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Comment by thrwn_frthr_awy | Hacker News Reader

Have you tried ketamine? I suffered from major depression for years and it was the only thing that helped me. It was like flipping a switch.

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I've struggled in past with major depression as well, and had a similar experience with ketamine. Though I had to resolve the life situations that contributed to the depression, ketamine lifted my existential apathy enough to help me get it done.

Did you find a doctor, or otherwise? I have severe chronic pain, and resulting depression that affects my pain perception, and am interested in trying this route.

In Arizona, with a chronic pain doctor, I was able to get pure ketamine liquid infusion via IV for 3-4 hours, while I listened to music. Felt like rebirth. My spinal pain was significantly decreased for the next few weeks, and my mood was ecstatic. Like the mushrooms though, it is short-lived. The doctor liked prescribing it because it is an NMDA agonist and decreased my opioid tolerance quite a bit, also helps with withdrawal symptoms. It is not covered by insurance -- $450 out of pocket. Spravato, the nasal spray, is cheaper but won't be as dramatic an experience [1]

[1] https://www.spravato.com

Thank you.

I've had a very bad experience w/anesthesia so am always nervous while dealing with anything of that nature. Wonder if that predisposes me to a bad trip.

Not sure that would be worth it for just 2 weeks of relief.

Also not sure I'd be able to find any such doctor near me. Probably health care providers are much more open minded out West than it is here.

The nice thing about ketamine is that it is a sedative. I've done LSD, Mushrooms, and DMT. Ketamine is the most enjoyable and least risky in my opinion, due to its sedative nature. The doctors usually give an anti-anxiety drug before starting the infusion, a benzodiazepine such as midazolam. As I did more infusions, we increased the ketamine dose and decreased the midazolam. Find a good doctor and work with them. Ketamine is a really wonderful substance for pain and depression.

Eh... enjoyable is subjective. At subrecreational, subanesthetic doses, it can make you feel really fucking weird. It's not bad, and it's certainly survivable given that you're dissociated from it — but it makes me feel really weird.

As to monoideism's question: I'm not a doctor, but ketamine is more benign than many other anesthetics especially at the lower doses used in treating depression. Do your homework, but don't rule it out based upon prior experiences with other anesthetics.

Did insurance cover Spravato? I didn’t even realize it was available as a self-administered prescription drug.

You are right: Spravato has to be administered in office, it cannot be taken home. The doctors who were offering it weren't even covered by my insurance, so I'm not sure if the drug itself is covered.

Yes, I did it through my psychiatrist along with talk therapy and traditional anti-meds. I had been doing the others before, but adding the ketamine was life changing for me.

It’s a shame too. I had the best health care option from one of the largest public tech companies and I had to pay $450 out of pocket, twice a week for four weeks, and then moving down to every other week. This is on top of $6k they took out of my salary over the year.

It is extremely frustrating the amount of basic mental health care needs, which I believe depression is, that are simply out of reach for most of Americans.

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