Ketamine For Depression? (Page 39) (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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Romeotaz, I'm so sorry I didn't see your posts at the time. Yes, my name is Sarah K {edited for privacy}. Common name but you can Google ketamine to see a couple of interviews.

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That is the best news I have heard in a while my friend. I'm so happy for you I am crying. I pray that discovery will help others also. I myself have a calcified tumor on my thyroid also and have all the systems of thyroid disease. I'm going to mention the information to my doctor and get checked myself just to see if maybe that could be cause of my severe depression. Thank you:-). I have reached 18 months with the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, so I am past the point of reversing it and not dealing well with that fact. My family still continues to be unsupportive and does not acknowledge I need help. I am back in NY and My pain doctor has just left to start a holistic practice. I am without a pain doctor with one week of pain meds left and so scared I'm considering getting a pain pump implanted. I've read nothing but bad things about them. There are so many things that can and do go wrong with them that I feel like I am signing my death warrant which wouldn't be to bad if the death wasn't supposed to be horribly painful because you can either overdose or go into severe withdrawals if some thing goes wrong with the pump. Our Governor has just passed a law that pain patients can only get one week of medicine at a time now. I think the man has truly lost his mind. Now people that have trouble getting out of their house have to do it once a week or twice a week as in my case. Then that's 8 more copays which is $45.00 each time I see a doctor. What are the elderly going to Do? New York is getting to hard to live in for pain patients but now where do I go? Sorry for the negativity. The burning from the CRPS/RSD has spread and is truly unbearable and I can't find a doctor willing to put out the fire without risking my life with a pain pump because that's the only appointment I might get. It just has me bewildered that the medical community could be this cruel. Love to you all...Mary

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In answer to that question..... numerous, rigorous, large scale reports of pain meds working....II tried, when a lot of studies came round about opioids and depression-tried it but even they did not help my TRD. I stopped taking them.....I was hoping so much for relief....God Bless!

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Mary,

While thyroid levels can definitely affect depression, I was talking about parathyroid glands. They are four little glands, usually tucked in behind the thyroid. They regulate your calcium levels. From what I've been reading, most endocrinologists deal with thyroid conditions regularly (they mainly deal with diabetes and thyroid issues), and few consider parathyroid issues at all. Just make sure your doctor knows you are asking about the parathyroid (meaning near the thyroid) glands. They are normally yellowish white and the size of a grain of rice. Two of mine were red and the size of a big pea, but very active. Many people, by the time they get surgery, have a larger adenoma. It is almost never cancerous, and usually only one gland that goes off (but you can see from my case why they need to check all of them).

Best Wishes,
Cai

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Caiguise,
This is great news for you! So glad after such a long time someone actually found what very well could be the source to your depression and other symptoms.
I for some reason can only reply to questions and not post one myself.
Have a great night.
Alli

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I'm still looking into the process of ketamine for depression and wanted to ask about 2 places :
1. Has anyone heard of the ketamine institute or " restore ketamine infusions"
Gerald W. Grass MD or
2. Neuro-Luminance run by Dr.Theodore Henderson

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Romeotaz, let me know if you still had a question for me.

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Romeotaz,
Yes I agree with you they are expensive. They do indicate on the sites that there is something different that they do that can possibly help with the results .
That is what made me ask the question.
Thanks for your response .

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Sarah, thanks for the kind offer. I did try to find a research study I could perform in but I wasn't able to find the one that you suggested. I don't recall the study now that it has been such a long time.

Anyhow, I'm at my wits end guys. My depression is bad. My functionality is limited. Here's a brief summary of my case:

Current medications:

In morning: Wellbutrin 300 mg XR, Valsartan Morning: Valsartan (80 mg), CoQ 100 mg, Vitamin B2 (400mg for headaches - it has helped), Butterbur 75 mg & feverfew 200 mg (for headaches - it has helped)

Afternoon:
Butterbur 75 mg & feverfew 200 mg (for headaches - it has helped)

Night time:
Butterbur 75 mg & feverfew 200 mg (for headaches - it has helped), Wellbutrin 300 mg, Brintellix 20 mg and Fenofibrate 145 mg.

Other medical problems :

Anxiety, blood pressure, cholesterol, OCD and sleep apnea

Previous medical problems (not active right now) :

Tension type headaches & Medication overuse headaches
Fibromyalgia, chronic daily headaches, backpain

Treatments tried:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (sessions for 4 years) - helped reduced anxiety but that was it.

Fischer Wallace Cranial Electrical Stimulator device - didn't help

TMS (28 sessions)- didn't help

Bilateral ECT (8 sessions) - didn't help

Ketamine - IV helped but oral form was not that helpful. Discontinued use.

