|
Depressed? Have Some Special K (pg. 2)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| oldschool420 |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
when it comes to drugs as a cure for something (pain relief, anti-depressants, etc), drug usage and any debate around it becomes really iffy, it is a double edged sword then |
I see what you mean, but people shouldn't just jump to the conclusion that it is bad just because it's a party drug, it'd just be ignorant. Obviously the person shouldn't be doing Ketamine all day everyday. But if in very lose doses once a week, it can relieve people from their depression, maybe it's worth it. Like I said only reasearch will tell if the pros outweigh the cons. |
|
|
| Cosmic Fur |
| They should have tried injecting the patients with Heroin. See how that would work out for them. |
|
|
| Mr. Tippy |
| I disagree with this article. K caused me to be depressed. So I quit, and back to normal. |
|
|
| oldschool420 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mr. Tippy
I disagree with this article. K caused me to be depressed. So I quit, and back to normal. |
Any drug that is abused obviously is going to have negative affects:rolleyes: Gimme a break. |
|
|
| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by oldschool420
I see what you mean, but people shouldn't just jump to the conclusion that it is bad just because it's a party drug, it'd just be ignorant. Obviously the person shouldn't be doing Ketamine all day everyday. But if in very lose doses once a week, it can relieve people from their depression, maybe it's worth it. Like I said only reasearch will tell if the pros outweigh the cons. |
no no of course
what I mean articles like that can cause too much controversy (as well as the article on York's and UfT's 2 profs who smoke weed as part of their medical treatment) and I just hope doesn't give the n00bs a wrong idea |
|
|
| oldschool420 |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
no no of course
what I mean articles like that can cause too much controversy (as well as the article on York's and UfT's 2 profs who smoke weed as part of their medical treatment) and I just hope doesn't give the n00bs a wrong idea |
oh ok cool:) I definately agree with that. |
|
|
| Silky Johnson |
A single intravenous infusion of the anesthetic drug ketamine may relieve symptoms of depression within two hours and remain effective for up to one week, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Most currently available antidepressant medications do not begin to relieve the symptoms of depression for several weeks. During this lag period, patients are at risk for self-harm and even suicide, especially within the first nine days of treatment. "Pharmacological strategies that have rapid onset of antidepressant effects within hours or even a few days and that are sustained would therefore have an enormous impact on public health," the authors write.
Carlos Zarate, Jr., MD, and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md., studied the effects of ketamine in 12 women and six men (average age 46.7 years) with treatment-resistant depression, meaning that they were unsuccessfully treated with other antidepressants at least twice. After a two-week drug-free period, participants received two intravenous infusions one week apart, one with ketamlne (.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) dissolved in saline and the other with 50 milliliters of pure saline (placebo). Patients were randomly assigned to receive either the ketamine or the placebo infusion first. They underwent tests to assess the severity of their depression one hour before the infusion as well as 40,80,110, and 230 minutes and one, two, three and seven days afterward.
Dramatic and Prolonged Response
Within 110 minutes after the infusion, patients who received ketamine rather than placebo showed significant improvement. The effect lasted through the following week. On the day after treatment, 71 percent of the 17 participants who received the ketamine (one dropped out of the study after receiving only the placebo infusion) responded to the drug and 29 percent met criteria for remission from depression, compared with none who received the placebo. Thirty-five percent of those who received ketamine had effects that lasted for at least one week. "To our knowledge, there has never been a report of any other drug or somatic treatment (i.e., sleep deprivation, thyrotropin-releasing hormone, antidepressant, dexamethasone, or electroconvulsive therapy) that results in such a dramatic rapid and prolonged response within a single administration," the authors write. No serious adverse events occurred during the study.
Most currently available antidepressants work by increasing the levels of chemicals in the brain known as monoamines, including serotonin and dopamine, the authors write. Over time, this accumulation of chemicals acts to improve a patient!; mood. However, ketamine directly targets a different brain pathway-the glutamatergic system-which is important to learning and memory. "This line of research holds considerable promise for developing new treatments for depression with the potential to alleviate much of the morbidity and mortality associated with the delayed onset of action of traditional antidepressants,'' the authors conclude. "Future studies need to be carried out in an attempt to develop strategies for maintaining the rapid antidepressant response obtained with ketamine long-term." (Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:856-864.)
Source: JAMA/Archives Journal |
|
|
| DigiNut |
Ketamine is a legal anaesthetic/analgesic, so I'm not sure how this scores a "point" for frequent drug users. It's just a controlled substance, no different from penicillin in those terms. There's nothing strange or surprising that it's been studied medically and found to have other uses. The only thing that surprises me is the unabashed editorializing and gushing going on in that article... actually, it's WaPo, so that doesn't really surprise me. Not only is it WaPo but it's in the "style" section.
I've got no argument or qualms at all with the study itself, and if they're able to help people with severe clinical or manic depression who haven't responded to other treatments, that's wonderful. I just happen to think that the article itself is a poorly-written piece of pretentious drek. Why would this so-called journalist introduce it in the context of "club freaks" and not its well-known medical uses? If he mentioned that at all, it must have been buried somewhere near the end.
Not that we don't all already know that it's used as a street drug, but if the article is about medical research then that seems like a barely-relevant aside - unless the writer is trying to make a different point. |
|
|
| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
The only thing that surprises me is the unabashed editorializing and gushing going on in that article... actually, it's WaPo, so that doesn't really surprise me. Not only is it WaPo but it's in the "style" section.
|
That's why I posted an excerpt about this study from a peer-reviewed journal. :) |
|
|
| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
That's why I posted an excerpt about this study from a peer-reviewed journal. :) |
Of course - as I mentioned, this information actually doesn't surprise me and I wasn't questioning the credibility of the study - just the writer of this particular column. :p
(Christ you reply fast) |
|
|
| MarkT |
| quote: | Originally posted by musicsnob_NOT
... |
I was so happy when you sent this to me.
finally K is getting the recognition it deserves as a wonderful drug :D
I'm sure a few people really do "know" this already...but that's just from their own personal experience...so it's very interseting to see some science vs. experience-based anecdotal accounts (not that those aren't valid, of course).
yay for k! |
|
|
|
|
