This is also very interesting, from the practitioner’s view. About brain physiology, ketamine and rapamycin. A very humble discussion of finding out what works, within the complexity of human biology, for some people.
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from today’s Wall Street Journal:
She Hoped Ketamine Would Rewire Her Brain. She Didn’t Live to See It Work.
The psychedelic-like anesthetic is at the heart of a booming online industry that promises relief from depression but has also led to harm
Tricia Anne Dewey struggled for many years with domestic violence and a subsequent painkiller addiction.
As she emerged from that harrowing period by age 41, the Pound Ridge, N.Y., paralegal thought she’d found a way to repair some of the damage—a drug that internet ads and marketing on social media said would rewire her brain.
The drug was ketamine, a psychedelic-like anesthetic at the center of a booming, largely unregulated industry that promises to offer relief from conditions including depression, anxiety and insomnia. Dewey turned to Better U, one of several telehealth companies and online clinics that have emerged in recent years that offer ketamine to customers based on a remote consultation with a clinician.
“Reclaim your happiness with online ketamine therapy,” the Better U website promises.
Dewey told Better U she was already on Xanax, according to her Better U health record. The Food and Drug Administration warns that combining that with ketamine can lead to respiratory issues and even death. A clinician using the company’s platform prescribed ketamine anyway—in small Starburst-like squares that dissolve in the mouth.
One evening last July, after Tricia took a dose, her mother found her face down on her bedroom floor, unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Full article: She Hoped Ketamine Would Rewire Her Brain. She Didn’t Live to See It Work.