Meds tried that helped:

For depression: Combination of Lexapro and Nortriptyline (depression improved but headaches remained at that time) & Combination of Wellbutrin and Brintellix (depression improved)

For headache (it doesn't matter now since headaches are gone): Fiorinal, Fioricet

Meds tried:

Risperdal, Celexa, Klonopin, Abilify, Cymbalta, Amitriptyline, Invega, Trazadone,
Ambien, Viibryd, Buspar, Doxepin, Effexor, Seroquel, Savella, Clomfranil, Propranolol, Topamax, Gabapentin, , Prothiaden, Xanax, Alprazolam, Lexotanil, Frisium, Lyrica, Verapamil, Fetzima

My Vit D came out low (20 mg) and I'm already taking supplements for it. I had the same reading 3 months ago and I took the supplement but for some odd reason the reading came out to same.

I take walks 30 mins a day - 3 to 4 times a week.

Can anybody suggest something I could try to get better. I hate to live like this where my life is in a limbo...

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Romeotaz, what's your nearest major city?

{edited for privacy}

I think intranasal ketamine is worth trying for sure, possibly even intramuscular. And I might have missed it, but have you tried scopolamine?

Hang in there. I really respect that you're going for walks! More than I'm doing lately. It'll get better, for both of us.

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Hi, Has anyone tried Paxil? It helps me. I take 40mg in the am and 40mg before bed.
I'm feeling a lot better, not 100%, but it's better at this time. I take alprazolam and
seroquel as well. I hope this can help someone. We all can help one another if we can.
Be well!

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Romeotaz,

You mentioned that you tried rTMS (I assume it was the repetitive treatment), and it did not work. You might consider finding out if anyone is using a different protocol. I have spectacular results with bilateral treatment (I think it is high frequency left and lower frequency right), but when they tried me on a new protocol (positioned more toward the middle) it didn't work. The doctor tried a third possible positioning and again it didn't work. But when they went back to the first protocol (this time with far shorter gaps between the pulses, so the total treatment time went from 40 min to less than 10) it was once again utterly successful. That the Wallace machine worked on the anxiety is a good sign. There is another machine which works with low level direct current, which I cannot recall the name of right now. Maybe dcTCS?

Another option to consider asking your doctor about is either switching something to, or adding, one of the older tricyclic antidepressants. I noticed you had tried one, but maybe desipramine or nortyriptaline? From what I understand, they have a broader variety of actions. The other advantage is that I think they are used in low doses for migraine prevention, so they might reduce the headaches if nothing else. Remeron is not used all that much, apparently it has strong sedative effects (not in me). It is another of the atypicals, available as a generic, and if anxiety is an issue the side effects might not be a bad thing.

I assume you are not getting headaches as part of serotonin syndrome. I've had a specific type of headache in the past if the meds were too high. Are you having symptoms suggesting the serotonin levels could be too high, and throwing other things out of balance?

Regarding the rTMS, I think the psychiatrist who does ECT at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames, IA must be providing this treatment. He would be closer than Chicago, right? I can't remember his name, but he shared an office with Dr. Ellen Comen. We've considered moving back to Ames, and access to rTMS is one of the issues. Here in Ontario they are delaying coverage, and trying to decide to what extent they can limit access.

Hang in there,
Cai

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yeah i know of a couple of physicians who are licensed to prescribe 8mg suboxone up to the 32mg strips in jackson, ms

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I haven't read of any cases where depression got worse (mania or schizophrenia, maybe).

Because the effects are short-lived, a bad reaction (like a bad trip; these are pretty rare) can be managed with supervision for about an hour (personal experience using intranasal dictates that taking xanax can help calm you down and bring you down).

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Thanks Sarah....
Do you happen to know if there are any other places to read about real life experiences besides this forum and Ketamine advocacy group?
I have been trying to ready anything I can on this treatment.
How are you doing?

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There is a Dr in Atlanta that does Ketamine infusion for $350 each.

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Hi Sarah,

Can I please talk to you about ketamine? I'm really considering this. Tomorrow, in fact. I'm just concerned about the cost and that any improvement will be short-lived. My cell is {edited for privacy}. Thanks!

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Alli,

I don't know of any cases where the depression was made worse, but you should be aware that (at least with oral/nasal ketamine therapy) when it stops working the slide back into depression can be distressing until you get used to it. For me, the normal slide into depression takes a week or two, when the ketamine therapy wears off it is sometimes a gentle slide over a few days, but occasionally happens within an afternoon.

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I am looking for a doctor whom would prescribe ketamine for my major depression in the Hartford, CT. area. I am tired of feeling depressed and suicidal. I will be willing for clinical trial also.

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i wish to try it too.i have had major depression for a long time.tried many meds and coundeling.still i cannot shake the depression.i really want to try this medicine.i need to find a doctor in the hartford,ct.area that would help me.doctors do not like prescribing anything these days.have to go back to giving doctors incentives to prescribe from the big pharma.

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