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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Deniseuk190466 on December 13, 2007, at 14:48:09
I have been seriously thinking about trying to get on a Ketamine trial.
I was looking on clinicaltrials.gov and found two trials going on, one for Ketamine and rilozole and another for a NMDA Antagonist similiar to Ketamine but which treats a particular subset of NMDA (something like that anyway).
I wrote off expressing my interest and a lady from the United States very kindly rang me and spent an hour talking me through what would happen.
My only concerns about doing this trial, aside from the fact that I would be in another country on my own for at least five weeks is that I would have to come off all medication and I think it would kill me (so to speak). Thinking about it, I would have to stop Seroxat over a one or two week period, then I would have to be completely off medication for another 2 weeks and then it could be another 2 weeks (depending on whether or not I get the placebo first) before I would try the Ketamine. I just wish they'd let me take a small amount of Zyprexa just at least 8 days before the actual trial starts just to see me through the last 7 days (Zyprexa helps me for about 7 days.
Also, I can't understand why they don't want people who have not previously responded to Riluzole to be on the trial. I thought the idea of the trial was to see if the effects of the Riluzole prolongued the affects of the Ketamine. I could understand it if the trial was just to test whether Riluzole was successful for treating depression but it's not it's really to test Riluzole out using Ketamine as a jump start.
Anybody have any ideas? Also could Ketamine do any permanent damage (Depression wise) that's the last thing I need.
Kind regards.....Denise
Posted by Phillipa on December 13, 2007, at 16:55:24
In reply to Ketamine Trial, posted by Deniseuk190466 on December 13, 2007, at 14:48:09
OH wow the usa maybe you can visit where are they conducting this trial. I think they all want you med free to get an acurate picture of the med. Good luck Phillipa
Posted by linkadge on December 13, 2007, at 22:20:16
In reply to Ketamine Trial, posted by Deniseuk190466 on December 13, 2007, at 14:48:09
Hey, the dose would probably be far below that which might cause brain damage.
Sounds like a big decision.
I know some people go into what is called a K-hole, which I am guessing is a kind of depressed state, I don't know how long it lasts, or how common it is, or if it is dose dependant.
Linkadge
Posted by linkadge on December 13, 2007, at 22:20:44
In reply to Ketamine Trial, posted by Deniseuk190466 on December 13, 2007, at 14:48:09
Although, I'd still far recomend a Ketamine trial than ECT.
Linkadge
Posted by iforgotmypassword on December 14, 2007, at 5:25:47
In reply to Re: Ketamine Trial, posted by linkadge on December 13, 2007, at 22:20:44
yes, i do believe the doses they are using are much lower than anaesthetic or even recreational use, but i am just guessing.
another NMDA antagonist, but weaker: memantine, i am thinking of trying again soon, along with the lamotrigine (150mg currently). i hope this combination isn't contraindicated, it's a pretty anti-glutamate combination, i'd gather. i've responded to it before. memantine seems to "sober" you, or that's how it feels, but i imagine maybe to other people you may seem a little "gone" and drunk on something else. you don't laugh as easily, but i don't remember if it really makes you find things less funny. i think it may just help you not fall into inner emotional impulses that can be hard for your nerves to resist. i do kind of worry that it slows you, which i guess i'll find out if it did. i'm hoping it helps my focus and makes me more observant and objective, and less overwhelmed by weighty emotional attitudes and prone to keep paralysed. i found adding lamotrigine to memantine out of the blue to be very unparalysing.
i'm hoping this effect lasts and isn't a one shot thing, tho i think i may have remembered it being. still not sure, tho. i may have just ran out of one or the other. it's kind of ironic if it is tolerance-developing, as memantine or NMDA antagonism in general, is supposed to be anti-tolerance-developing, right?
ugh. just checking, i always write "developing" as "developping." odd that i do that, i'm not even francophone by any stretch, i just went to french immersion in high school and before.
Posted by linkadge on December 18, 2007, at 21:53:49
In reply to Re: Ketamine Trial, posted by iforgotmypassword on December 14, 2007, at 5:25:47
The notion that ketamine can produce rapidly acting antidepressant effects is paralelled by its ability to acutely raise BDNF levels.
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:17884272
Note, that the comparitor drug imipramine did not acutely rase BDNF levels. Giving raise to the hypothesis that acute BDNF modulation might be behind the antidepresant effects.
Linkadge
Posted by Phillipa on December 18, 2007, at 23:49:22
In reply to Ketamine rapid BDNF boost, posted by linkadge on December 18, 2007, at 21:53:49
Okay so I'm not a chem major never was but isn't requip in the same category as memamadine? Phillipa
Posted by clipper40 on December 28, 2007, at 2:27:13
In reply to Ketamine rapid BDNF boost, posted by linkadge on December 18, 2007, at 21:53:49
That's really interesting. Could be a good tool to use for humans - especially those in crisis - providing the government and medical community could get beyond the stiga of this medication being a potential hallucinogen.
This is the end of the thread.
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