Ketamine Could Be the Key to Reversing America’s Rising Suicide Rate

[Nelson Vergel]

Ketamine: A tale of two enantiomers

Abstract The discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of the dissociative anaesthetic ketamine, an uncompetitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor antagonist, is arguably the most important breakthrough in depression research in the last 50 years. Ketamine remains an off-label treatment for...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

#220 â Ketamine: Benefits, risks, and promising therapeutic potential | Celia Morgan, Ph.D. - Peter Attia

âYou could time your psychological therapy when your brain is most plastic, most able to learn new things.â âCelia Morgan

peterattiamd.com

 

[Phil Goodman]

@Nelson Vergel have you ever been back for additional treatments after your initial three? Just wondering if the benefits were permanent or if you have to return occasionally. And I’m sure everyone is different, but just wanted to get some insight into how it went for you. It is kind of sad that such a powerful and promising option is priced so high, but if it is more of a cure than a treatment it makes sense as they would have to get all of their money from only a few sessions.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

have you ever been back for additional treatments after your initial three?

Yes, I have had 6, two months apart. The "peaceful" effects really wears off after a week or so, but if your baseline is not bad mood-wise, you really don't need to get frequent IV's. They ain't cheap. The lowest cost in Houston is $350 per IV (they make a huge margin since ketamine is cheap as a raw material). But every IV clinic has to have a MD or PA onsite, plus sometimes a RN to make sure your blood pressure does not spike (if it does, they inject a beta blocker in your IV) (that extra labor costs money).

Most online ketamine clinics use sublingual ketamine (lower dose, of course). It tastes like crap and I really don't care for that mode of administration since you don't stay in a mode of "suspended ego/chatter" for that long.

Ketamine IVs (in my opinion) are highly effective for people whose internal chatter is so loud that they forget what real peace is. It detaches your "ego" from you for an hour, so you can get deeper about true feelings without your ego trying to block them. I have had friends who discover that they have never been at peace once they do their first IV. I also have another friend who hated it and could not wait for it to be over. He really is a control freak that cannot let go. He had a lot of anxiety through he whole thing. He tried it three times and finally "got it" during the last one.

I send all my friends my playlist to listen to while on the IV. I also recommend keeping your eyes closed.

Ketamine & shrums chants playlist

Playlist · Nelson Vergel · 21 items · 24 saves

open.spotify.com

Unfortunately, I would say most clinics don't care about the fact that it is really best to have a counselor talk to you while you are coming off it. This is a prime opportunity to get in your head since you have full relaxation and your defenses are down.

I tell my friends to hook up with "integration" people via zoom as soon as they get off their IVs. Most clinics want you out of the door (volume sales), so you may have to do the zoom call from your car. Don't drive right after walking out. Stay in your car and hopefully call a good friend. Or better yet, get a unbiased counselor from this directory:

Psychedelic Integration List - MAPS

integration.maps.org

After my first IV, my partner picked me up and I cried for an hour but not of sadness. I realized how ungrateful I am sometimes for all that I have and everything I have survived. I also "got" that I could be more loving to my family and friends. I feel like a ketamine IV resets me to a more peaceful state every time. But I have not done one in a few months even through my recent low mood during recovery from surgery.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a video, but I am still concerned potential repercussions. It reminds me a lot of where I was in 1990 when I started talking about nandrolone, oxandrolone, and testosterone.

The psychedelic tsunami is coming. No one can stop it.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

A Fraught New Frontier in Telehealth: Ketamine (Published 2023)

With loosened rules around remote prescriptions, a psychedelic-like drug has become a popular treatment for mental health conditions. But a boom in at-home use has outpaced evidence of safety.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Ketamine Matches 'Gold Standard' in Major Depression Trial

IV ketamine and ECT both improved quality of life in non-psychotic treatment-resistant depression

www.medpagetoday.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Spravato Safety Holds Up Long-Term for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Most adverse events dissipated after second or third treatment with intranasal esketamine

www.medpagetoday.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Very concerning article

Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.

Ketamine therapy is a revolutionary new depression treatment. But as multimillion-dollar investments pour in, some people find they can't stop.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

There are more than 750 ketamine clinics in the U.S.

Ketamine Therapy for Mental Health a ‘Wild West’ for Doctors and Patients - KFF Health News

Ketamine, approved by the FDA as an anesthetic in 1970, is emerging as a major alternative mental health treatment, and there are now more than 500 ketamine clinics around the country. But with little regulation and widely varying treatment protocols, it’s a medical "wild West."

kffhealthnews.org

 

[Nelson Vergel]

First study using oral administration

Extended-release ketamine tablets for treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled phase 2 trial - Nature Medicine

A phase 2 dose-finding study of an extended-release tablet formulation of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression shows that this formulation overcomes many of the limitations associated with the use of intravenous or intranasal ketamine formulations.

www.nature.com

 

[Weasel]

I tried spravato for 6-7 sessions. The first 2-3 were good, mostly just the “trip” while at the clinic. Nothing really thought provoking or disassociating but did feel promise of some relief at that point. Then things changed for some reason. No trip feeling anymore and just super agitated feeling for a few days after that made me super short with my family. The clinic recommended going up to the max dose which I agreed. It didn’t change the outcome at all. I ended the treatments at that point.

I really wanted to try IV but my insurance wouldn’t cover that.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

I really wanted to try IV but my insurance wouldn’t cover that.

It is costing about $350 in Houston

Some compounding pharmacies are selling sublingual troches at around $200 for a month's supply.