that,” said Maggie, 53, who lives in Orange County, Calif., and spoke on the condition that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with depression. “I woke up the next morning, and I didn’t take an antidepressant for the first time in 20 years.”
A common refrain among ketamine advocates is that questions about its safety are emanating from drug companies, which have no financial incentive to develop ketamine because it is generic, but see it as a threat to their proprietary products.
“Let’s trash ketamine to justify producing something patentable and turn it into a blockbuster,” said Dr. Glen Z. Brooks, an anesthesiologist who runs NY Ketamine Infusions, a clinic in Manhattan.
Drug company executives say that ketamine itself has too many problems to ever gain wide acceptance for long-term use, especially as an off-label treatment.
There is clearly a need for new drugs. “Almost half of depressed patients are not being treated adequately by existing drugs,” said Dr. Sheldon H. Preskorn, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
That, he said, is because virtually all the antidepressants used in the last 60 years work essentially the same way. They raise levels of serotonin or one or two other neurotransmitters, chemicals that transmit signals in the brain.
Ketamine would represent a new mechanism of action. It is believed to work mainly by blocking receptors in the brain for N-methyl-D-aspartate, or NMDA, which interact with a different neurotransmitter called glutamate. The blockage sets off a cascade of changes that are not yet completely understood.
“Synaptic connections that help us to cope seem to grow back,” said Dr. John H. Krystal, chairman of psychiatry at Yale and a pioneer in the study of ketamine for depression. He dismissed any suspicions that people are simply getting high and not experiencing a true antidepressant effect, saying the lifting of depression occurs after the side effects end.
Naurex says its drug avoids the side effects because it interacts with the NMDA receptor in a different way, not totally blocking it. Cerecor says its drug blocks only a particular subunit of the receptor.
Dr. Feifel said the biggest obstacle to ketamine use is not the side effects but that its effect on depression wears off so quickly.
To stretch the time between visits, some clinics are now providing ketamine that patients can inject themselves at home, or ketamine capsules prepared by a compounding pharmacy. That is a departure from the standard practice of closely monitoring patients while they take the drug.
The need for repeated treatments has been a problem for Tiffaney Israel-Ritchey, 41, of Lubbock, Tex., who said she was suicidal until she first tried ketamine in December 2012. “It saved my life,” she said.
But she had to stop in October 2013 because she could no longer afford the infusions, which cost $750 to $1,000. Now her depression is back, she said, though it is not as bad as before.
Black
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
- Messages
- 2,884
how is taking a drug every 2-8 weeks not a huge improvement to taking drugs (that don't even work in the majority of the cases) everyday as with SSRIs?
Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
- Joined
- Nov 3, 1999
- Messages
- 85,003
Wooooo
Always happy to see such a wonderful novel treatment getting more positive treatment, as it rightfully should.
Too bad they didn't touch on it's application to drug treatment, PTS(D) and anxiety.
Always happy to see such a wonderful novel treatment getting more positive treatment, as it rightfully should.
Too bad they didn't touch on it's application to drug treatment, PTS(D) and anxiety.