What is Ketamine Infusion Therapy?

Ketamine infusions entail a tiny pump delivering a precisely controlled dose around the clock. A butterfly needle is inserted into the skin of your belly, forming a little 'puddle' under the skin while the ketamine is pushed in. This pool is absorbed into the bloodstream, allowing for a gradual increase of ketamine levels. This is referred to as the subcutaneous route of medication administration. Ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic that has been used for more than five decades all over the world. It's also a medicine with fast-acting antidepressant qualities that mental health professionals have been researching for over 20 years. While ketamine isn't recommended as a first-line treatment for chronic pain, depression, or any other mental health condition, it can be used off-label to treat severe cases of depression, anxiety, or PTSD that haven't responded to other treatments. Ketamine provides relaxing and profoundly therapeutic effects on the areas of the brain that control mood and behavior when supplied by a steady, continual intravenous (IV) drip. Ketamine has been dubbed the most important advance in the treatment of depression in recent memory because of its potential to provide immediate and durable relief for even the most persistent cases of TRD.

How Ketamine Infusion Therapy is benefiting the Patients?

Depression is the largest cause of disability in the world and the most common mental health condition that leads to suicide ideation. With traditional antidepressants and counseling, around two-thirds of persons with serious depression achieve long-term symptom remission; the remaining one-third do not. Ketamine infusion therapy has multiple major benefits for persons with TRD, debilitating anxiety, persistent PTSD, and chronic pain, including:

•    Fast-Acting Symptom Relief: Ketamine infusions relieve depressed symptoms swiftly, frequently within hours. While scientists are still attempting to figure out what causes this dramatic effect, they do know that ketamine causes a spike in glutamate levels. Glutamate, as the primary neurotransmitter that promotes the formation of synapses in the brain, aids in the strengthening and restoration of vital neural connections and pathways in the brain regions most affected by depression; these new connections aid in the induction of beneficial changes in brain circuit function.

•    High Rate of Success: Although ketamine infusion therapy is still being researched, studies show that it is effective in treating persistent depression. According to several studies, more than half of persons with TRD get considerable symptom improvement after just one infusion, and many more get relief after two or three. The fact that ketamine infusion therapy has such a high efficacy rate is a big part of why it's so good for those who haven't been able to find sustained relief with other treatments.

•    Lasting Symptom Remission: Ketamine infusion therapy isn't a "one-and-done" treatment that "fixes" depression in just one session, but it's also not like traditional antidepressants, which must be taken regularly for years (or for as long as they work). Instead, ketamine infusions cause positive brain alterations that result in long-term symptom alleviation after just one treatment cycle.