IV Magnesium and Ketamine in Treatment of Depression

Ketamine is rapid in onset, relieving depressive symptoms in hours instead of weeks or longer. It is also known as a medication that one can gain tolerance to quickly. As such, there are ways to maximize on the efficacy of ketamine. One way is to avoid certain medications and substances. The other is to add-on a compound to amplify ketamine’s effect. This add-on is the 2nd most common intracellular cation in the body after potassium. It regulates protein synthesis, blood glucose and blood pressure, as well as muscle and nerve function. This compound is magnesium. 

Magnesium’s function in the brain is like ketamine, a non-competitive inhibitor of the NMDA receptors. Basically, both ketamine and magnesium help glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, do its job. Thus, the combination of magnesium and ketamine has a super-additive or synergistic effect in depression treatment. 

Ketamine has a rapid onset of action in its antidepressant effects and it is also known for one to quickly gain tolerance if it is used regularly, thus reducing the response of the medication. Thus, by adding magnesium to Ketamine, it can help make the medicine work better.