New, more effective treatment f/ depression, anxiety

[Annst]

I just found out about doctors using ketamine for depression and anxiety and pain. It's not like the SSRI's or SNRI's and has a better track record. So of course the FDA won't approve it. There are a few clinics that use it but you have to go there a lot & get infusions for an hr or more. But it's also available as a nasal spray.

Read up on it. WHO says it should be available worldwide. It was originally an animal anesthesia. Apparently very safe unless you have kidney failure (which of course I have).

[sadBluebell]

Hi Annst,

Thank you for your post. I recently saw my psychiatrist and he mentioned the possiblity of this treatment option. He referred me to a different psychiatrist that was more knowledgeable and that doctor told me, they will maybe have a program for it in a year or so, but it is not available yet.

Also, he didn't want me to get my hopes up too much because he said that so far, the medication effects only last about 2 weeks and then you are back to where you were before. He did not think it was going to be used for maintenance therapy, but possibly more for people who were suicidal and not on meds yet -- so then they could be put on meds and have them start working before the ketamine effects wore off.

I don't know much about it. Just wanted to share what i found out last week when i wanted to see if it was available.......

[Annst in reply to sadBluebell]

Was he saying one treatment didn't last? What about ongoing use?

[sadBluebell in reply to Annst]

He said one treatment lasts about 2 weeks. He said if you needed it on an ongoing basis, you would have to come in every 2 weeks to get another treatment. He also said that ketamine is a very old medication, so there was not much incentive for drug companies to do more research on it, because they could not patent an old drug. I think he just didn't want me to get my hopes up.............however, i think it would be worth trying if i was in a bad dip -- two weeks could be enough to improve your circumstances, to keep from spiraling down more...........i mean, i had to have ECT before for 6 weeks (a long time ago), so i would definately want to try the ketamine first if i ever got that bad again............

[Annst]

I'm in WA. The only clinics I know about that use it are in Seattle. Traffic between here (Olympia) & Seattle is a beast.