Ketamine For Depression? (Page 9)

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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Hi Paula,

I live in Chicago as well and was interesting seeing Best. Thank you for steering me away. I'm glad I didn't consult with him further given his exorbitant fee structure. He of course performs rTMS as part of his treatment protocol, but I'm not a believer in it after giving it a go a few years ago. I'd like to connect over email if possible to chat further.

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Yes James, I will be glad to give admin. permission for you to email me personally, it takes a few days for them to get back, so keep that in mind. I have found out about some other meds in my research, will be posting later about them cuz in a hurry right now..

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Thanks Paula. Not sure what steps are needed to be taken on my part to have permission to share emails. I tried looking in the admin area of the site but to no avail. Please let me know if it's something in my court I need to submit first.

Looking forward to chatting further.

JB

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@James B - please email again, lost first one, been in kinda bad place for the last week, sorry.

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Just wondering if you were able to arrange treatment. I'm curious to know how it went.

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I have an appt. for next Friday with Doc that is game for using Ketamine infusions. Just got out of the Hospital, newly diagnosed with bipolar, personality disorder and extreme anxiety. A drug that has really helped me is Geodon, helps with the depression but not anxiety. The intensive therapy has also helped with the depression, but the Ketamine infusions are the Gold Standard IMHO. The personality thing needs therapy, but the other 2 REALLY responded to the infusions. I used myself as a guinea pig for Pharmaceutical Ketamine I.M. Injections of 50 mg, (I am an R.N. for 18 years, don't try this at home, kids) 1 time per day for a little while but did not have the same effect as the infusions. I will report back after my visit to the new doc.

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Can anyone tell me if there are any docs in FLORIDA who are willing to do Ketamine for depression? I am in Orlando and there are none here as far as I know. Also..wonder if ketamine helps with PTSD as well.....

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OK, since I live in the Chicago area I called Dr. Steven Best's office today. I have had depression/anxiety my entire life; I am in my late 50's and it has worsened dramatically over the last 6 months, to the point where I am truly desperate; the anxiety is AWFUL and today I learned my psych has no experience with ketamine. The previous posts are correct, Best's ketamine treatment is very expensive, in fact I had to put a deposit on the initial consult. But the initial consult is this Monday!! I told the receptionist I also have chronic migraines and she said they treat many migraineurs. I am a little freaked that I got an appointment so quickly but it can't hurt to check it out. They do the infusions, which if all works out, I could have the first infusion next Thursday. I plan to go over all this with my psych and therapist, because I am concerned about possible hallucinations, having had "bad trips" back in the "good old days" primarily via LSD & mescaline. At Best's office they have an anesthesiologist who adminsters and stays with you, at least that's what they told me, but - does anyone know much about possible hallucinations or other bad side effects? It's probably in this blog somewhere but I don't see it. Thanks for all the info, this is a great service.

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Well, I do not want to scare you or anything but I will attempt to explain what I felt on my infusion. It was a sense of extreme depersonalization , and extremely disturbing to me. It is impossible to explain outside of saying that I felt a sense of profundity, and pretty much immobilized or paralyzed. Visual hallucinations as well. A sense of timelessness but not in a good way. It scared the s*** out of me. I hated it and it was impossible to explain what I felt to others. Granted this seems to be very much the exception though. I have never seen anyone else describe this. But I hate hate hate ketamine after that experience b/c on top of that it did nothing to help my depression. Not trying to be a wet blanket but wanted to share

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Thank you so much JimmyJam, as it turns out, Dr. Best's office finally sent me their New Patient info sheet today and guess what? In addition to the $340 initial consult, $325 for ketamine, and $325 for the anesthesiologist, apparently they also want me to cough up $517 for an EEG and $2218 for a Brain SPECT. I never would have known about this before the initial consult if I hadn't called and asked them to send me the info, which was supposed to be sent yesterday and somehow wasn't attached. I truly appreciate your input; I don't think this is going to work out with this dr. anyway. P.S. Have you found anything that helps?? I hope so.

