You may be familiar with ketamine, a medication primarily used as an anesthetic. However, you may be less aware that this very same medication can provide life-changing results when it’s used to treat depression, especially forms that haven’t responded to other treatments.
Our team at ReYou Ketamine Treatments in Lakewood, New Jersey, serving Lakewood, Toms River, Monmouth County, and Ocean county offers ketamine infusions for numerous conditions, ranging from chronic pain and migraines to anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts, and depression.
If you’ve struggled to find effective treatment for your depressive disorder, here’s how ketamine therapy could help.
Ketamine and depression
Using ketamine to treat depression isn’t new. In fact, research into ketamine as an antidepressant dates back to the 1990s at the Yale School of Medicine. These studies revealed that ketamine triggers glutamate production, a neurotransmitter involved in regulating brain activity, including mood. Glutamate also activates connections in a special receptor in the brain, the AMPA.
As glutamate production increases and AMPA connections activate, it helps the brain form new neural connections, making it more adaptable and capable of creating new pathways. All of these changes can improve neural communication in the brain, giving a person the ability to develop a more positive mood as well as better cognitive abilities, thoughts, and behaviors.
Other medications exist for treating depression, but this effect was unique to ketamine. And, on top of that, when administered intravenously, ketamine can provide far more dramatic results.
In numerous studies, more than half of the people receiving ketamine infusions showed a significant decrease in their depression symptoms after 24 hours. To make the studies even more striking, these very same individuals hadn’t shown meaningful improvement after taking other forms of antidepressant medication.
It’s important to note that while ketamine can offer significant and life-changing results when treating depression, it’s often only part of a treatment plan. Ketamine is often used in combination with other depression treatments, such integration therapy, a custom form of therapy that helps that patient “integrate” their experience and growth back into their life and to maintain the growth.
How ketamine treatment works
Our team uses ketamine therapy for severe cases of depression, especially those that haven’t responded to more traditional forms of treatment or those that include suicidal thoughts. If we determine that you could benefit from ketamine treatments, we calculate your dosage according to your weight.
Ketamine treatments can be administered one of four ways.
- IV Infusion (most effective method)
- Intramuscular Injection
- Sublingual (under the tongue lozenge)
- Intranasal spray.
ReYou prefer the IV infusion method because it allows us to titrate doses and has the highest bioavailability.
Potential side effects
Ketamine can affect your perception of sight and sounds and may have temporary feelings of dissociation.
Side effects may also include dizziness, nausea, or vomiting, and raise your blood pressure. Because of these responses, we administer ketamine treatments under medical supervision at our clinic, no matter which form you take.
In most cases, you can expect to have multiple ketamine treatments, often 6-8 infusions over a 3-4 week timeframe. However, if the medication works, you should see positive changes within 1-3 treatments. Furthermore, ongoing treatments can often extend results.
Do you have depression that hasn’t responded to traditional forms of treatment? Ketamine therapy may be able to help. To learn more, call 908-795-8573 or book an appointment online with ReYou Ketamine Treatments today.
