Saturday, September 25, 2010

An Antidepressant that works in HOURS not weeks! The hope of Ketamine

New research suggests that using Ketamine could produce an antidepressant effect in hours not weeks for bipolar patients with treatment-resistant depression.

I've been struggling for weeks now. The bottom line is since my daughter was born I just haven't been able to find the stability I had before her birth. I keep falling into the "rabbit hole" ... aka deep hole of depression.

And when I'm depressed it can get bad. Bad as in mommy doesn't spend much time out of bed. It goes like this. Mommy wakes up and watches TV and says to herself please don't wake up dear daughter until my nanny gets here or daddy wakes up. Then daughter wakes up and I get to play mommy as best I can for a little bit. I manage to make some oatmeal. At some point within an hour or so nanny gets here or daddy is up. And here's where I should be going to my office to work. But nope depressed Rachael goes back to bed and watches TV, or stares at the ceiling, or hides under the covers wanting to just disappear. I stay that way until lunch. Where I pull it together for about 45 minutes long enough to make lunch for me and the little one, check email and maybe return a phone call to a client.

And then after lunch I go back to bed (note should be going back to work). Where I stay until 3:30 when my nanny leaves. Then I play mommy, read books and put my daughter down for a nap. She sleeps and I normally would go back to work, but depressed mommy goes back to bed.

I then get up when she gets up. I call the hubby when she gets up and he comes home. He makes dinner while I entertain my daughter. And then after dinner I go ... can you guess where? Yep to bed. Normal Rachael makes great homecook meals, BTW. Depressed Rachael doesn't make any dinner at all.

Yes, this is sometimes my sad life. And my daughter she comes in and asks me "Mommy is your head feeling bad? I hope you feel better soon. I love you." She's two and a half. It kills me that she sees me go through these times.

So, when I saw the article about Ketamine I was SUPER excited!!! Can you imagine that a treatment on the horizon for bipolar patients that can work in HOURS for depression? I've been doing it all - I've done everything. And my depressions keep coming back. So I hope this research leads to some kind of readily available treatment.


Ketamine Lifts Depression Symptoms in Bipolar Disorder Within an Hour
People with treatment-resistant bipolar disorder experienced relief from symptoms of depression in as little as 40 minutes after an intravenous dose of the anesthetic medication ketamine in a preliminary study; while the patient group was small, this work adds to evidence that compounds in the class to which ketamine belongs have potential as rapid and effective medications for depression, including bipolar depression. The potential for side-effects makes ketamine an impractical drug for standard use, but it provides a way to test this approach for developing novel treatments that act more rapidly than existing ones.

So check out the article

This may sound crazy - but I'm seriously wondering if the ketamine people use recreationally (yes illegally) would have the same effects. I am desperate. I've tried so many meds, I've done supplements, I work out religiously (well not when I'm majorly depressed). I just want to be like I was in 2004-2007 - stable no ups, no downs just good. I mean during those years I was so good I sometimes doubted that I was bipolar at all. And now it is quite clear that my bipolar I diagnosis is accurate. Of course now I'm bipolar I with rapid cycling. Luckily I've stopped the ultra-rapid cycling and the even worse ultra-ultra rapid (cycling within 24 hours) which was the worst torture that I've ever experienced.

So here's to hope that something good is on the horizon.

3 comments:

  1. Ketamine is a very strong tranquilizer that is used in livestock. The street version is usually produced in pharmacies so is relatively safe if you know the proper dosage. I really hope you don't intend to buy it via black market. One severe side effect of ketamine use is depression so I do not think it is good for the long run. Occasionally people suffer near death episodes or out of body episodes. It is so risky. Be safe

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  2. I don't actually intend to buy ketamine on the black market. I do hope to get in a clinical trial. The dosage they are using of ketamine is much less than what people are using street version. For the near death and out of body issues they are taking a dosage that produces hallucinations - which is why they are taking it. The amount for the antidepressant effect is below hallucination or sedative amounts.

    Ketamine is still to this day used in hospitals mainly for pediatric patients for anesthesia and also for some pain relief in some patients. So it is a safe substance if used appropriately.

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