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Update, my p-doc strongly suggested I see Dr. Best after all, he does not think the EEG or Brain SPECT will definitely be necessary, which is what Best's office also told me. So I am going to the initial consult. P-doc said Best is kind of a geek and that might rub people the wrong way, but that he truly cares and he does a lot of cutting edge stuff. I totally trust my p-doc and have some hope, not 100% but SOME, that things are moving in the right direction.

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I HAD THE EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE!!!
I DID NOT KNOW IF THAT WAS HOW IT WAS FOR EVERYONE. NOR CAN I UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS A CONTROLLED "CLUB DRUG", IF IT IS NOT ENJOYABLE. I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME!!

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Hello Em. It is almost a year ago that you posted and I wondered if you ever got relief. I understand the suffering you experience. One of the worst parts of being the family member who is the lost soul is going into agreement with their negative opinion of you. Did you ever try the ketamine? I will try the intranasal k next thursday.

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I was recently treated with IV Ketamine by Dr. Glen Brooks and had pretty amazing results. I am a physician as well, and due to my depression, I was having trouble getting out of bed to go to work. I'm not sure what the office number is, but he doesn't mind calls on his cell.

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Yes, I actually just posted about Dr. Brooks. He is so kind and thoughtful and keeps his prices reasonable compared to others. He just moved his office to downtown manhattan. Try calling on his cell phone- it's easier to get through that way- 516-662-1655

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I don't know about anyone else, but I tried ketamine infusions 3X for anxiety. I would NOT recommend it for anxiety especially if you have experienced previous "bad trips" on street or any other drugs. I had a very bad time the 3rd time when the dose was increased, and I was told that I would get better after I had a few MORE increased doses. I can't imagine going back for it now, and I noticed NO improvement at all in my anxiety during the time I was trying it. If anything, I was getting more anxious about the infusions each time. Be VERY careful if you are trying this for anxiety. Depression I can't speak for, I am also very depressed, but anxiety is my #1 difficulty.

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I entered into a clinical study/trial, in the Boston area and I had six treatments of Ketamine, using the IV delivery method. I was suffering from extreme depression, for over 50 years and the longer it went, the worse it got! I had tried a ton of different medications, some more than once, but in different combinations and the result was always the same. I still was extremely depressed and dealing with the side effects of the medications. I also had treatments and the end result was that I still was depressed, but my memory and cognitive ability were severely impacted.

I had three treatments of Ketamine at one dose and then another three treatments, with a fifty percent increase in Ketamine and I can honestly say that I wasn’t depressed, for the first time, since I can remember. I will agree that the treatments are somewhat scary, as it is not a pleasant high and I mentioned more than once that a person who had never self medicated with drugs would be scared by the affects.

My last treatment was October 25th of 2012 and I did not suffer from depression for more than a couple of months. I did and still do suffer, from the negative thinking and negative actions that had become a part of my everyday life. In the beginning, I was waiting for the depression to return, so I really didn’t attempt to do anything to solve the multiple issues that affected me. When I certain amount of time had passed, I got into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ( CBT ) and am making slow progress.

I started thinking that the depression would never return and when it did, I had extreme anxiety and was somewhat in a panic as I thought I would go back to the way I was before the treatments. The bottom line is that I didn’t and I do experience some depression, but not on a daily basis. I am no longer feeling the agony of everyday life waiting for nighttime to come so I could take my medications and try to fall to sleep. I will not say I am ‘happy’, but I have made progress and I can even laugh and see something as ‘funny’ when before I only experienced the extreme lows. I also no longer go to bed hoping that I didn't wake up the next morning.

I suffered from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) and I went into the clinical study ‘knowing for sure’ that this treatment would not work. For me, Ketamine worked! I had no desire to drink and drug, which would have been reverting to old habits and I have not once thought about using something to take the ‘edge’ off. It is my experience and opinion that self medication only complicates an already complicated situation.

