Wisconsin man finds hope after battle with depression using controversial Ketamine treatment
Wisconsin Man Finds Hope After Decades of Depression With Ketamine Treatment
MILWAUKEE —
Every year, millions of Americans struggle with depression, and oftentimes, it’s a silent sickness that most people struggle with alone.
It’s a condition that can drain hope and disrupt lives, but as 12 News’s Blake Eason reports, there’s a silver lining on the horizon for some people looking for a new path forward.
A warning: this story contains discussions about suicide and suicidal ideation.
There are a wide variety of treatment options available today, but now there’s a new, unexpected one gaining attention. It’s called Ketamine.
It’s important to mention that some have abused Ketamine, using it as a recreational drug, but for one Wisconsin man, he said it’s the reason he’s alive today.
Meet Alan Ferguson. Ferguson spends his days on his farm in Dane County doing ordinary things, like gardening, bird watching, and playing with his dogs.
But eight years ago, Ferguson said he was at rock bottom.
“I was at the end of my rope, end of the line,” Ferguson said.
After giving away his dog and picking a date on the calendar, Ferguson said he planned to end his own life.
Ferguson said his lifetime fight with depression changed after a phone call from his doctor, recommending Ketamine.
“I didn’t expect it to work in the first place,” Ferguson said.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic often used in medicine to prevent pain during procedures.
More recently, though, researchers are examining its impact on people with severe depression.
In fact, the drug is being studied at major universities, including Yale, Stanford, and here at home, at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“One of the things that ketamine does that the other antidepressant drugs don’t do as well is that, first of all, it works really quickly and through a unique mechanism,” Dr. John Mantsch, Chair of the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, said.
An important distinction, though, Mantsch said it’s not recommended as a first-line therapy.
“It’s indicated for individuals who are nonresponsive to the traditional medications, the SSRI or the SSRI’s, which are the other main class of antidepressant drugs, or people who are experiencing really intense suicidal ideation,” Mantsch said
Ferguson remembers suffering from major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation for his whole life, until the transformative suggestion came from his psychiatrist in May of 2018.
“There is something new, it’s now available in Wisconsin,” Ferguson recalled his psychiatrist saying. “It’s not FDA-approved. I can’t guarantee it’s going to help, but it might.”
Ferguson said that something felt different immediately.
“It occurred to me that those five words, ‘I need to be dead,’ that had been with me daily for as far back as I ever remember, just were gone,” Ferguson said.
Dr. Mantsch has heard similar stories.
“It’s thought to produce long-lasting changes in the way that your prefrontal cortex, this critical brain region, is functioning,” Mantsch said.
The drug is not free from controversy, though.
Many first heard about the drug after the tragic death of ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry in 2023.
Perry overdosed and drowned at his Hollywood home.
Dr. Kevin Kane with Edelica Health, part of Sana Medical, Milwaukee’s first ketamine clinic, points to negligence from those closest to him.
“He had his personal assistant go out and get Ketamine from some, I guess, some inscrutable people,” Kane said.
Two doctors have been charged and convicted in connection with Perry’s overdose.
When used legitimately, paying for Ketamine infusion treatment could be out of reach for many because it’s not covered by insurance.
A single I.V. Ketamine infusion treatment costs about $500.
Kane said it’s recommended for people to begin with several treatments to jumpstart the effects.
“A single infusion of ketamine typically lasts about 1 to 3 days,” Kane said. “But when we stack infusions, we kind of stack that benefit for longer-lasting durations.”
This is why Ferguson is now on a mission to help those who can’t afford it.
Ferguson launched a non-profit called TAFI, which stands for Treatment Assistance Fund Inc., in 2022.
The non-profit is said to assist patients with the cost of Ketamine infusions when insurance does not provide coverage and the individual meets the income threshold.
When asked if Ketamine saved his life, Ferguson said it gave him a life he had never known, calling Ketamine a miracle drug.
If you or a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis, locally, you can call (414) 257-7222 or text 988, the national suicide & crisis lifeline.