Ketamine has been the subject of some media featuring the work that the drug has done to miraculously and rapidly reverse depression and suicidal ideations for its patients. The one time injection treatments that one clinic is charging $450 per. The treatment must, like other psychological treatments be done under the supervision, intake assessment and close monitor of a nurse and psych team. It is not FDA approved as an antidepressant but it is approved as an anesthetic. There are several clinical trials running at the moment, that will hopefully lead to its full legal and appropriate use. Dr. Mandel of Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles says “Ketamine is the best treatment for depression.” One of the ways Ketamine works is by blocking the NMDA (N-methyl D-Aspartate Receptor) one of the 3 major glutamate receptors in the brain. This receptor is involved in synaptic plasticity and memory functions, among other functions. A Ketamine induced blockade of the NMDA receptor results in an increase in glutamate. This initiates a cascade of neurobiological events that researchers believe is one of the key reasons behind ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects. “Ketamine has a half life of 2 hours and 45 minutes but the effects are lasting for months” Lisa Monteggia, pHd “We got involved with really looking at how K triggers an antidepressant effect because of the real need,” she states, “recent clinical data shows that about ⅓ of depressed patients don’t respond to anti-depressants, so what do you do for those patients?” Traditional antidepressants can take up to 8 weeks to work and the effects of ketamine can be seen in 60-90 minutes. It is addictive and does have a long term toxic effect. Therefore, taking it outside of a doctor’s supervision can have detrimental results. I’m sure many party people are going to here about this and try to dose themselves, but I think psychological counseling in conjunction with treatment is the treatment that you definitely can’t get at any circuit parties or afterhours clubs. I think the most effective facilitations happen when your facilitator isn’t also on drugs and isn’t also dealing with the same issues as you, i.e not in mutual codependence, even though this model has been the one that has helped many many drug users cope for short periods of time, but sometimes the outcomes/come downs/withdrawals as we probably personally have witnessed have led some down to some darker paths.
Jeff Ellis is bipolar has been hospitalized at psychiatric facilities but somehow was able to consistently stay employed most recently at the Sky Network as a NFL football analyst. His wife lost her job and his daughter went away to college and he had what he calls a complete mental collapse. “No matter how amazing my loving wife was, I was still alone. Mental illness means you are alone.” Jeff now says, after Ketamine treatments that he no longer has to feel alone.
We can find a dozen youtube testimonials and at least 2 VICE documentaries on how Ketamine has saved severely depressed people’s lives. Some have definitely expressed fear that the treatment could be outlawed soon and send them reeling back to where they started, perhaps even further into the darkness. It seems likely that this could happen given that Jeff Sessions was recently on a campaign to “crack down” on recently legalized marijuana state operations. Luckily, the Trump administration’s priorities have been reappropriated, but because of the Fentanyl opioid crisis which has not seen a large support of harm reduction tactics being funded, I have my doubts that Ketamine treatments can be assured safety for long under this presidency.
I used to identify as having depression about ten years ago. At this time, I had been smoking weed daily since my twenties but I do remember for an entire year of the most severe times, there would be days in which I was triggered into a spiraling depression and I would drive as fast as I could straight to a medical marijuana dispensary. Tears would be streaming down my face, it was difficult to think straight yet I was tunnel visioned to the straight road that I knew was what I needed when these breaks happened. I would get there regardless of any cost to get my instant cure from this agony that I was currently feeling. There were a few places in Los Angeles that I could smoke on site after purchase, so I would sit down and smoke my first bong hit and count backwards 5-4-3-2-1...Relief. This was when I truly identified as depressed medical marijuana as a medicine for my depression, because it was. Suicidal ideations were there, and risky behavior was there because I couldn’t muster the effort to kill myself. I was actually just hoping a client would do it for me. These days, I don’t identify as depressed and I don’t smoke weed in the same way. The last time I had one of these depressive attacks was right before I moved to Japan. Japan doesn’t have easy access to any kind of cannabis, in fact it is very very illegal. The fear that I would not be able to find this kind of relief if needed triggered the same kind of fear that I hadn’t felt for many years. At this time, I was in Seattle and marijuana was legal for all uses and did not require a prescription. I remember tearfully asking a worker there, if he would just come with me somewhere to smoke for a few minutes so that I didn’t have to be alone. I was terrified of something unknown, something that my head had created and only cannabis was going to be able to calm these voices down and I knew it based on my experience. At this time, I was willing to beg a stranger who I gambled might at least understand the relief that marijuana could provide to depression and paranoia. For some people, they feel more paranoia, fear and depression on cannabis, but for me, it never ever had this effect. The man who worked there obliged, even though workers were not supposed to smoke with customers, he could see that I was desperate. If you get to look into the eyes of a creature who honestly believes that she is about to die, you will know it and do what you can to save or help her. It has worked for me during this period to have a tow truck driver take my car down off the hooks from being towed away miraculously. I wasn’t faking it or being dramatic. I honestly felt like I was going to die and maybe they knew that? I understand very very well the feeling of relief that the Ketamine treatment patients are gleaming about and I feel happy for them. I have heard other severely depressed/bipolar people speak about wanting to kill themselves everyday, one of them was another sex worker who would always post these kinds of thoughts on her Facebook wall. I wish and hope that they could find relief for their pain. I knew that there was nothing I could offer emotionally that would be strong enough and that felt terrible but I didn’t want to add to their frustration by being just another person telling them to control their thoughts, meditate, run, or smoke weed. It takes a lot of inner work which some people are just for whatever reason unable or incapacitated by this illness to consider. To break through, it takes a strong desire to want to, and the very definition of depression is that you do not want to do anything. Even actually planning how to kill yourself takes effort that one might not have so you are just trapped inside your ideations for years. Ketamine apparently is the new trend in ways to help you step outside of your own mind and see your life differently.
