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TheSaxonPlan t1_j1epi76 wrote

Reply to comment by Littlebotweak in An animal tranquilizer is showing up in the nation's illicit drug supply by jivatman

I've never had to dose two days in a row as our surgeries are 4-5 days apart and we use short-acting (and very stinky) isoflurane gas for quick post-op procedures like fixing their sutures/staples or administering fluids. But even with that length of time, we often have to increase the dose by 10-20% to achieve sufficiently deep anesthesia.

Yeah, the xylazine is for muscle relaxation and a little bit for the pain-killing effect. Since we are literally drilling through the skull and putting a needle into their brain, we don't want any twitches or wiggles! Don't know much about ketamine in people, though I am intrigued by its use as an anti-depressant!

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TelluricThread0 t1_j1f50gp wrote

Ketamine is showing a lot of promise for treating depression. The effects are relatively short term though. Patients need another infusion every couple months or so.

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gruntsifyouwill t1_j1fsir4 wrote

Considering that the vast majority of medications for depression are taken daily, I'd say ketamine actually has remarkably long lasting effectiveness.

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TelluricThread0 t1_j1fwx9j wrote

It's not when you have better longer lasting options like psilocybin therapy that can see patient symptoms go into remission for a year or even longer. It can treat root causes of mental illnesses leading to better outcomes and you don't have patients being dependent on many ketamine infusions per year. Don't get me wrong it's great they're finally trying different things besides antidepressants but I see psilocybin as much more efficacious comparatively.

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