Ketamine therapy for depression...

Yes I have had a few IV infusions. It does help. It costs $450/infusion in NYC.

And yes, it is awful that this isn't more affordable/covered by insurance.

It's $350 in Atlanta. It's nuts that it's so expensive. Ketamine is generic. My doctor has 5 patients going am hour. He's making bank.

My partner’s sister is on it, and it has decreased her depression a lot. She actually sounds happy when I speak with her, which was never the case previously.

My friends daughter was in the darkest place. My friend remembered this and fought to get it covered by her daughters state insurance. They said they’d pay some toward it (through the hospital IV only , she said the nasal spray isn’t good and has inconsistent results) the hospital refused to take the partial pay from insurance. She finally found a doctor who used to work at the hospital who did it but it was cash. 3k for 6 sessions. She got a loan out and amazingly after the first session, she saw her daughter come back from the deep dark hole of clinical depression. She got it and it was a miracle. It’s asinine to think Insurance won’t cover it and more hospitals don’t offer it. But my friend made the point: it WORKS. They’re in bed with the insurance companies so they keep using pills to “help with depression” which only temporarily helps but doesn’t CURE it like KETAMINE does.

My husband had two emergency treatments with his Dr. The results were instantaneous and really effective, and the effects lasted longer than I expected. I wish we could afford to have more regular treatment.

It's kind of astounding how fast it works. I guess $350 isn't such a bad deal.

Wow. I never thought this would become a thing. Back in my SPLASH NY days, we'd snort it. How is this done? Ingested? A pill?

I'm actually quite interested in this. While not debilitating, my depression has deepened in recent years and staving severe anhedonia is a daily struggle.

But how LONG does it last? Is it just a temporary neuro mood changer?

Do we know anything about side effects of many, many infusions?

My doctor has been doing it since 2008.

So basically poor people will continue to be depressed

My dad’s minister is on it and has responded well after trying pretty much every other therapy.

R7 I believe it’s IV?

Just buy it in the shady back alley.

Which shady back alley?

If be too worried about fentanyl. They're putting fent in fucking cocaine now

Fentanyl helps get loser addicts off the streets and into the ground.

So you go to the doctor, lay down and go into a K-hole? Do you just lay there?

Only safe online resources that one of our DL's have safely used? I would like to know this for research purposes.

The cat tranquilizer? I used to buy those at raves back in the early 2000s. You Do Not want to be stuck in a K-hole

Northern California Kaiser covers it but you have to meet a bunch of strict requirements. They basically restrict it to only on the worst of the worst depression cases, even though I've seen articles that say it can make a huge difference in less depressed people with only one treatment. I was referred to TMS therapy instead, and it's working great but is a huge commitment (5 days a week for 6 weeks).

How long do the positive effects last? How long between IV sessions?

I am poor. We are reduced to unsafe street drugs for any help. Thanks evil pharmaceutical companies.😾

they administer it in a doctors office with IV. It definitely gives you a trip but it is very carefully dosed. some patients wear headphones and listen to music by themselves, some patients talk to the doctor and some patients sit in silence. You can also take a spouse or a friend in with you. I've been in all of my husband's sessions. It makes a big improvement for him and lasts about a month. Some people get treatments every couple of weeks and extreme cases get short bursts of back to back treatments, up to twice a week for a short period of time.

I took K a few times back in my partying days and I swear to god I have never felt so good, so sane and non-anxious, in my entire life. It was astonishing. I haven't done it in 20 years but I think about that feeling all the time -- it didn't even feel like a high like other drugs, it just felt like my brain was mine for the first time in my life and not cluttered full of garbage. If there was a safe way to get that feeling again, a prescription, I'd do it in a heartbeat

I knew of this only through a friend who is a medical researcher, but I didn't realize it was in use -- off label according to this 2019 article.

The article also describes a slightly different formulation used as a nasal spray, also against depression.

How long does a dose of the IV administered version last?

It depends on you. It's a dissociative so you're able to view yourself from outside and then make better choices. It declutters the mind and gets your anxiety and depression from weighing on you.

[quote] So basically poor people will continue to be depressed

Yes. But they're poor and have nothing to offer. Why be around a happy poor person? No one wants to see that.

I’d never heard of this and most likely couldn’t afford it but damn, Datalounge continues to be so educational.

I’m afraid to ask my psychiatrist for this, like he’ll think I’m a drug seeker. I used to be, but he doesn’t even know that.

In this case I just want to feel sane, not to party into a k hole.

I desperately want to try it.

R29, you have to go to a special clinic. What city are you in?

My Botox nurse offers it at her clinic for $350 a session. It’s supposed to work on alcoholism and addiction as well. Obviously you can buy it on the street cheaper, but I would be afraid of it being cut with something else. Mushrooms work similarly, and you can grow them yourself or buy from a reputable source online for much cheaper.

It sounds like people are running from depression to drug addiction. How could it be good for your mental health? Another American exceptionalism at work here, apparently.

