Posted by beckett2 on June 7, 2022, at 21:16:13
In reply to Re: Started oral ketamine, posted by undopaminergic on June 6, 2022, at 10:30:21
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> > It's like not having been depressed. At first, the feeling was very strange, like, wtf? As someone w bipolar ll, there is no hypomania.
> >
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> That's interesting. I'm bipolar and while I've never had the chance to try ketamine, I've used memantine, another NMDA-glutamate antagonist, and it induced a manic state leading me to do very stupid, impulsive things that landed me in hospital (first somatic and then mental).
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> As SLS suggests, I think you're right not to take it every day, both to avoid potential issues with tolerance and loss of efficacy, and for reasons of safety. In rodents, ketamine (and PCP and MK-801 but not xenon or memantine) can induce neurotoxicity (known as Olney's lesions) in the retrosplenial cortex. Chronic use can also destroy the bladder in humans.
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> -undopaminergic
>That is interesting. It's 'generally' considered BP safe (I think). You sound like BPl. Have you had psychotic symptoms (only if you don't mind sharing!)? I'm wondering if the type of depression I have, which is part of other issues, fatigue and fibromyalgia, is well targeted by ketamine, which is an anti-inflammatory. (This is probably too much of an oversimplification.)
The ketamine was shockingly easy to acquire. I had a facetime w a doctor, he asked a few questions, and that was that. Not sure he looked at any health records. (He did ask if I had bipolar, so that's good.) I'm hoping this casual approach, which worked for me this time, doesn't result in a lawsuit and then greater federal scrutiny.
I'm aware of possible side effects, although everyone says it's not much of a problem on therapeutic dose and protocol. I don't know if that's true, so I'll keep an eye out. Thank you for the caution.
One medication that caused an episode for me was Saphris, an antipsychotic. Go figure.
like a bird on a wire
poster:beckett2
thread:1119828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20220530/msgs/1119856.html