Dr. Williams is Clinical Pharmacist, Riverside University Health System, Riverside, California, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Dr. Knox is Clinical Pharmacist, Keck Medical Center of University of Southern California, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, California.
Disclosures
The authors report no financial relationship with any company whose products are mentioned in this article or with manufacturers of competing products.
Using pain medication to treat depression
Conversely, the use of pain medications to treat depression also has been studied. The most notable data supports the use of ketamine, an anesthetic. IV ketamine is well documented for treating pain and, in recent years, has been evaluated for MDD in several small studies. Results show that IV ketamine, 0.5 mg/kg, produced a rapid response in depressed patients.16 For pain conditions studies support the use of ketamine as an IV push, continuous infusion, intermittent infusion, as well as oral administration, for many conditions, including acute and postoperative pain, chronic regional pain, and neuropathic pain. However, there is little evidence evaluating ketamine’s effect on both pain scores and depression symptoms in patients such as Ms. C.
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Lunn MP, Hughes RA, Wiffen PJ. Duloxetine for treating painful neuropathy, chronic pain or fibromyalgia.
