[nickbarnwell]

The usage of ketamine in the trials for depression typically uses IV administration over a fairly long timespan with highly specific dosages. It is not comparable to street usage of the drug.

As with any psychotropic medication, one should do their research. Psychiatrists whom I’ve spoken with seem generally excited about the prospect of more rapidly acting agents for the treatment of depressive episodes, but with the caveat that data is not there yet to draw any conclusions. And, as with every other treatment for depression, psychotherapy + medication outperforms medication alone. There remains power in the talking cure.

[raverbashing]

> The usage of ketamine in the trials for depression typically uses IV administration over a fairly long timespan with highly specific dosages

That's surprising, I would imagine that therapeutically a longer term low dosage would be more interesting (that is, not through IV, though I'm not sure how Ketamine behaves in the digestive tract)

[senorjazz]

> (that is, not through IV, though I'm not sure how Ketamine behaves in the digestive tract)

The main problem with sustained use (abuse) of ketamine nasally are severe crippling stomach cramps (think agony, rolling around in pain screaming) and scarring of the bladder causing you to urinate every few minutes just a few drops due to bladder damage. In severe cases bladders stop functioning and in some cases removed altogether.

Urban legends are these are caused by the "drip" after snorting large amounts, so if you spit the drip out you are ok. No idea how true this is, but some people swore by it

[atomical]

The bulk of ketamine studies have used IV administration but that doesn't mean it's more effective than sublingual. There are several studies on oral, intranasal, and sublingual ketamine with positive results. There are also several doctors including mine that are prescribing it for use at home.

Also consider that many of the doctors administering ketamine by IV at $500 a pop are not psychiatrists. There is far too little written about these opportunists.