United States: Recently, the already popular Ketamine has been becoming famous for the treatment of mental health conditions.
However, now, doctors and clinics are taking the usage to the next level by manufacturing injectable drugs for individuals, where the patients would not need supervision when one is required to administer them.
More about the news
According to Fox News, the medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel, who is also a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, stated on “Fox & Friends” while mentioning the risks related to the handling of the drug Ketamine.
Scientists gave its greenlight to Ketamine, first time, nearly half a decade ago, when its usage was accepted as clinical anesthetic in the US, as said Siegel.
At that time, it was only known that it could be used to treat depression till the completion of the last ten years.
Siegel said, “It works for really severe depression by altering brain chemicals, but under the observation of a highly trained psychiatrist or anesthesiologist,” as Fox News reported.
“The idea that it is now available with a little tele-visit, and then they mail it to you with a self-monitoring blood pressure kit, is extremely dangerous,” continued Siegel.
Warning by experts against Ketamine side effects
The experts have cautioned health providers against Ketamine, which could “knock you out, give you hallucinations, raise your blood pressure [or] lower your blood pressure.”
He mentioned, “[It can] make you really, really sick — and without observation, you could end up in the hospital.”
Moreover, if one has talked about the benefit of the drug in terms of “breaking a cycle of severe depression,” Siegal reaffirmed that Ketamine is effective, “but not this way.”
Study findings regarding Ketamine
With the onset of the present year, the University of Michigan issued a study about the things that Ketamine could cause in individuals during cases of severe or treatment-resistant depression among veterans, as Fox News reported.
Almost fifty percent of all the affected individuals experienced a “meaningful drop” in depression after a mere six weeks of administration of the vaccine, as noted by the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (VAAAHS).
In a review done for the study, Dr. Justin Gerstner, psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Ellie Mental Health in Minnesota, said ketamine therapy has been “quite transformative for a lot of our clients.”
Therefore, not only would the patients get the benefit of medicine not being taken every day, but Gerstner also pointed out that now, not much regulation is required around when the patients need to be administered Ketamine.
He added, “The field is wide open, and it’s a little bit like the Wild West,” and, “This is a really powerful medication, and the way it’s used can vary quite drastically.”