I realize that I could probably use a ‘maintenance’ treatment, from time to time, but that is not part of the clinical study and I am not aware of any place in Southeastern Massachusetts up to Boston that provides Ketamine treatments for depression.

I welcome any response as to whether treatment is available in my area, but I will tell you that one problem, associated with the Ketamine treatment is that you cannot drive yourself home.

As for the side effects, my blood pressure did rise slightly as did my temperature and I had difficulty talking. All of these affects ended between 15 to 30 minutes after the treatment was stopped.

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Hi I have been using intranasal K for the last 3 weeks. I am also taking low dose naltrexone. I am starting to notice some change. It isn't dramatic but I am functioning. My OCD symptoms are often not there at all. Is anyone else using it? I am slowing increasing the amount I spray in my nose.

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Hi everyone. I just wanted to drop you a quick note about my recent breakthrough. Let me start by saying that I seem to have cured by depression which I've been battling with for the last 20yrs. since i was 19 yo. It turns out that taking a low dose of melatonin to normalize my sleep patterns allowed my mind to go into that deep sleep mode that allows the body and mind to heal. This was quite an accidental find.

So the back story. I started a new job in Dec 2012. it's been about 4 yrs since i've worked. everything about me was off: my sleep schedule, my anxiety, depression, concentration, short-term memory, low energy levels. I needed something to help with the sleep so i started to play around with the dose of melatonin that i had lying around. it was an old bottle i bought but thought that it never worked since i took an entire 3mg pill when i needed. i was apprehensive about taking it due to all the press that says that taking it could cause your body to quit developing melatonin. well i was desperate because being new at the job i needed to perform and sleep was important. i played around with the dose and finally found that a quarter tablet of 3mg slow-release and quarter tab of 3mg immediate release worked best for me. initially i'd wake up in the middle of the night and have to take another dose, but i persisted in taking this dose for the past few months. over time, good things started to happen. symptoms started to slowly go away. i'd sleep longer through the night. no more afternoon crash and need for a nap. concentration increased. energy levels up. recover time after workouts decreased. no more anxiety and obsessiveness. no more incessant negative thoughts. im interested in things again. everyday is a brand new day. it's like im back to that person i remember being before the depression hit.

i recommend that everyone give melatonin a shot. it's cheap. my bottles were about $5 or less each and it'll last me for over a year since i'm cutting the tabs into quarters. you can buy it over the counter. and from my experience, no short or long term side effects.

i really do hope you all find what you're looking for. dont give up hope.

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I had the misfortune of being Dr. Best's pt. for a little while. He is a rip-off artist who does no pre-consult, no post consult, merely doubles the dosage if first one is ineffective, and the trip SUCKS!!
I was pt #1 in a Clinical Study at Alexian Bros. for Ketamine infusion. They used a 50mg infusion 3x per week for 3 weeks, 2x for 3weeks, 1x per week for 3 weeks then every other week for three times. I experienced 'the miracle' after my 3rd infusion and was able to maintain on 1x per week, then depression came back. At NO TIME did I experience any adverse effects, no hallucinations, etc. If you go back to last summer I wrote all about it. Dr. Best wants your money. Period. I am an R.N. I have had depression for 18 years, hospitalized many times. I know how a patient SHOULD be treated. Dr. Best is a total A-hole. No coincidence that he has an MBA as well as an MD. Unless you have a LOT of money, avoid him like the plague. The proper dosage for Ketamine infusion is 1mg/kg. there were a couple of guys in there high as kites. The one told me he was on 180mg. He couldn't stop laughing! I wish I would have had that effect because when he doubled me to 100mg. I was SO f'n HIGH like a BAD TRIP! I saw my recently dead mother and was crying profusely. Not fun. And I used to LOVE to trip back in the day. Watch out for Best, he is Worst.

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