A review by researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford in the UK has found that controlled doses of laughing gas (or nitrous oxide) really can provide quick-acting relief from depression.

The researchers found that administering the gas helped reduce depressive symptoms in as little as two hours. Relief was relatively short-lived, with symptoms returning within the week unless the dose was repeated.

“This study brings together the best possible evidence indicating that nitrous oxide has the potential to provide swift and clinically significant short-term improvements in patients with severe depression,” says clinical psychologist Kiranpreet Gill, from the University of Birmingham.

  • Cort@lemmy.world
    12·
    3 months ago

    It’s a disassociatave. iirc there’s similar reports about ketamine too.

    • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, I had oral surgery maybe ten years ago, with ketamine as part of the anaesthesia. Had a solid six month remission of depression.

      That was a literal trip too, though. Coming out of it, I was talking to celestial beings and such lol.

    • some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 months ago

      And dextromethorphan, or DXM (the active ingredient in Robitussin). Not clinically proven, of course, unlike ketamine, but a lot of dissociatives seem to have the effect.

        • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          3 months ago

          Honestly I feel the same about buspar but some people swear by it. I actually liked the wellbutrin a LOT it just also gave me terrible air hunger. I’ve wondered if the Dextromethorphan would counteract that.

          Lexidrugs (my employer’s pharmacy reference database) only references dyspnea (shortness of breath) specifically for wellbutrin with an incidence of ≥1%. Given that my air hunger never correlated to any outwardly observable signs other than mild tachycardia (no O2 changes), it’s safe to conclude the sensation was neuropsychiatric in origin / somatic anxiety. Both entries do also list the following incidences of adverse reactions relevant to anxiety:

          Wellbutrin (bupropion alone):

          • Agitation - 2-32%
          • Anxiety - 3-8%
          • Akathisia - 2% (I’m particularly sensitive to this side effect)
          • “jitteriness” - 3%
          • nervousness 4-5%

          Auvelity (bupropion + Dextromethorphan):

          • Anxiety 4%

          Now, Auvelity also has a much shorter list overall likely due to it being a much newer and therefore less studied medication. That said I’m seeing a much higher incidence of things like drowsiness with Auvelity (7%) vs Wellbutrin (2-3%). That suggests that the dextromethorphan IS offsetting the stimulating effect of the Bupropion. The question is whether it’ll hit me as a smooth buzz or a delirious haze. Given that the bupropion did improve my attention even with the air hunger I would hope it would be the former but I think I’d want to take a few weeks of vacation to see. Maybe next year.

          OH also: did you take wellbutrin or zyban? Brand name zyban was much more expensive than wellbutrin due to “officially” being approved for nicotine cessation. Although if it was super recent probably not because everybody just started giving their smoker patients wellbutrin off-label, which is one of a few ways doctors can just flip big pharma the bird, lol.