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caffeinehell t1_iuq4pdh wrote

Reply to comment by BostonUniStudent in New study links suffering from long-lasting severe depression to reduction in brain volume by nikan69

You don’t, you could go to Ketamine or a TMS clinic without having trialed ADs and get them. Just won’t necessarily be covered by insurance though, but in some cases it may be.

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hoch_ t1_iuqxq1x wrote

Sidebar : I will vouch for ketamine or more specifically methoxetamine (MXE) treatment (synthetic ketamine). I've seen two people seemingly erase bipolar depression with MXE. Clearly there is something happening there.

I would trust MXE more than ketamine because it can't result in total dissociation (K-hole) and still leaves one present and aware of time and surroundings.

EDIT: not saying K/M-hole is a medical treatment that anyone would receive. Just saying that one is different and potentially more useful than the other

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LilacYak t1_iurlbui wrote

Total disassociation was where the real work happened, for me. Most clinics won’t give you anywhere near that amount though.

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pennylane131913 t1_iurvlw4 wrote

I was in the one of the first clinicals trial for ketamine in the South; it legitimately saved my life from severe depression.

I would love to keep occasionally using it as a treatment when needed (I still have moderate depression and anorexia) but it’s way too cost prohibitive and my insurance sucks.

I can say with my full confidence no experienced professional would ever give you so much K to put you anywhere near a K-hole.

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hoch_ t1_iurzcj0 wrote

I fully agree and understand your last point. Just sharing experience. I still believe small doses of MXE have the possibility of being more effective that K. But MXE being a designer drug, it is near impossible to study

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BostonUniStudent t1_iuq6hir wrote

The article talks about their medication history. Do you have a source to back up your claim here? I've only seen it as a requirement to have been on antidepressants unsuccessfully.

Here's a longer article on point:

>"typically, unipolar depression that do not respond effectively after two trials of antidepressant monotherapy in adequate dosage and durations (at least 8 weeks, may be 12 weeks in some cases) and often do not respond satisfactorily to numerous sequential treatment regimens” [7].

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4609854/

This is consistent with what I've heard from practitioners. And it is a strict requirement. There are some fairly desperate people that come to their office asking if there's a way around it. I've never heard them say that they could private pay. But I would be open to seeing an alternative source.

In any event, practically everybody in this experiment will have been on antidepressants. Even if it is only because of an insurance requirement.

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G_W_Atlas t1_iuq7uw6 wrote

If you're willing to pay for it you can likely get it. Many situations could happen, you can't take medication, you refuse to take a pill everyday, I suppose you could also lie. Mental health treatment definitely has a business component, so if you have the money you can get the treatment. Like testosterone, technically you should have low levels, but many clinics are pretty liberal in allowing access.

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[deleted] t1_iuq89vg wrote

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