If there was ever an appealing remedy for depression, it’d be ketamine. Although, as much fun as it would be to roll around in the fireplace with flying dolphins, we’re not sure we’d get much work done.
Thankfully, the new FDA-approved antidepressant – which is being hailed as “ketamine’s cousin” – isn’t quite so potent. Spravato is a nasal spray that has been designed for more severe cases, where people who are already resistant to antidepressant medication.
Although ketamine has addictive properties, the FDA have informed that there is no such risk with the spray.
According to Nylon, though, you can’t just whip the spray out of your manbag and get huffing on the tube.
It cannot be taken home and must be administered by doctors in a medical setting or self-administered under the supervision of a care provider. It will be given once a week or every other week, depending on the severity of a person’s depression.
Imagine turning up to work, tripping your balls off and dribbling on your desk, and trying to tell your boss it’s ’cause of your nasal spray.
In announcing the new drug, the FDA writes that side effects may include “sedation, and difficulty with attention, judgment and thinking (dissociation), abuse and misuse, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors after administration of the drug.” Which is why patients will be monitored for two hours after being administered it.
CNN claims the spray acts quickly by “restoring brain cells in patients with treatment-resistant depression.”