Ketamine For Depression? (Page 28) (Top voted first)

It was recommended by the members of a separate thread that one be started that directly relates to ketamine and it's use to treat depression.

If anyone besides myself would like to discuss it's use as a treatment for depression, feel free to post your questions, answers and experiences here.

This thread is an offshoot of a related one that discussed a treatment of Scopolamine for depression.

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Good lord,
I thought I was the only novelist in this place but Cathy has me beat hands down. For truthful remarks, information, weight of text and a dead on and accurate summarization of "exactly" the benefits of that drug are. And believe her or anyone that has gone through 40 years of depression in one form or another couldn't say it better. Just wanted to say thanks for the information Cathy. I agree with everything you said. Just could never write it that eloquently. So thanks.
md

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Hello everyone, My name is Robert and I wanted to drop in and apologize for the late information. You likely know of my friend, Keller, who was a frequent poster here. We worked closely on a number of projects together and were good friends. Unfortunately, Keller, as you knew him, died in a car accident involving a drunk driver this spring. He was not at the wheel and died instantly.

We met many years ago at counseling sessions in our home town and fast became friends. He was a good man and I hope to be able to bear even a portion of his legacy. I know that the identification and treatment of the root causes of depression was one of his prime goals in life.

I need to catch up, but I hope to be able to share what he was working on at the Muscadine Foundation with you and work to find management if not a cure.

Again, I am sorry for the delay in bringing you this bad news, the family asked we not release anything for 90 days just to allow them private time to grieve.

I personally have high hopes for the treatment of refractory depression using treatments around the NMDA model for depression especially the use of LDN, Ketamine and Magnesium synergistically.

RK Brumbelow
The Muscadine Foundation

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I wondered where he was. I am so sorry!

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Wow, I am shocked and saddened to hear of Keller's death. I wondered why we had not heard from him lately. He brought a tremendous wealth of insight and information to this site. For that alone, he will be greatly missed. I pray for his family and friends who surely have lost so much more than those of us on this site have.

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Glyx-13 "extension study" is apparently starting. However, although I was told I would be eligible but now I am not. They are only taking 100 of 350 participants. I am heartbroken.

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Hello Nancy,
I hope you are well. I only wish that I was in California. Been there a LOT on business and a way to fly across the county and get in a rental car in San Fran and drive ALL the way down hwy 1 yes ALL the way...to LA,,,,And then on to Vegas,,,,then up 395 and the eastern edge of those beautiful Sierra mountains and go back though Yosemite and back to San Fran. God a mighty that is a trip...1836 miles.....Im in NC and my doc never provides me enough. Cant find it anywhere. Hope that helps. All the best. m

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Hi,
I am scheduled to get my 3rd infusion with Dr. Brooks tomorrow. Sofar I have not seen a big difference so we are going to increase the dosage. Can you tell me if your depression is somewhat under control. I am so hopeful but am also anxious that it may not work. We are paying a lot of money and I'd like to think it is worthwhile (my husband is sitting there watching my every move and is hoping that all of a sudden I will be this cheery self confident person) how many treatments did it take you to see a difference? I agree Dr. Brooks is a very nice man. I am 50 years old and had MDD and General anxiety disorder for the last 25 years

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Hi, I also had 3 infusions with Dr Brooks. He increased the dosage on the 3rd time, but it still didn't work for me. I pray that it works for you!! I am also 50, and have had MDD, social anxiety, etc for as long as I can remember. If you think of it, can you ask him if he has looked more seriously into using scopolamine infusions? I tried the ketamine in January and he said he was thinking of trying scopolamine for his patients who didn't respond to ketamine. But again, I really hope the higher dose of ketamine works for you!!!

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Yes I will ask him about scopolamine (I will write it down on a piece of paper right now). I will post his answer as soon as I can clearly think when I come home. I am sorry ketamine didn't work for you. This illness is so horrible. I wouldn't wish it on even my enemy. Don't give up the fight, hang in there and you never know something may work for you soon. All the best.

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Hi I just got a little energy to respond to your question regarding scopolamine. I had a total of 3 ketamine infusions with increasing dosage each time and am disappointed to tell everyone it unfortunately did not work for me. Dr. Brooks said to continue would be a waste of money for me since I should have seen an increase in mood already. So, regarding scopolamine, unfortunately there is no good news (at least not from Dr. Brooks). He said he tried it one half a dozen patients with no success rate whatsoever. Sorry I couldn't give you better news but don't give up hope(as your username already says). There will be a strike one of these days.
Best of luck!:)

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I'm SO sorry to hear that ketamine didn't work for you either! And that's disappointing news about the scopolamine. Nevertheless, ketamine came out of the blue, so something else could suddenly appear on the horizon. In the meantime, let's both keep living day to day and doing our best to recognize the positive things in our lives. For myself, one of the things I do is plan little trips to someplace relaxing. It gives me something to look forward to, and that helps.

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I have been a patient of Brooks in the past year , I have had both Ketamine and Sccoplaniue , A year ago the ketamine worked after 2 treatments , my life was better , money in my pocket and I had outlets within the last month and have 3 treatments of ketamine and it did not work , i must say I was looking forward top it but it did not work , mostly due to the circumstances That I am living under mostly stress , There is something called Dueexta I am not spelling it correctly but brooks uses it as a ketamine extender. He never told me about it , but I think it's worth tring to build up in the system . like any other med , I will try and find out more about the drug but it was created to cure the diease PAL

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I'm looking for a neuro/pdoc who has prescribed Intranasal Ketamine for depression in New York City. Dr. Brooks & Dr. Fruitman offer infusions mostly and are costly, since I plan to have continuous IN treatment.

