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<h1 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-size: 26px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">Ketamine offers lifeline for people with severe depression, suicidal thoughts</h1><div style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" data-type="byline-area" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);">Courtesy : <b><u>Driftxposa</u></b></p><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" data-type="byline-area" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);"><b><u><br></u></b></p><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" data-type="byline-area" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);">By <a href="https://edition-m.cnn.com/profiles/ben-tinker" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">Ben Tinker</a> and <a href="https://edition-m.cnn.com/profiles/sanjay-gupta-profile" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">Dr. Sanjay Gupta</a>, CNN</p><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);"><span class="timingText" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Updated at</span> 1236 GMT (2036 HKT) August 4, 2018</p><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);"><br></p><p class="cnnds_txt_grey_small" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(115, 115, 115);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rLyaANZiMDIpGxErYlvzpvCGrexWRAMzApVN84YP3rv5DAPPVZU17HE5m2IS0mlDB5isr8jMX17T9hREkA-3ji2D-VBQz4ffuX-7hkI5DXm0MXxXMimlYnYTB1wnL_MdODEOO6FFlSs/s1600/%255BUNSET%255" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" data-original-height="" data-original-width="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rLyaANZiMDIpGxErYlvzpvCGrexWRAMzApVN84YP3rv5DAPPVZU17HE5m2IS0mlDB5isr8jMX17T9hREkA-3ji2D-VBQz4ffuX-7hkI5DXm0MXxXMimlYnYTB1wnL_MdODEOO6FFlSs/" /></a><br></p></div><div class="_53039000  storyHighlightsGlobal styles_storyHighlights__1IpdF _2df25e03" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-width: 2px 1px 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 0, 0) rgb(230, 230, 230) rgb(230, 230, 230); border-image: initial; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><ul class="styles_list__1_Bwk" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><li class="styles_highlight__1bpMD  cnnds_txt_small" data-area="normal-highlight" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 4px 8px; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230);">Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic medication used in hospitals</li><li class="styles_highlight__1bpMD  cnnds_txt_small" data-area="normal-highlight" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 4px; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 0px;">Scientific studies show promise in treating severe depression</li></ul></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span data-type="sourceText" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Mount Horeb, Wisconsin (CNN)— </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">A few months ago, Alan Ferguson decided he was ready to die -- for the third time. In 2014, he attempted suicide twice, and the persistent thoughts of "I need to be dead" were echoing in his brain once again.</span></div><div class="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">Now 54 years old, Ferguson was diagnosed with <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">clinical depression<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"></span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"></span>when he was 18. Since then, he estimates, he's been prescribed more than a dozen medications -- <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0087089/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants</a> -- all to little or no avail.</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">"I never got to the point that I thought, 'OK, I'm feeling good,' " he said. "It was always, 'OK, this is tolerable.' But yet those thoughts [of wanting to die] were still there."</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">If you suspect someone may be suicidal:</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">1. Do not leave the person alone.</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">2. Remove any ﬁrearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">3. Call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">4. Take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For more tips and warning signs,</span><a href="http://www.afsp.org/preventing-suicide/risk-factors-and-warning-signs" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;"> click here.</a></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">In early May, Ferguson abruptly stopped taking all of his medications, quit his job and gave away his dog, Zeke. That evening, he called his sister, Linda.</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">"It was a very good conversation," he said. "Linda<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"> </span>and I disagree on a lot of stuff, and that night I avoided the hot-button topics because I did not want her to have bad memories or bad thoughts of what I thought was going to end up being our last conversation."</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">As luck or fate or professional intuition would have it, on a prescheduled call the very next day, Ferguson's psychiatrist offered to refer him to a ketamine clinic in Milwaukee, about an hour and a half from his home.</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470357/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">Ketamine</a> is a powerful medication used in hospitals primarily as an anesthetic, but <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4382138/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); transition: color 0.4s ease; outline: 0px;">recent scientific studies</a> have shown significant promise with treatment-resistant depression and suicidal ideation.</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">Ketamine is also used recreationally, and illegally, as a club drug known as "Special K." It generates an intense high and dissociative effects.</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">"I knew of the drug from having been a police officer, so I knew of its street use -- illicit use -- but I'm a pretty open-minded person too, and after all the traditional medications I've been on with no success, I thought, 'Well, maybe they're on to something here with this,' " Ferguson said. "I wasn't worried about trying something I had never tried before. I was worried about trying something else that wasn't going to work."</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 22px;">A last hope</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">Ferguson put off his plans to end his life for another week and made his way to <a href="http://www.ketaminemilwaukee.com/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">Ketamine Milwaukee</a>. The clinic operates once a week, on Fridays, in a space subleased from a weight-loss clinic in a nondescript strip mall just outside the city</div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcD9yW5egvRKOeTz8XMFmxKm2xhyWN1ni8or2PXZK9CYlif7hyWorLpTZ7_RJQ88TDIfUbcvUoY0rrabwrgnT8N61KfVgqqz85i5-zMXpH4HlRK875cQaGwvJ3OqaWwxYpCxifda5abYA/s1600/%255BUNSET%255" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" data-original-height="" data-original-width="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcD9yW5egvRKOeTz8XMFmxKm2xhyWN1ni8or2PXZK9CYlif7hyWorLpTZ7_RJQ88TDIfUbcvUoY0rrabwrgnT8N61KfVgqqz85i5-zMXpH4HlRK875cQaGwvJ3OqaWwxYpCxifda5abYA/" /></a><br></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><font color="#262626" face="CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif">Related Article: Party drug ketamine closer to approval for depression</font></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><a href="http://www.ketaminemilwaukee.com/aboutus.html" target="_blank" style="font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); transition: color 0.4s ease;">Dr. Kevin Kane</a><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">, a practicing anesthesiologist, is Ketamine Milwaukee's medical director. Referring to the fact that there haven't been any new classes of drugs developed to treat depression in decades, Kane said that using ketamine to successfully treat the disorder's most stubborn cases might just be "the biggest breakthrough in mental health in the last 50 years." He estimates that it is effective for 70% of patients with treatment-resistant depression.</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">"It's indicated right now for ... somebody who has tried and failed at least two medications, but that's really not who we're seeing," Kane said. Instead, the patients who seek his care have tried more medications than they can count. Some of them have been depressed for as long as they can remember.</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">"The people we're seeing aren't walking off the street because [they're] feeling a little down," he said. "They've been struggling without relief for a long time."</span></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="styles_BodyText__195s6 _9db439e9  speakable" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="_53039000 " style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div id="ad_rect_atf_02" class="ad-ad_rect_atf_02 _405de6b1 _146ce769 _18afb79b" data-google-query-id="COeX4aLr09wCFUiB7QodJo8EcA" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; text-align: center; overflow: hidden; margin: 0px auto 20px;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_8663477/CNNi/health/leaf/vls_1__container__" style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 250px;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-29/html/container.html" id="google_ads_iframe_8663477/CNNi/health/leaf/vls_1" title="3rd party ad content" name="" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="300" height="250" data-is-safeframe="true" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; vertical-align: bottom;"></iframe></div></div></div>

Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic medication used in hospitals

Ketamine offers lifeline for people with severe depression, suicidal thoughts Courtesy : Driftxposa By Ben Tinker and Dr. Sanjay Gupta , ...

Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic medication used in hospitals

After twelve years of marriage,