[SherryG]

Has anyone heard of ketamine treatment for depression? Another treatment I heard about is TMS. I don't think medications work for everyone, but there has to be a way to get relief. Is depression really treatment resistant? Is it hopeless? I hope not. :confused

[Skeezyks]

Hello SherryG: While I have heard of both of these treatments, I have not had either of them & don't know a lot about either one. So I'm sorry to say I cannot be of any help with regard to your questions. However I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral… from the Skeezyks! I hope you find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

PsychCentral is a great place to get information as well as support for mental health issues. There are many knowledgeable & caring members here. The more you post, & reply to other members’ posts, the more a part of the community you will become. Plus there are social groups you can join & chat rooms where you’ll be able to connect with other PC members in real time (once your first 5 posts have been reviewed & approved.) Lots of great stuff! So please keep posting!

[SherryG]

Thanks Skeezyks,
I appreciate the welcome��

[Fizzyo]

Welcome to PC SherryG.

I'm afraid I'm like the Skeezyks in that I haven't had either of those treatments either.
My Pdoc told me that medication will most likely have a marginal benefit at best. My depression has been so long lasting (the majority of my life and I'm late 40s now).

Unfortunately some of us have issues and/or personalities which predispose us to long term depression (or other mental health issue) but that doesn't mean you necessarily have).

There is always new research which may benefit (medication and other treatments) in the longer term.

In my more positive moments I can appreciate that my mental distress has taught me insights and skills which seem to help other people along the rocky road of life. Maybe I can hope that this can give some meaning to my life.

I'm so so sorry you too are living with mental pain for so long. I hope you will be able to find a way to live a decent quality of life (with or without depression) and with or without medication.

Have you found the forum which deals with treatment options and medication more specifically? The Q and A forum may provide more answers than you had here.

Best of luck, I'm wishing you peace and hope you get the support you need.

[SherryG]

Thanks Fizzyo!

[with or without you]

Are you in the US? My psychiatrist told me earlier this year that there was a clinical trial in the Washington DC area, where I happen to live, at NIH (National Institutes of Health) for ketamine treatment. He sent me a link to the information and if I remember correctly this was the last year of a decade long study on it. However, I decided against it because there were very strict requirements for the study - I would not be allowed to see my therapist or psychiatrist over the course of treatment at NIH because they didn't want any outside variables to affect their study, which I understand. They wanted to see the sole effects of ketamine on depression without any interference, for lack of a better term. But I felt I would not be able to go that long without therapy nor miss that much time from work. Maybe there is a clinical trial in your area? I asked him what would happen even if I had participated in the study and the ketamine worked. He said they would have provided me with ketamine in medication form or been allowed to come back for treatments.

As for TMS, almost every insurance company in the US approves it (including Medicare and the VA) but my insurance company, Aetna, has been extremely slow to come on board with it. I believe Cigna does not cover it either but I could be wrong. My psychiatrist has been fighting them in an appeal on my behalf along with an attorney with the American Psychiatric Association since February. In July they noticed Aetna buckled a little bit but they still want the patient to jump through about 10 hoops and demonstrate that ECT is not a better option, which I do not understand, because ECT would cost them a lot more. As far as the success rate of TMS, it seems to be the same as anything else - I've read personal testimonies of it working for some people and others where it did not work at all. As far as the initial treatment span of TMS, I think you have to go in 5x a week for 6 weeks and then they re-evaluate for the frequency of "maintenance" sessions.