How KETAMINE could combat stutters after ‘life-changing’ effect in 60-year-old woman
A terminally ill woman's lifelong stutter disappeared after she was given ketamine, doctors have revealed.
The 60-year-old, from the US, had suffered from stuttering since childhood. Stuttering can cause people to repeat sounds or syllables and have difficulty getting words out.
She was prescribed the drug to treat depression while living in hospice for her stage four kidney disease.
The unexpected and 'substantial' effect started within a day of taking a low, medical grade dose of the party drug.
Medics described it as “life-changing” during her final months in hospice care and revealed that she could “speak freely for the first time since early childhood.”
Special K, Ket or Kit Kat (pictured), as it is also known, was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was often taken during late-night raves
Earlier this month, actor Matthew Perry's autopsy revealed that he accidentally drowned on October 28 while under the “acute effects of ketamine,” which could have caused him to become dazed or fall asleep in his jacuzzi, leading to his could have led to death.
The woman, whose identity is not known, had been undergoing speech therapy since school.
However, it only improved her speech temporarily. Doctors still don't know what causes stuttering, which can last into adulthood.
However, in some cases it is believed to be hereditary.
Speech and language therapy are the best approaches to treating stuttering, which affects one in twelve young children and one in fifty adults. About 700,000 people in Britain and 3 million in the US are thought to be affected.
After five months in hospice, the woman, who also had chronic lung disease, was diagnosed with depression and prescribed a low dose of ketamine twice a day.
Within 24 hours of starting treatment, her stuttering stopped, doctors wrote Journal of Medical Case Reports.
Family and friends, who until now only knew her with a stutter, immediately noticed the opportunity.
Doctors wrote: 'The impact of the unexpected effect of the ketamine prescription was significant.
'For the first time since early childhood, the patient was able to speak freely consistently.
'This effect itself gave relief from depression because she communicated easily. For this patient, prescribing ketamine was life-changing.”
It is impossible to say whether her depression has improved due to the ketamine treatment, her new fluent speech or a combination of the two, the doctors said.
Occasionally, the woman's stutter would resurface and cause her to repeat words, but never to the point that it blocked her speech, they said.
The patient died a month later. Medics have not released her cause of death.
The team that treated the unidentified woman claimed that no cases of ketamine-cured stuttering have ever been reported in the medical literature.
It is unclear how the drug alleviated her stuttering because the mechanisms behind the condition are not yet fully understood, she added.
However, they suggested it could be related to ketamine increasing her dopamine levels. Some research has shown that the pleasure hormone can reduce the severity of stuttering, the team noted.
More research is needed into the drug's effects on stuttering, because “it is possible that treatment with the same drug could benefit other stutterers,” experts said.
Ketamine is only permitted as an anesthetic in Britain, but can also be prescribed off-licence as a painkiller. These versions are medical grade and proven safe.
It acts as an anesthetic by blocking the neurotransmitter N-methyl-D-aspartate (NDMA), which controls the functioning of the nervous system. This quickly reduces sensations, prevents pain, induces sleep and inhibits memory.
The class B drug is increasingly being studied as a therapeutic agent for depression and PTSD.
Special K, Ket or Kit Kat, as it is also known, was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was often taken at late-night raves.
But its popularity declined in the 2000s when it became a Schedule III drug and concerns arose about side effects, including hallucinations and, in rare cases, seizures.
It was dubbed Britain's 'campus killer' earlier this year when it was revealed that it had caused 41 student deaths since 1999, according to the National Program on Substance Abuse Deaths.
Earlier this month, actor Matthew Perry's autopsy revealed that he accidentally drowned on October 28 while under the “acute effects of ketamine,” which could have caused him to become dazed or fall asleep in his Jacuzzi, leading to his death could have led.