Posted by SLS on January 3, 2016, at 23:47:54
In reply to Re: Happy new year, posted by baseball55 on January 3, 2016, at 19:23:07
> Thanks, Scott. I always value your posts and your kindness and interest in others.
A friend of mine is doing very well with intranasal ketamine. Prior to this, she had received a partial, but significant response to a combination of low-dose Abilify and Lamictal, such that she was able to hold a job. Prior to this, she was severely depressed and unemployable. She hated Abilify, and because of weight gain, used it as sparingly as possible. Ketamine monotherapy has brought her to remission.
I tried ketamine myself. It didn't help at all. Most likely, I have the genotype for abnormal BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) production. This is relatively rare. Most people with depression seem to have the normal genotype. Most people with depression respond to ketamine. (There are actually three tiers of response based upon three different BDNF genotypes).
My regular psychiatrist would not work with ketamine himself, but was very amenable for me to have someone else administer it. He simply had no experience with it. Perhaps you can go to someone who uses it and begin treatment. You might then be able to transfer back to your regular psychiatrist after he confers with the doctor administering the ketamine. If you do respond to ketamine, and your present doctor refuses to prescribe it, you could continue with the new doctor until you are able to reduce your visits to once every 3 - 6 months. In this way you could see your present doctor for psychotherapy regularly and not have to pay for two doctors at the same time.
http://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/article/Pages/2015/v76n05/v76n0514.aspx
Maybe you can find a local compounding pharmacy using the following URL. I'm sure any doctor using ketamine will know where you can get it, though.
http://ecompoundingpharmacy.com/
There are no guarantees, of course. However, you will know within a week whether or not ketamine will help. You do not have to discontinue the drugs you are already taking.
I would love to see you achieve remission without unwanted side effects.
Be well.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1085073
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20160101/msgs/1085129.html