R34, don't spout off about things you clearly don't understand. This is therapeutic Ketamine therapy. It's not "recreational drug use". It's a very, very low dose, done in a drip, over an hour or so. Under a doctor's supervision. It's not done at levels that lead to addition. There are many studies about it, and it's a real therapy that really seems to help some people. Sometimes one treatment is enough, but usually you take a series of treatments over weeks or months. It has lasting effects.

Stop tut-tutting and scolding when you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Go read about it instead of just knee-jerk reacting.

R4, ketamine isn't addictive. And you must be American because you're spouting made up shit about something you know nothing about. Plus you're a puritanical asshole

r34 thinks like a 1960s American. Just cheer yourself up! And stop being a fag because being gay is a choice.

to a lot of people, any drug that makes others feel better is scary. Usually that type of person also thinks addicts are weak willed and deserve to die anyway. old school thinking.

Between this and microdosing shrooms/LSD, etc., I'm glad people are finding alternatives to traditional pill-popping that actually work for them. It's overdue.

I just do mushrooms. A lot cheaper and best thing I've found for ego destruction and depression. I can go about six months between trips and still feel great.

R29 I am in Portland Or

It looks like you have a few places to choose from, r40. And Atlanta is looking like more and more of a bargain. Just Google ketamine therapy Portland

Thanks R41

Does it help with anxiety too? I have depression that meds don't seem to help, but bad anxiety and I don't want ketamine to make it worse.

Has anyone tried esketamine nasal spray (Spravato)?

K can trigger bipolar and schizophrenia

R45 So can Datalounge

Ecstasy is being studied again too. Everything old is new again.

I did high quality MDMA once and felt great for about a month.

New study shows a big mushroom dose regrows neurons and neural pathways that have died due to depression. We have so much to learn.

The US government has spent decades stopping research in these areas. When there's the opportunity, vote in favor of loosening these bullshit laws and let people get the help they need.

"K can trigger bipolar and schizophrenia"

R45. that is a bunch of BS

It is used to treat bipolar depression/suicidality

It is not yet been shown to help schizophrenia, but it does not "trigger" schizophrenia which is due to abnormal neuronal migration during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Do you have a link to that, r48? That's really interesting - I'd like know more about it. Thanks.

R47 I trained at UCLA NeuroPsychiatric Institute 15 years ago and they were investigating psychedelics then. West Coast Medical schools have always been way ahead of east coast re these drugs.

I have been referring depressed patients for IV Ketamine for over a decade. It is not a new treatment, but it is now more accepted by patients.

R50 I am not R48 but here you go:

Psilocybin is a serotonergic psychedelic with untapped therapeutic potential. There are hints that the use of psychedelics can produce neural adaptations, although the extent and time scale of the impact in a mammalian brain are unknown. In this study, we used chronic two-photon microscopy to image longitudinally the apical dendritic spines of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the mouse medial frontal cortex. We found that a single dose of psilocybin led to ∼10% increases in spine size and density, driven by an elevated spine formation rate. The structural remodeling occurred quickly within 24 hours and was persistent 1 month later. Psilocybin also ameliorated stress-related behavioral deficit and elevated excitatory neurotransmission. Overall, the results demonstrate that psilocybin-evoked synaptic rewiring in the cortex is fast and enduring, potentially providing a structural trace for long-term integration of experiences and lasting beneficial actions.

But remember - SSRI's also cause neuronal growth and for this reason have been prescribed to those with brain injuries.

There are also psychotherapists that specialize in treating people after ketamine or ayahuasca treatments. It would be ideal to try both together.

Thank you very much, r52. I appreciate it.

Yeah, they sell it in pet shops in Romania but I am not that depressed or desperate. Still wish big pharma back home would get more serious about it and ECT.

I’m on the original shroom thread here….I obtained shroom capsules because I have struggled with moderate to severe depression for over thirty years. If you have depression — try it. It does help. I am going to try the K, I think it will cure me once and for all. If you have it, just know that you are NOT alone, and there are finally tools out there that actually work (unlike traditional therapy and anti-depressants. I am soooooo grateful we live in a time where there are promising treatments out there.

But yes, it is fucking bullshit that insurance won’t pay. How can we change that? Obviously the doctors won’t help — they’re making money hand over fist off this treatment, I think legislation might be the only way to force them to pay. It is inhumane that poor people can’t access this treatment, it makes me ashamed of this country. Kill the rich?

r56 Nothing will cure you once and for all.

If there is ANYTHING that readers take from this board its that chemical imbalances in the brain can create depression and it's a lifelong issue. Its not the end of the world. But it requires a basic understanding that depressed people will eventually become depressed again. And when they do, they require medical supervision, therapy, and often, medication of some sort (including but not limited to psychededelics)

There are worse problems people have to deal with.

Where can you get ketamine therapy in NYC ?

R58 google it, there are a few

R58. Try Dr. Brooks - I was really happy with him

R56 Don't shrooms make you trip and see things? Wouldn't they be bad for people with anxiety, low self-esteem and for paranoid people? A lot of depressed people are also one or more of those things.

R61, I micro dosed, so no.

R57, people are saying K can cure depression. I don’t know what they mean when they say “cure”, but if it’s something that makes it easier to live with, I’m all in.