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I've heard some good things - cognitive improvement, mood improvement and as another benefit, it also helps pain related to osteoarthritis. But of course, it's not without it's potential side effects - long term amnesia, hallucinations, nausea and anxiety, to name a few. Not to mention, it's not covered by medicare and pretty pricy, too.
I'd love to hear of anyone's experience.

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I have been on ketamine treatments for almost a year for deep depression and all that goes with it. I had tried so many things and finally something worked. I have gone from 2 weekly treatments to one every other week. I could potentially see a problem with using it with dementia patients. If you didn't understand what your going through while receiving a treatment it could be a little scary. However, it has helped me so much, that it feels like I have found myself again. It would be very interesting to see it looked into.
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Reply to CareenaKarine
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JustVee, I remember having Ketamine as part of a sedation for minor surgery. After surgery, I had a difficult time with double vision, motion sickness, the whole nine yards even though I was wearing a behind the ear patch to help with sedation side effects. This medicine is now on my "do not use" doctor/hospital list.
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Reply to freqflyer
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You are the first person ever in my experience on AC to mention Ketamine and dementia.
Given that ketamine is a powerful hallucinogenic I would myself (history is as an RN) be very hesitant to be in on any beginning of experimental drugs for dementia that ARE hallucinogens.
I have very good things about it and PTSD; I have even heard that our own federal government was allowing for some treatments of vets in Canada with hallucinogenic drugs when it was not possible to give them in the USA. I have also heard good results with hallucinogens and people with cancer who were terminal and experiencing a lot of fear of death. I believe 60 minutes even had a program abour that.

So I would be in the wait and see category, myself. There are move brave souls than I am myself, but if you have someone in the throes of dementia already having a lot of problems, and it were to be mentioned to me by a neuro-psyc, I would be open to discussion; in many cases there is not a whole lot to lose.

Would sure be interested if anyone has any experience here, and will be following you interesting question.
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JustVee Jan 7, 2025
Thank you, that's been my thoughts and concerns as well. My dad is an ex Army Viet Nam (ptsd) vet so it could help greatly with depression, sleep disturbances, pain and, they say, cognition...but he's already experiencing minor hallucinations....if they became severe, I'm afraid of the fallout.
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