OUTPATIENT INFUSION KETAMINE

Ketamine hydrochloride is a medication that has traditionally been used for anesthesia, but at very low doses, ketamine has recently emerged as a promising new treatment for major depressive disorder or for severe depressive episodes associated with anxiety, chronic pain, bipolar disorder, cyclic vomiting syndrome, and/or PTSD that have not responded to conventional treatments.

Ketamine infusion treatments work differently than traditional antidepressants or pain medications. For many patients, depression, anxiety, and PTSD come from a part of the brain that is also involved with processing pain. Traditional antidepressants and pain medicines do not affect that part of the brain. Ketamine infusion treatments block specific receptors in the parts of the brain that processes pain and mood. Specifically, ketamine works on the central nervous system by partially blocking a receptor system called the  N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor). 


In 2015, The American Psychiatric Association Council of Research published a literature review of 7 placebo controlled , randomized clinical studies on ketamine hydrochloride IV infusion therapy in the treatment of depression, comprising 147 treated patients in total. The American Psychiatric Association found that the meta analysis of all the gold standard research to date provided “compelling evidence that the antidepressant effects of ketamine infusion are both rapid and robust, albeit transient.”1  Many patients find that the effects are not transient at all, and that the effect from a series of treatments  can last to reduce depressive symptoms for weeks, months or longer.

Among patients who have tried for months and years with traditional antidepressants, ketamine infusion treatments have been shown to create significant relief within 4 to 72 hours of the first treatment.



Treatments are given intravenously as a series in our clinic.  Our goal in offering this treatment is to provide a safe and effective treatment for the people in our community that suffer from treatment resistant severe major depression and other mood disorders or pain disorders. We offer this treatment as part of a comprehensive and holistic approach, addressing the balance of hormones, nutrition, metabolism, neurotransmitter status and lifestyle factors, in the care of our patients suffering from severe depression, chronic pain, and related symptoms.  If you feel that you could benefit from our approach using these treatments, then please call our clinic today for an evaluation.