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I have been looking into Ketamine as there is a clinic which administers Ketamine therapy in my area. The disappointing thing is that it looks like the effects

I have been looking into Ketamine as there is a clinic which administers Ketamine therapy in my area. The disappointing thing is that it looks like the effects are short lived, and one may need "booster" treatments every 4 weeks, at $400 a shot, for years and possibly forever. I hope with this understanding, we come up with something more permanent.

foobaw 9y ago
curious: are you based in the US? Would it not be covered by insurance? $400/shot is a lot for Ketamine.
- nylonstrung 9y ago
  Insurance absolutely does not cover ketamine therapy in the US
- blobwalker 9y ago
  $400 is a fairly typical price. The ketamine itself is cheap, but operating a clinic doing off-label infusions that take an hour or two each is expensive. And nope... no insurance in the US that I know of covers it.
- refurb 9y ago
  Ketamine is a generic drug and dirt cheap. I just checked and it's under $10 for a vial with enough to use in surgery, not even this setting. The $400 must be the clinic charge. I'm not sure what administration looks like, but a regular doctor's visit is $100-$150 and if the patient needs to stay for a longer period of time until it's safe to release them, $400 doesn't seem that far off of what you'd expect.
  - Praitor 9y ago
    That's on the low end. I've looked into it and seen prices on the order of $1000-1500 per treatment. If you filter those out, many metro areas simply have no provider that charges what would seem to be a justifiable price. Abusive pricing is a big problem for this product it seems. Several advocacy sites that I saw that maintain provider lists make note of this.
    - nefitty 9y ago
      Is it abusive pricing or are they covering for potential legal issues, etc? It would be great to hear from a clinician with first-hand experience.
      - jessaustin 9y ago
        Is it abusive pricing... Medical clinic in USA? Signs point to "yes".
  - rincebrain 9y ago
    Most of the expense is that it's an IV, so you need a trained nurse to administer and oversee you having it in and out; at least, that's what the doctor who ran the practice I did this at said, and given the cost of ketamine, it made sense.
- namlem 9y ago
  It's considered off label use, so insurance won't pay for it.
contingencies 9y ago
It's not that expensive on darknet markets.
- cpncrunch 9y ago
  If I was going to use ketamine, I'd prefer to get it from a reputable source.
  - contingencies 9y ago
    Reputation is the key service of darknet markets. If you would prefer to pay $380 extra every four weeks, that's your call.
    - starpilot 9y ago
      Are darknet markets still easy to get into? I used SR when it was around, with events in the interim I'm a bit more hesitant.
      - LaikaF 9y ago
        No, they're in a state of flux right now.
      - goatsi 9y ago
        Things aren't as stable as there were in the past but the guides and supporting infrastructure has matured. Read around a bit at reddit.com/r/darknetmarketsnoobs (check out the noob bible especially) if you want to learn more.
    - cpncrunch 9y ago
      By reputable I mean manufactured in an approved facility to Health Canada standards (or equivalent). It seems unlikely that some dude on darknet would meet these standards. It's like saying that your local drug dealer has a good reputation because he hasn't killed too many people with fentanyl.
cpncrunch 9y ago
$400/month seems a very cheap price for getting your life back.
- benevol 9y ago
  I agree that $10/session does sound better. That's what you pay (at most) for LSD, the traditional longer-term anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effect being there as well (3-6 months). But: You have to buy a test kit (an additional $25/kit) and be extremely well informed about what do to and what not to do. And plan everything in detail and very carefully. Don't expect miracles if you're not serious about it.
  - atomical 9y ago
    Who are you agreeing with? This is really dangerous advice.
  - sterlind 9y ago
    as much as I love LSD, it's by no means a safe drug for severe clinical depression. bad trips can easily push someone over the edge, especially if they have suicidal ideation. ketamine, on the other hand, has a MoA that doesn't depend on how well the trip went. it's also a known quantity to doctors and far safer and more predictable. please do not encourage severely depressed people to try acid.
atomical 9y ago
$325-$350 - Albuquerque $500-600 - Chicago Area $900 - Seattle $1000 - LA It's actually cheaper to fly in to the cheapest center. Ketamine as a drug is safe and cheap. Probably somewhere around $5 a vial. But the doctors are taking a risk with their license and you they have to put an IV in you.

