Know Anyone Suicidal? This anesthetic can help

For years the last step of treatment for those with responsive to antidepressants was Electroconvulsive Treatment (ECT) until Ketamine. A very unique drug that has both hypnotic and analgesic properties, it was found that when given as an IV infusion over 40 minutes it would treat depression in many patients within 3 days. Ketamine’s efficacy is equal to that of ETC. The standard dosing regimen to give it has been in IV infusion given in 2-3 different sessions. The dose is considered subclinical as compared to the normal anesthetic does with almost no side effects. So it is obvious how this has been a breakthrough as compared to ETC which is brutal in nature.

Recently, the FDA approved Esketamine, a ketamine-like drug in a nasal spray for use as fast-acting relief, but Johnson & Johnson, the company that developed Esketamine, has only done four efficacy studies of mixed results. Esketamine isn't ketamine: it's a mirror-image of the ketamine molecule ("left-handed ketamine," or "S-for-sinister-ketamine").

However it appears that the IV form of ketamine is still the better option than the new intranasal form. Ketamine works great for depression and other conditions, and costs $10/dose; the new FDA-approved "ketamine" performs badly in trials and costs a fortune.

More studies are underway and many new antidepressants will mimic the mechanism of actions by which ketamine works.