Posted by Hugh on December 10, 2014, at 10:26:11
Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has shown early promise as a potential treatment for severe depression in patients whose symptoms don't respond to standard therapies. The pilot study, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is believed to be the first research in which patients with depression were given laughing gas.
In 20 patients who had treatment-resistant clinical depression, the researchers found that two-thirds experienced an improvement in symptoms after receiving nitrous oxide. In comparison, one-third of the same patients reported improved symptoms after treatment with a placebo. The patients were evaluated on the day of and day after each treatment.
"It's kind of surprising that no one ever thought about using a drug that makes people laugh as a treatment for patients whose main symptom is that they're so very sad," Nagele said.
The complete article is here:
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-12-gas-depression-treatment.html
poster:Hugh
thread:1074099
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20141120/msgs/1074099.html