Any recommendations for doctors I could try in my area.

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@RKBrumbelow

Thanks, I will forward info to the site on Dr. Fruitman. So far, only Dr. Brooks is listed for the NYC area.

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go with Brooks stay away from fruitman he's a crook Brooks has got a lot more knowledge of depressiongalso he has something call Nuedexta it's a medication used for something else but he uses it as a ketamine extender I've had treatments with him in the past some of work some has workedsam hasn't

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Hello;
I am a fellow TRMMD sufferer of many decades (no alcohol/drug issues) who has tried most all anti-depressant meds; some for yr's at a time, other ones over&over again just to please each new Dr who wonder if you gave the meds a fair trial. Plus Numerous costly therapies, all to no avail. My depression has never lifted.

After enduring a lifetime of this torture which was made even more painful by incompetent medical care and the S/E's from useless, expensive prescriptions I stopped all AD meds & Dr's a couple of years ago and that has been a hugh relief.

At the end of that last pointless, frustrating, humilitating Dr's appt two yrs ago I simply couldn't reach out to take the 'next month's appt' card from my Dr's outstretched hand. Irritated, she looked up from her laptop and made eye contact w/ me for the first time in years. Softly, using her first name I said "no ___".

Walking out I felt freedom from the false hope and pride in myself for stopping the mockery.

I always was a respectful, obedient, compliant (and often tearful) patient over the years...I'm severely depressed after all...however this last MD expressed little compassion and even less knowledge about depression. She suggested I light a scented candle when I confessed to feeling suicidal. Like so many other's who are not afflicted she just didn't get it.

Started in my youth on this painful journey and am now an old person. My final elderly parent recently passed away freeing me to end my own suffering so while researching humane methods I realize there is one stone left unturned, Ketamine.

Been told by an expert far from my home that the older you are & the longer you have experienced depression the less likely you are to respond to Ketamine.
Any older people w/ experience care to share their outcome?

Thank You and wish you all vitality! maydaymayday

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Dear mayday,
I too have tried many meds, including ketamine, over the years. Although apparently it has been a wonder drug for many, it did nothing for me. However, I have not suffered any debilitating depressions in the last several months. (And I got divorced in December, having thought that my marriage would last forever, so I have plenty to still be depressed about). Anyway, 2 things have changed during that time. One is that I have used the Fisher-Wallace stimulator 2x/day without fail every day. Two is that I've completely eliminated meat and dairy from my diet (I did this for animal welfare reasons after seeing a video on factory farming, but regardless, there are tons of antibiotics, hormones, GMOs, and even feces in many of today's factory-farmed meat and dairy products. So, which of these 2 changes has had an effect on my depression? I don't know. And perhaps tomorrow a new wave of depression could hit....but for now, and for the past several months, that hasn't happened. Yes, I am still on my meds (Emsam, Klonopin, Lamictal, Deplin), but in the past, these things weren't enough to prevent falling into a deep, dark hole of despair. I'll let you decide if either or both of these options might be worth a try. The stimulator was $600 (but I used my HSA to pay for it) and has a money back guarantee. I ordered it figuring what the heck; I've tried everything else. Anyway, I wish the best for you. FYI, the doctor who gave me Ketamine said it tends to work better on women than men

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@stillhopefull Have you tried an anti-inflammatory regimen like low-dose naltrexone? I know it was mentioned to you back in January.
Have you tried eliminating aspartame and glutamic acid from your diet?
And have you tried Magnesium Taurate (500mg daily)?

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Hi Rk, Thanks for the message. No, I haven't tried naltrexone. Perhaps I should mention it to my doc. I do drink diet iced tea with aspartame. Don't know much about glutamic acid. And I take magnesium, but it's magnesium oxide (500 mg)

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@stillhopefull Magnesium oxide is just magnesium rust and our stomach acid just doesn't have the oomph to make it bioavailable. In other words what you take in orally well it goes out he other side with no good to you.

Nancy Saibjen is a doctor in San Diego who has an interesting article on it:
painsandiego.com/2012/06/10/depression-ketamine-glia-and-inflammation

It fits with the inflammation model of Depression, so since the SSRI/SNRI (standard antidepressant drugs) model did not work for you and the NMDA (ketamine) model did not work for you, we know that you are refractory so the emotional model does not fit. Presumably you have had your hormones checked, so we can scratch that off. That starts to leave just the Glutamate model, Enzymatic (CYP450) Nutritional and Inflammation models.

Naltrexone works on a few of these, but I would defiantly cut out aspartame and glutamates from your diet. Aspartame is converted to Aspartic Acid which is then converted to glutamic acid then Glutamate and people with depression can have a surplus of glutamate. So, I would cut out Aspartame and glutamate completely and give it a few weeks to see how you are doing and in the mean time see if your PDoc or Psychiatrist will prescribe Low Dose Naltrexone. They will need to decide if you need 3mg or 4.5 mg daily. Of course if neither of them work then we can talk about the other models.

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