Ketamine, a prescription drug that has been used as an anesthetic for decades and gained popularity on the street as “Special K,” is being tested in Houston as a quick fix to severe depression. Researchers at the Neuro Psychiatric Center next to Ben Taub General Hospital are testing one infusion of ketamine for its short-term effects in treating depression. If the study’s results are successful, a second study will administer ketamine three times a week to patients to test the drug’s long-term effects. “This is supposed to help for a couple months. The study is still under way, so it’s hard for us to know now how long the effects will last. Will it cure depression for a year or longer? I don’t think so. But we’re hoping it will work for a few months in the second trial,” said Dr. Asim Shah, who directs the mood disorder program at Ben Taub General Hospital. Shah said so far the results are promising, but using ketamine to treat depression is not yet FDA approved. Anti-depressants like Prozac or Celexa usually take at least a few weeks to start working. During that time, patients are more susceptible to suicide. “Sometimes what happens is that a person’s energy improves before their mood improves. So if you still feel horribly depressed and hopeless, but have a return of your energy, your risk of being suicidal increases,” said Dr. Ken Robbins, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If it pans out that a shot of ketamine will temporarily pull someone out of their depression, that would still be incredibly helpful. If someone is feeling horrible to the point where you’re concerned they’re suicidal, this could fill the time lapse that regular anti-depressants take to kick in,” Robbins said. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...4FODMGY48n_b1KhtA&sig2=nPOFC3w8BxlbxJPREwdZpA So let's give out amphetamines, cocaine and crack along with this stuff for I'm certain they too will get anyone out of depression but then comes addiction. What do you think? Should this drug be used as a anti depressant and what could be next?:shrug:
Magic Mushrooms Could Treat Depression The active ingredient in the trippy fungus could help users treat depression, anxiety and stress.
why do you think that because a drug is used illegally that it has no medicinal value? Midazolam has the street name "dazzel" and is used as a date rape drug because it causes amneasia along with sedation. Its widly used in ambulance services and hospitals as well because it has lots of good uses one of which is in cardioversion where you defribulate a concious patient. Needless to say you dont WANT them to remeber that and so the amneasia is a good side effect. Morphine is known as Dreamer (and other things) but is used across the board as a front line analgisic. Ketamine has aparently already been found to be effective in the treatment of treatment resistant bipolar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketamine So basically why do you dismiss it simply because it has illicit uses as well?
.....because Cosmic doesn't have much use for most drugs. Ketamine is used around here to cut heroin, last year we had a bunch of local junkies die from a bad batch some idiot made up. He got caught though, and is now in state prison for something like 20 or so deaths due to his product tampering for profit. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! As always, I figure that all drugs should be legal and accessible to adults, the nanny state ain't for me and I don't need someone else imposing their religious beliefs on me. I vote for the 'schrooms too, Spidey. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I don't have use for illegal drugs that are cut with all sorts of crap so that you never know what you are taking or the purity of them besides being addicting and causing psychological problems in most people who use them. I just believe that using CERTAIN types of PARTY drugs is something we should evaluate much deeper when trying to treat other diseases with them. I'm not against them IF THEY ARE SAFE and not addicting to those who use them. Depression is a very dangerous mental problem and just by giving a drug to make people "feel great" but not really stopping the underlying psychological problems I'd think there will be a very big problem with them.
I highly doubt these researchers are acquiring ketamine from the local dealer down the street. Asguard - I'll add MDMA to your list as it was originally (and sometimes still) used to facilitate couple's counseling sessions. On an aside, it seems legal drugs are causing most of the societal problems these days :shrug:
We already give out amphetamines as a treatment for depression and other psychological problems. You may have heard of a prescription drug called Adderall? Cocaine also has legitimate medical uses, as do various other strongly-addicting drugs (opiates, notably). Meanwhile, ketamine does not present strong potential for addiction (very much unlike cocaine, heroin, alcohol, or nicotine). It is, in fact, also being researched for use in treatment of addiction to other drugs. Also, I note that this researcher does not propose using ketamine as a long-term, routine treatment for depression, but rather as a one-time "jolt" to bring patients out of severe depression long enough for long-term regimens to start showing effects. And generally speaking, medical usage under a doctor's supervision presents much lower risk of addiction, even for highly addictive drugs like opiates. Your objection there is hyperbole, and also mistakenly conflates ketamine with very different drugs that present very different issues.
It is the person who has an addictive personality, not the substance in question. An addictive personality can become addicted to almost anything. There are people who are so addicted to eating that they literally eat themselves to death. Similar instantiations are available for many other addictions, including hyperventilation of air, masturbation etc. The nanny state attempts to "protect" persons from their own behavior...and fails because that is ultimately impossible to accomplish. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Uh...hows about radical religions, like Islam and Christianity? Those actually kill people. How's about obesity? War? Ignorance? Air pollution? Of all of those I think ignorance is the worst though.....
Guess it depends on if you figure the absolute number of deaths is "causing most of the societal problems these days" or not. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! That is sorta open to interpretation, your' mileage may vary. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! *grabs his chest and lets go of the wheel*
More Ketamine is produced in my area than anywhere else in the world, and every year tons go missing off the radar - to find their way into clubs and KTVs especially designed to give businessmen a good time on the drug. The last time I did it I was on the stage of some club dancing. It must have lasted a few hours. The stage shrunk to the point where I thought I was falling off of it - to where the stage expanded so large I could run across it for minutes. And I was doing some spectacular bone dance. Instead of controlling muscles like I usually do, on that drug all I could feel were my bones. And eventually I was throwing up outside on the street completely lost. When I finally sobered up my apartment was only a block away. Horrible recreational drug in my opinion. Such an ignorant comment. Treat each drug, or at least each class of drug as its own.
I guess you couldn't tell I was only being sarcastic when I said that. Next time I'll use an Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! for those things I'm just sarcastic about.
Cosmic the real question is should a drug which has so many legitimate useages including trating bipolar, closed head injury, as an anathetic and other uses be dumped simply because it has some illicit uses as well
I can vouch for the anxiety and stress reduction on short term, controlled use of "shrooms". I have never felt more at ease and at peace than when I had taken shrooms in my younger years. As a horrible flier (I can't get through security without panicking normally on the way to the plane) I have taken a wide range of different anti-anxiety, benzos, xanax, valium etc. to treat the anxiety but the one time I flew when I was on shrooms, it was the easiest flight I had ever been on. I have had friends try to self-medicate via Ketamine for treatment for bi-polar and severe depression with varying results. Some see some short-term improvement, but some see set backs (possibly from anticipation of a fix and seeing nothing) so I am not sure what to think about it. It will be interesting to see what they find in their studies.
They'd have to administer it in very careful doses and controlled environments. It's widely reported, and I can verify from personal experience, that if you're entertaining negative thoughts and philosophies when you trip, those thoughts will take you over and can get you stuck in a pattern of negativity for a very long time thereafter. I can understand why people would enjoy that stuff when they're in a good mood, but if the doses are big enough to trip out, it's gonna make the depression and whatever thoughts come with it feel that much more real and authentic (not to say they aren't just as real as anyone else's life fantasies).
Yes, hallucinogens should only be used in distinct doses, in controlled environments and with educated supervision unless they are part of religious ritual, by an accomplished shaman or dreamquester. Group peyote experiences have been very effective for some native American anti - alcoholism programs. What you bring with you into the session is of great importance, for sure. Your' mindset, attitude, emotional set and expectations are at least as important as the surroundings and the supervision you employ. The changes that you make in your' persona are permanent so you must be sure they are something that you want to change. You will become a slightly different person after each experience, you just need to be sure that the change is for the better. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
