Ketamine vs SAM-E for mood
Short answer: For mood, more users report improvement with Ketamine — 97% of 62 reports, versus 92% of 114 for SAM-E.
Ketamine has 854 meta-analyses and 1,957 randomized trials on PubMed; SAM-E has 3 and 1.
Based on 141 reports about Ketamine and 284 about SAM-E. Not medical advice.
| Ketamine Medication | SAM-E Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 65%helped65 reports · medium confidence | 63%helped131 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | BResearch: Moderate |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 854 / 1,957 | 3 / 1 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Mood % reporting improvement | 97% (62) | 92% (114) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 90% (10) | 67% (21) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 100% (3) | 87% (23) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 100% (3) | 100% (13) |
| Pain & inflammation % reporting improvement | — | 100% (8) |
| Common side effects | dissociation, headache, fatigue, insomnia | insomnia, jitteriness, stomach issues, anxiety |
| Typical dose reported | Not listed | 200-400 mg / daily |
Compared with etomidate, ketamine probably results in more hemodynamic instability during the peri-intubation period and appears to have no effect on successful intubation on the first attempt or mortality. However, ketamine results in decreased need for the initiation of vasopressor use and decreases adrenal suppression compared with etomidate.
Crit Care Med, 2025 ↗“One thing that has really helped me tremendously, without the nasty side effects of SSRIs, is Ketamine infusions.”
Our results showed that robotic surgery contributed positively to some perioperative outcomes but longer operative times remained a shortcoming. Better quality evidence is needed to guide surgical decision making regarding the precise clinical targets of this innovation in the next generation of its use.
Surg Endosc, 2016 ↗“I also take SAM-e in the morning (200mg or 400mg per day depending on how I'm feeling) for my general depression/anxiety.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate