Posted by europerep on March 2, 2012, at 8:17:05
In reply to any suggestions to ask my doc next week?, posted by JohnLA on March 1, 2012, at 22:08:26
Hello there...
I am surprised to see that you have not been on either tricyclics or MAOIs. To be honest, I think that if a doctor was willing to give you ketamine before you have ever tried TCAs and MAOIs, that would be a pretty good indicator that this doctor cares more about money than about you.
Also, don't forget that pretty much all the literature there is (or at least that I have seen) on ketamine in TRD describes patients who have been ill for time spans ranging between years and decades. I am 100% sure that they would have never been admitted to a ketamine study without having had TCA and MAOI trials. It is not unreasonable to consider it possible that the high success rates for ketamine in those studies are partly due to the fact that years of unsuccessful treatment have operated some type of "selection" whereby the patients eligible for ketamine present an at least somewhat homogenous type of depression which is more likely to respond to ketamine than the general population of depressed patients.
And let me tell you from my own experience: ketamine is no wonder drug. I too thought it might be the perfect solution for me, but I didn't get any benefits from it whatsoever.
I really don't mean to crush your hopes! Maybe a first ketamine trial to see whether it has positive effects on you is a good idea. Maybe it isn't. That's really for doctors to decide. In any case I would recommend that you keep an eye on other treatments as well, notably TCAs and MAOIs.
I wish you good luck!
ER
poster:europerep
thread:1012169
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120302/msgs/1012202.html