Pubdate: Tue, 26 Aug 2014
Source: Metro (Toronto, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/toronto
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3462
Page: A1

KETAMINE: PARTY DRUG, ANAESTHETIC - DEPRESSION AID?

Emerging Treatment. 'Special K' Superior in Many Ways to Prozac and 
Zoloft, Say Experts

Patrick Cameron noticed a change in his brain on the third day of his 
treatment. The morning sun streamed through the trees, and for the 
first time in a long time, there was space in his thoughts to appreciate it.

"My mind wasn't crowded up," said the 31-year-old Torontonian, who's 
been dogged by depression since adolescence. "I could just watch it 
and not have a thud of negative thoughts."

It was a welcome feeling that lingered for days, an elusive 
turnaround that Cameron credits to the innovative therapy he 
travelled to New York City to receive: a daily intravenous dose of 
ketamine, a popular club drug and widely used anaesthetic.

Over the past decade, studies have suggested ketamine - known in 
party circles as "Special K" - can effectively treat depression, 
especially when compared with the commonly used serotonin selective 
reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).

In a 2012 review of this research in the prestigious journal Science, 
two Yale professors called the treatment "arguably the most important 
discovery ... in half a century" when it comes to depression.

That's no exaggeration, said Arun Rabindran, a University of Toronto 
psychiatry professor and chief of mood and anxiety disorders at 
Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

"The data has been building up in the last 10, 12 years," he said. 
"It's very promising."

As it stands now, Health Canada hasn't licensed the use of ketamine 
for depression treatment, though there are ongoing clinical studies. 
That means people like Cameron, who haven't had success with other 
treatments, have to head south and fork over thousands of dollars.

"I understand the need for caution, because it is a street drug and 
can be addictive," said Cameron, who paid $3,000 for six IV infusions 
of the drug. "I'm just worried about access to my treatment."

Regularly prescribed SSRIs, such as Prozac and Zoloft, can take weeks 
or even months to kick in. Even then, said Rabindran, about 20 per 
cent of patients don't see any effect from these drugs.

Ketamine, on the other hand, is quick acting - effects are typically 
seen within 48 hours - and is proving effective for people resistant 
to the predominant treatments. Some studies have concluded 50 to 75 
per cent of these patients have seen benefits from ketamine, Rabindran said.

In terms of side effects, the primary concern is what Rabindran calls 
the "relaxed dissociated state" that disappears within a few hours. 
Essentially, the patient is tripping out.

"When someone is going to kill themselves, this is a relatively minor 
problem," Rabindran said.

As for Cameron, he said he might return to the U.S. for treatment in 
a few months.

"This might actually be over," he said. "I might have finally found 
the answer."

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