Posted by JohnLA on June 8, 2012, at 20:44:21
In reply to finally! on the ketamine train..., posted by JohnLA on June 8, 2012, at 20:36:12
here is a post that i posted on another form about my ketamine experience so far;
hi all-just back from san diego and a 3 hour + session with dr. sajben last night...
first the good;
she is extremely kind, thorough and very professional. very detailed oriented which i appreciated. she even took my primary care doc to task on some other health issues that were evident in my latest blood work and faxed-off a request for several things to be checked by my doc. my primary doc has a rep for not following-up w/her patients. anyway, it was kind of doc sajben to 'educate' me on some health issues i have outside of my depression.
i have been to so many doctors these past 2 years in this battle. this is my first ever severe depressive episode. i feel qualified to grade pdocs now. most have been good, some have been bad, and a few have been excellent. i put dr. sajben in the excellent category, even though she is not a pdoc.
she claims to be having some very good success using ketamine for depression. i believe her. she is unique compared to the other doctors i have seen because she really approaches depression from the physical/biological side. this impressed me.
now, for the not so good;
price! she is very expensive. i feel she is worth it, regardless if the nasal ketamine works. (oh yeah, i decided to go w/the nasal ketamine in the end. more on that later.)
next, not so good, is that, as i was spending 3+ hours with her i realized that this is all experimental. she even admits it. she is having success. but, i realized that it is just like many of the pdocs i have seen and the drugs they presribe. it will work for some, not for others. she also has no real set protocol for dosing. she told me it is very individual when it comes to dosing and that she will work with each individual to find the 'right' dose.
the application is fairly easy. the mixture comes out in a fine mist. she tells you to do your best to not swallow it and let your sinuses absorb the mixture. it does have a nasty taste when a bit of it drops into the back of your throat.
ok, here is what matters; does it work? i don't know and it is way too soon for me to know. i do know i felt a calmness after my initial 2 sprays. driving back-up to LA along the coast as the sun was setting felt calm and good. on the way down i was crying quite a bit to some songs on my ipod that were triggering past memories. this is a big part of my depression. this did not happen on the way home except one little tear-up. who knows if it was the ketamine, the gorgeous california coast/sunset, or me just being out of my bed/house and having had a 3 hour plus conversation all about me, but again, i did feel calm and dare i say it; less depressed. this was also the farthest i had travelled since my depression hit.
i took a few sprays last night when i got home and several more today. i can say i have had no bad side effects. is it working? again, too early to tell. though i do feel quite calm. that may be the klonopin though. ;)
i mentioned flip-flopping on the delivery method. i was going to do sublingual delivery and then decided on doing intra-nasal. i changed because i read on the drug forms that most of the ketamine is lost when delivered under the tongue. (again, this info was from a few recreational drug forms...not the best source i know!) i asked dr. sajben about this and she said either way could work. still, i decided to go with the nasal route for now.
which brings me to my final point. as i mentioned before i suffer from chronic nasal polyps. i have lost my sense of smell due to the polyps. it's a real bummer and one of the several reasons i am depressed. i did a search on polyps and nasal ketamine and found a study on someone who was prescribed nasal ketamine and eventually lost their sense of smell! argh! this patient was on nasal ketamine for pain. this concerns me. i'm scheduled for my 3rd sinus surgery to remove the polyps. i do get a bit of smell back for a few months after surgery and am hopeful that i might get my smell back someday. there is a high correlation with loss of smell and depression. never knew that until i became depressed. just like depression is hard to explain to someone who has never experienced it, it is very hard to express what the loss of smell has done to the quality of my life. when i get just a few whiffs of smell after my surgeries it is absolutely amazing emotionally. sorry to ramble on this, but i would hate for someone to lose their sense of smell. it can be devastating. i will look in to this further and post more.
ok, long post sorry. right now my gut feeling is i am going to go with the infusions sooner rather than later. mostly because it seems there is more experience/success with this use of the drug at the present time. since i paid so much though i will try the nasal spray for a bit. how long? not sure.
again, sorry for such a long post.
keep-up the fight everyone!
john
poster:JohnLA
thread:1019480
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120608/msgs/1019482.html