Exclusive | FDA-approved ketamine treatment fights depression better than decades on Prozac, patients say

Doctors at one Long Island hospital are using ketamine treatments to fight clinical depression – a medicine one patient says works better and faster than decades on Prozac.Patients suffering from severe depression at Mather Hospital are taking an esketamine nasal spray called Spravato, which 66-year-ld Ellen Talmage said has changed her life in a way other drugs could not.Some 62% of Mather’s near-40 patients in the program report having seen improvements in symptoms.“I’m so much better that after this [interview], I’m picking up my daughter-in-law and the two grandbabies, and we’re going to the ocean,” Talmage said.It’s a far cry from how the once reclusive Baiting Hollow woman used to need anxiety medication just for a trip to the grocery store, where she would often break down crying.“I booked tickets once to a really expensive concert for my birthday, and I couldn’t go – that was just part of the deal… anybody who’s had it for that long, you miss out on a lot of Christmases,” she said.Doctors at the Northwell hospital believe the treatment could be a game changer for the future.“From going to not being able to get out of bed and dress yourself to thinking about the future and having a job and having a purpose and meaning in life,” Dr.Erin Dainer, Mather Hospital’s psychiatry chair in Port Jefferson, told The Post. “I don’t see that with other treatments the way I do with this.”The multiweek program begins with a low dose of 56 milligrams, administered in person twice a week, and is gradually increased as patients respond. Users are held for two hours after each session in comfortable chairs with TV and music to be monitored for safety reasons, as the drug can cause some vivid reactions.Talmage likened it to riding Space Mountain.“That’s the best way I can kind of describe it – because it’s definitely colors and whatever,” she said.While conventional antidepressants target the hormones serotonin and norepineph...