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Comment on The Ketamine Chronicles, April 2019parent

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I did six infusions at 1.25mg/kg (because I have a high tolerance to.. Everything it seems?) and it lasted a few weeks~a month and a half. I did another batch of sessions 3 months later and the results were the same. I now take it as an intranasal spray at a much lower dose every other day. It makes me mentally exhausted for a few hours afterwards, but at least it provides me some ease on the mental burden I have. I've been in psychotherapy twice a week for nearly ten years, tried literally every drug aside from classic MAOIs and ECT. I've debated TMS/rTMS, but I'm concerned about the memory loss that I've read about and heard first hand accounts of from friends in similar situations.

Obviously everyone is different and YMMV, but for me- ketamine has been the only thing that made a real impact, bonus was the lack of nasty antidepressant side effects (I'm still taking an SSRI, SNRI, and a mood stabilizer and I hate them).

I'm hopeful that some of the new ketamine+___ compounds being created to extend the duration of the 'depression slightly lifted' feeling are successful and come to trial soon.

Last time this topic came up on HN this came up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion/dextromethorphan

Combination of Wellbutrin & Dextromethorphan -- which is a dissociative with some side-effects similar to Ketamine. It's in trial for severe depression treatment. 15mg of DXM (which you can buy at any drug store) combined with 150mg Wellbutrin (which you can get your dr. to prescribe to you.) Could be worth a try...

I'm actually on wellbutrin, double that dose though, and have done dxm a few times. It's... Different. Very similar in dissociation, but ketamine dissociation for me I can actually go in with planned introspection in mind while I lose all sense of self and become one with whatever music I'm listening to, but dxm just makes me 'out of it', if that makes any sense.

Certainly, I'm well aware of DXM's side-effects (at 'recreational' doses). The point of the trial is to use very low doses of it though, on a regular basis.

It's funny though, if I were to compare recreational DXM to Ketamine I would describe them exactly opposite as you did.

15mg of DXM (which you can buy at any drug store) combined with 150mg Wellbutrin (which you can get your dr. to prescribe to you.) Could be worth a try...

Out of curiosity, where did you get these dosage numbers from?

The linked wiki page doesn't mention dosage and the source on wikipedia is paywalled.

I'm trying to find where I read this last time this came up on HN. In the meantime, this presentation goes into more detail on the psychopharmacology: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/25/254022/Psy...

EDIT: looks like it's 60mg of DM, which seems rather high.

Have you tried or considered hallucinogens? I'm not suggesting that you do, just interested in your perspective considering how severe and long-lasting your depression seems to be.

I have, but I don't think I have the right mindset for tripping. Acid is totally out of the question for reasons related to an lsd abusing family member, but shrooms is still on the table

Why do you say totally out of the question, is it basically a risk calculation?

Look up moclobemide if you are open to trying MAOIs instead of heavy SSRI/SNRI cocktails. IMHO reversible MAOIs are severely underrated.

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