Ketamine irony

[Gob]

Ketamine, the dance club drug known as 'Special K', acts like 'magic' to relieve depression, according to researchers who have investigated its effects.

The drug quickly induces the regeneration of synaptic connections between nerve cells in the brain, a study has shown.

Understanding the way the drug works could lead to better anti-depressant treatments, the scientists believe. At present around 40 per cent of depressed patients do not respond to medication.

Studies have shown that depressed patients who have resisted all other treatments improve within hours after receiving ketamine.

The drug is not a practical therapy because it has to be administered intravenously to work as an antidepressant, and can cause short-term psychotic symptoms.

But scientists said ketamine could act as a guide to highly-promising new treatments for depression.

'It's like a magic drug,' said Professor Ronald Duman, a psychiatrist at Yale University in the US.

'One dose can work rapidly and last for seven to 10 days.'

Most antidepressants, such as Prozac, take weeks or even months to "kick in". In contrast, ketamine's effects are felt within hours.

Ketamine, originally designed as an anaesthetic and horse tranquilliser, was made a Class C banned recreational drug in 2006.

Tried ketamine once, didn't like it at all.

[Gob]

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Another positive Ketamine story?

When little Finlay Benzie was rushed to hospital fighting for breath, doctors thought he had something stuck in his windpipe.

As his condition deteriorated they quickly realised he was having a severe asthma attack - and that normal treatments were having no effect.

But medics were able to bring the two-year-old back from the brink of death - with the help of drug usually used on horses.

And yesterday his mother, Ashley, said Finlay had been saved by ketamine, which is most widely known as a tranquiliser used by vets on horses.

She said: ‘The doctors said Finlay was one of the youngest they had used it on and only the second to be given it for what was wrong with him - and they lost the other person. I thought we would lose him.’

Finlay, from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, had just celebrated his second birthday when he suffered the attack. Until that point, his parents had no idea he was asthmatic.

The day before, he had been splashing around in a paddling pool like any other healthy toddler.

Less than 24 hours later Finlay was fighting for life in the high dependency unit at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.

Doctors battled to save him with a cocktail of drugs, including ketamine - which in humans can help open the airways.

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