Depression, Bipolar, PTSD and other persistent mood disorders can be tricky and painful to treat. Over one million sufferers committed suicide last year because they were desperate for alternative forms of treatment. Medication and talk therapy often facilitate healing for many who struggle with these debilitating conditions but for some these traditional forms of treatment are simply not enough. The community at-large often has a grave misunderstanding of mental illness. It’s not simply a struggle of willpower or emotions alone. Mental illness is biological, chemical, organic and medical in nature. Ketamine infusions offer a new source of hope for those that have tried medication and therapy but found little benefit.
For those that suffer severe forms of Depression, Bipolar, or PTSD life can feel like a maze one’s merely trapped in. For years mainstay standards of psychiatry have been giving you directions to get out in the form of psychopharmacology and therapy. Despite your best efforts to follow the directions to exit this horrible maze you’ve been stuck in, nothing seems to work for your escape. Ketamine offers an alternative. With infusions our anesthesiologists can formulate the correct dose and target the speed in which the drug should reach your brain to help aid in the healing process.
What is ketamine?
Ketamine is an anesthetic medication that blocks the NMDA receptor that has also been used as a recreational drug due to its dissociative properties. It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines because of its safety and efficacy for anesthesia. More recently, ketamine has been discovered as a safe and effective treatment for depression, and randomized controlled trials have shown rapid improvement in mood as well as reduction in suicidality compared to people who receive a placebo or another drug.
Is ketamine right for me?
Adults age 18 and over who suffer from moderate-severe depression and have not had success with traditional treatments for depression are eligible for ketamine treatment. Our comprehensive evaluation will include a medical history to ensure ketamine is safe for you.
What are the risks?
For depression, the doses of ketamine used are much lower than the dose for anesthesia, making it relatively safe. That said, ketamine does carry the risk of changing your blood pressure and heart rate, which we will monitor closely. Longer term risks include urinary symptoms, cognitive impairment (with prolonged use), and substance use disorders. We will monitor for these symptoms throughout the treatment.
IV Ketamine: The FDA has not approved the use of IV ketamine for treatment-resistant depression, which means this is an off-label use of the medication. As such, ketamine treatment will not be covered by insurance. A Ketamine treatment provider will offer billing statements for the evaluation and infusions to help you get as much reimbursement as your insurance company will allow.
If you’re interested in learning more about Ketamine infusions to treat medication resistant forms of Depression, Bipolar and PTSD Disorders or for treatment regarding Chronic Pain, please contact our community partners at Freedom Ketamine Treatment Centers in Maryland.
Here is a link to their website:
https://www.freedomketaminecenters.com/