Psychedelic drug for bipolar depression

Timothy Leary's dead... but if he was still alive, he'd be proud of the latest medical "advance."

Researchers say they believe a psychedelic party drug once favored by Leary himself could actually help beat severe bipolar depression.

Of course, that's only if it doesn't drive you to the edge of sanity first.

In a small, odd study, researchers assigned 18 patients to either a placebo or an IV dose of ketamine, a horse tranquilizer known for inducing hallucinations and altered states of reality. Then, a week later, the researchers flipped the study--giving the placebo to those who previously had been given ketamine, and vice versa.

The patients--nearly all of whom were unemployed--had tried and failed on an average of seven meds, and two- thirds of them were on psychiatric disability.

The researchers say 71 percent of those given ketamine showed improvement almost immediately--within 40 minutes-- and that 29 percent of these patients were nearly symptom- free within a day.

For some patients, the improvements lasted for up to three days, and 35 percent showed some benefits up to a week later.

Just six percent responded to the placebo.

But when you consider the side effects of ketamine, this isn't a treatment to be toyed with. It can cause paralysis, paranoia, psychosis and hallucinations, and long-term use has been linked to kidney, liver and bladder damage.

Ketamine can also create a disassociation so severe that users even have a name for it: "The K Hole."

Shortly before his death in 1996, Leary told the New York Times that a journey into the "K Hole" was as close as someone could come to the near-death experience without actually having to almost die.

He said this after almost dying, so he was speaking from experience.

But you don't need to go on a long, strange trip into the "K Hole" to beat your depression, even severe bipolar depression--because most "hard to beat" cases aren't as hard to beat as the mainstream would have you to believe.

The fact is, antidepressant drugs as a class are incredibly ineffective. Switching from one ineffective med to another and then declaring the case to be "hard to beat" is like trying to hammer nails with marshmallow after marshmallow... then giving up and declaring that nails can't be hammered.

In many cases, these drugs will even make depression and other problems worse in the long-term, especially for bipolar patients.

And for the record, one of the long-term side effects of ketamine also just so happens to be depression.

In many cases, severe bipolar depression is caused by nutritional and hormonal deficiencies (especially the thyroid hormone). In some cases, bipolar depression may be caused by food allergies. For others, it can be triggered or worsened by the years of drug and alcohol abuse that often run hand-in-hand with this condition.

While many patients may benefit from fundamental lifestyle changes along with a simple regimen of supplements such as vitamin B12 and fish oil, diagnosing and treating others can be a challenge.

But the answer isn't in more powerful drugs, or choosing the right Moody Blues tune for your psychedelic trip into the "K Hole."

It's in working with a good naturopathic doctor who can help find out what's missing--and then finding a safe, natural way to correct it.

On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls