Ketamine’s Involvement In Matthew Perry’s Death Raises Questions

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: Matthew Perry attends the GQ Men of the Year Party 2022 at The West Matthew Perry, “Friends” star, died accidentally from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to a toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Other contributing factors in the 54 year old actor’s death included drowning, preexisting coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (Suboxone), which Perry took to treat his opioid use disorder. Ketamine is sometimes prescribed for major depressive disorder, which apparently it was for Perry.

But his occurred a week and a half before his death, which is too remote to account for what the autopsy report stated was “high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens. ” The drug’s half-life is only three or four hours, which means it would have no longer been in his system from the treatment he got 10 days prior to his passing. This raises questions about whether Perry had used ketamine shortly before dying.

The Medical Examiner’s Office that Perry’s cause of death was from ketamine taken not by infusion but in another manner. In addition to infusion git can be administered intranasally by spray. However, the precise route of administration of the ketamine found in Perry’s blood is unknown.

Ketamine has become increasingly popular as an alternative therapy for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other hard-to-treat mental health problems. Perry had been undergoing medically supervised ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. Developed in the 1960s, ketamine became an FDA-approved medical product as an injectable, short-acting anesthetic for use in humans and animals, and as in 2019, indicated for treatment-resistant depression.

Chemically, esketamine is very similar to ketamine. Specifically, esketamine is an S(+) enantiomer, essentially a mirror image of ketamine. Clinical researchers examining esketamine built on prior research which showed “initial reductions in depressive symptoms within two hours, with peak effects at 24 hours.

” In a disease area such as mental health, with a significant amount of unmet need, any increase in like ketamine and esketamine is welcome. Major depressive disorder affects approximately 17 million Americans, many of whom currently suffer from a lack of adequate treatment alternatives. However, there are possible pitfalls associated with both ketamine and esketamine.

Both carry with them risks of abuse and misuse. To illustrate, in studies ketamine “ has appeared as a clinical issue, with some patients shopping infusion clinics to obtain repeated injections for mood elevation. ” While it’s unknown whether Perry was using ketamine recreationally, he candidly spoke about his misuse of drugs and in particular his frequent , especially pertaining to opioids and alcohol.

If used in high doses, ketamine has been known to cause dangerous changes in that may be particularly deleterious in patients with cardiovascular disease, which Perry had. Also, ketamine in high doses can lead to respiratory depression or severely slowed breathing. Additionally, the sedating effects of ketamine can be compounded by a narcotic such as buprenorphine, which Perry was on.

Moreover, as a it can have hallucinogenic effects which can make patients feel detached from their pain and environment. In 2020, the on ketamine for mood disorders: “Considering the known potential for abuse of ketamine and recent reports of abuse of prescribed ketamine for the treatment of depression, clinicians should be vigilant about assessing the potential for patients to develop ketamine use disorder. ” Accordingly, unsupervised use is not recommended.

In fact, it’s advised that patients always take the drug in an appropriate medical setting in doses calibrated to be safe and effective, followed by a period of observation. It’s not known exactly how ketamine got into Perry’s body. However, the drug’s involvement in his death suggests possible misuse.

.