A small study of 20 patients found that a single inhalation session with 25% nitrous oxide was nearly as effective as 50% nitrous oxide at rapidly relieving symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, with fewer adverse effects. Treatment effects lasted 2-4 weeks.
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Empty canisters of nitrous oxide
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Laughing gas may be most associated with its use in dentistry, but in recent years, scientists have been inching toward using the chemical for another purpose: depression that defies treatment. The results of a small trial, published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that a low dose of laughing gas could help improve depressive symptoms in patients with a severe form of depression that fails to respond to antidepressants.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that a low dose of nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, was just as effective at improving depression as a higher dose in patients with treatment-resistant depression, with less adverse side effects after two weeks. Either dose relieved symptoms more than placebo. A larger trial is planned to confirm the results.
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A new study at the University of Chicago Medicine and Washington University found that a single inhalation session with 25% nitrous oxide gas was nearly as effective as 50% nitrous oxide at rapidly relieving symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, with fewer adverse side effects. The study, published June 9 in
Science Translational Medicine, also found that the effects lasted much longer than previously suspected, with some participants experiencing improvements for upwards of two weeks.
These results bolster the evidence that non-traditional treatments may be a viable option for patients whose depression is not responsive to typical antidepressant medications. It may also provide a rapidly effective treatment option for patients in crisis.
Experts led from the University of Chicago ran trials involving 24 patients
Each was given an hour s session inhaling 25 or 50% laughing gas or a placebo
The team found that the 25% gas mixture was nearly as effective as the 50% one
Furthermore, it cut down on negative side effects like nausea by three-quarters
Laughing gas could be used on patients with treatment-resistant depression