foobaw 9y ago

curious: are you based in the US? Would it not be covered by insurance? $400/shot is a lot for Ketamine.

nylonstrung 9y ago
Insurance absolutely does not cover ketamine therapy in the US
blobwalker 9y ago
$400 is a fairly typical price. The ketamine itself is cheap, but operating a clinic doing off-label infusions that take an hour or two each is expensive. And nope... no insurance in the US that I know of covers it.
refurb 9y ago
Ketamine is a generic drug and dirt cheap. I just checked and it's under $10 for a vial with enough to use in surgery, not even this setting. The $400 must be the clinic charge. I'm not sure what administration looks like, but a regular doctor's visit is $100-$150 and if the patient needs to stay for a longer period of time until it's safe to release them, $400 doesn't seem that far off of what you'd expect.
- Praitor 9y ago
  That's on the low end. I've looked into it and seen prices on the order of $1000-1500 per treatment. If you filter those out, many metro areas simply have no provider that charges what would seem to be a justifiable price. Abusive pricing is a big problem for this product it seems. Several advocacy sites that I saw that maintain provider lists make note of this.
  - nefitty 9y ago
    Is it abusive pricing or are they covering for potential legal issues, etc? It would be great to hear from a clinician with first-hand experience.
    - jessaustin 9y ago
      Is it abusive pricing... Medical clinic in USA? Signs point to "yes".
- rincebrain 9y ago
  Most of the expense is that it's an IV, so you need a trained nurse to administer and oversee you having it in and out; at least, that's what the doctor who ran the practice I did this at said, and given the cost of ketamine, it made sense.
namlem 9y ago
It's considered off label use, so insurance won't pay for it.

contingencies 9y ago

It's not that expensive on darknet markets.

cpncrunch 9y ago
If I was going to use ketamine, I'd prefer to get it from a reputable source.
- contingencies 9y ago
  Reputation is the key service of darknet markets. If you would prefer to pay $380 extra every four weeks, that's your call.
  - starpilot 9y ago
    Are darknet markets still easy to get into? I used SR when it was around, with events in the interim I'm a bit more hesitant.
    - LaikaF 9y ago
      No, they're in a state of flux right now.
    - goatsi 9y ago
      Things aren't as stable as there were in the past but the guides and supporting infrastructure has matured. Read around a bit at reddit.com/r/darknetmarketsnoobs (check out the noob bible especially) if you want to learn more.
  - cpncrunch 9y ago
    By reputable I mean manufactured in an approved facility to Health Canada standards (or equivalent). It seems unlikely that some dude on darknet would meet these standards. It's like saying that your local drug dealer has a good reputation because he hasn't killed too many people with fentanyl.

cpncrunch 9y ago

$400/month seems a very cheap price for getting your life back.

benevol 9y ago
I agree that $10/session does sound better. That's what you pay (at most) for LSD, the traditional longer-term anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effect being there as well (3-6 months). But: You have to buy a test kit (an additional $25/kit) and be extremely well informed about what do to and what not to do. And plan everything in detail and very carefully. Don't expect miracles if you're not serious about it.
- atomical 9y ago
  Who are you agreeing with? This is really dangerous advice.
- sterlind 9y ago
  as much as I love LSD, it's by no means a safe drug for severe clinical depression. bad trips can easily push someone over the edge, especially if they have suicidal ideation. ketamine, on the other hand, has a MoA that doesn't depend on how well the trip went. it's also a known quantity to doctors and far safer and more predictable. please do not encourage severely depressed people to try acid.

atomical 9y ago

$325-$350 - Albuquerque $500-600 - Chicago Area $900 - Seattle $1000 - LA It's actually cheaper to fly in to the cheapest center. Ketamine as a drug is safe and cheap. Probably somewhere around $5 a vial. But the doctors are taking a risk with their license and you they have to put an IV in you.