What Is Ketamine IV Therapy Used for?

IV therapy offers an innovative and effective way to get everything from nutrients and hydration to drugs and vitamins into the bloodstream where they can perform effectively. At Andes Medical Care in Concord, CA, we offer many types of IV therapy that are highly effective in promoting overall health and wellness. We offer ketamine IV therapy in particular to help with a variety of conditions, from depression to chronic pain.

What Is Ketamine IV Therapy Used for?

Ketamine can be very useful for conditions that won't respond to other treatments. We're still learning all about the potential uses of this drug, and new applications for it are regularly being discovered. Currently, it's regularly used to treat:

Depression

When depression becomes debilitating, the results can be life-threatening. Some people go through every type of antidepressant out there, attend all their therapy meetings, and even get in-patient hospital treatments, only to find little relief. Every day continues to be an uphill battle, making it hard to maintain relationships, keep up with work, and simply live life. When depression doesn't respond, IV ketamine therapy can help. That's because depression is linked to the build-up of certain proteins in the brain that are really a form of damage. This damage is a natural bodily response to high levels of cortisol and other stress-related hormones, and this damage makes it harder for the brain to uptake the key “happy” hormone, serotonin. Traditional anti-depressants work by simply upping levels of serotonin, while ketamine is believed to go to work directly in clearing the offending proteins. It typically has a much quicker effect than traditional anti-depressants.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a vicious circle because our brains are not as elastic as we might wish they were. They tend to get “stuck” in certain patterns of thinking. Think of your brain like the map of a state, with lots of cities and towns all around. The major roads are built at the most convenient places to connect one town to another, and nearly all traffic takes those roads to go from place to place. As you turn over worries and anxieties in your mind, your brain builds pathways to connect the steps of that process, making it faster and more efficient to go there every time. The biology of the brain actually works against you, hard-wiring your anxious thoughts. Where anti-anxiety drugs merely mask the symptoms for a while, ketamine IV therapy actually stimulates the brain to regrow pathways, allowing you more flexibility to combat negative thinking.

PTSD

PTSD has a lot in common with depression and anxiety and often includes both. Anxiety and depression are difficult enough to live with: PTSD goes a step farther and usually includes both. PTSD develops in those who have experienced trauma: either extended periods of lower-level traumas or sudden, intense trauma such as soldiers often experience in combat. PTSD is a common issue for veterans in particular, and it's hard to treat. Once again, ketamine has a lot of potential to help. A recent study showed that while traditional medications help only 25% to 30% of those with PTSD, ketamine improves things for 75% to 80% of those who try it.

Chronic Pain

There are a number of chronic pain conditions that ketamine can help, including:

• Fibromyalgia
• Small fiber neuropathy
• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy

These conditions are characterized by ongoing pain that ordinary drugs are usually ineffective to address, and most of them have a neuropathic origin. When chronic pain can't be relieved through other treatments, ketamine could be the answer. It's unclear right now exactly how ketamine helps, but the prevailing theory is that it's because the drug is an NMDA antagonist. The NMDA is a kind of pain receptor that accepts signals from the nerves, and in animal models, chronic pain is associated with increased NMDA expression. Blocking this may be what causes ketamine to be so effective.

What Is Ketamine?

Ketamine isn't a new drug at all. It was introduced as an anesthetic over 50 years ago and has been used regularly since in human medicine and by veterinarians. Its oldest use is in surgery, where it is particularly valuable because, at high doses, it induces unconsciousness but allows the patient's reflexes to remain intact. In some surgeries, it's important to be able to test reflexes throughout to be certain everything is going well. Naturally, IV ketamine therapy doesn't use anesthetic level doses, but around the 1990s, doctors realized it was also valuable as an off-label antidepressant. It was so successful in these treatments at smaller, therapeutic doses that it has come into regular use and is now offered as IV therapy for quick and effective relief.

Why IV Therapy?

Like many medications, ketamine can be given any number of ways, but are they all equally good? Most medical professionals agree that IV ketamine is the best way to administer it. To understand why IV delivery is the best, it's important to understand the concept of bioavailability.

Bioavailability

Consider iron and spinach as a simple example of this concept. We all know spinach has a lot of iron, but if you're relying on spinach for all your iron, you're going to become iron deficient pretty quickly. Why? Because of bioavailability, or rather the lack of it.

Just because iron is in the spinach doesn't mean your body can use it. Spinach has iron, but it also contains a chemical that binds with the iron and stops your body from absorbing it easily. Even worse, there's more than one type of iron: heme and non-heme. Heme iron is found in meat and is very easy for the human body to absorb. Non-heme iron is found in vegetables, and we're only able to absorb between 2% and 20% of that type. The upshot? Spinach has lots of iron, but that doesn't matter much when it's not readily bioavailable. When you're being treated with ketamine, you want as much as possible of the dose you put in yourself to be bioavailable--to get to your bloodstream and do you some good. Whatever isn't bioavailable just gets digested or eliminated by your waste system.

IV = Excellent Bioavailability

Intravenous infusion is the only application route where 100% of what you're given is 100% available to your body. And it's not just that way with ketamine. Lots of medications, vitamins, and nutrients are much more bioavailable through IV than any other form of administration. When you get an IV infusion of ketamine, there's nothing to get in the way of the ketamine and your brain. Everything goes right where it should and has a predictable effect.

The Problem With Sprays

Ketamine can also be administered through an intranasal spray, but this just isn't as effective as an IV. When you're using a spray, you first have to be sure the ketamine is perfectly suspended and evenly distributed through the spray. Shaking it should take care of this part, but only if you've shaken it enough (but not too hard), and it's all too easy to get it wrong. Another problem arises because the ketamine has to go through the mucous membranes to get to the bloodstream, which is an unnecessary extra step that can cause hiccups in the process of getting it all to the brain. Add to this that the spray has to go in the nostril just right. If it's too low, it will drip out the nose. If it's not straight, it may go down the back of the throat. If it's too hard, you might sneeze it back out.

The Problem With Injections

Intramuscular injections require the ketamine to first go through muscle to find the blood vessels before it can be absorbed. Muscle is very dense with blood vessels, so much of it will be absorbed, but not all. And there's no way to know ahead of time how much will miss the mark. It's also hard to know exactly when it will reach the brain.

What to Expect From Therapy

Your therapy starts when you come to talk to us about your concerns. We'll have an initial consultation where we can help you decide if ketamine IV therapy is the right choice for you. Once you've decided to go ahead, you'll arrive for your session and one of our highly trained professionals will walk you through every step. If you have any questions, you'll have plenty of opportunity to get them answered. Our treatment room is comfortable, and all you have to do is sit back and relax while the IV goes to work. This is a great time to answer emails, catch up on your reading, take a nap, or even watch your favorite show on your mobile device. Once you're done, there's no downtime or any lengthy recovery period.

FAQ About Ketamine IV Therapy

How Long Do the Effects Last?

The length of effects is different for each person because each of us is unique. The majority of people do see relief from their ketamine treatments, and most will feel better for weeks to months at a time.

How Long Does It Take to Work?

Some people find relief in just a few hours after having their ketamine treatment. For others, it can take a few days. Most people need several repeat treatments to get the full benefit, but we'll work with you to determine the best treatment plan for your needs.

Is This a Safe Treatment?

When you have IV ketamine administered in our clinic by a trained professional, this is very a safe treatment. At the doses we use, this drug isn't addictive.

Are There Any Contraindications?

Anyone suffering from a psychotic disorder, such as delusions or hallucinations, should not take ketamine infusions. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, it's also important to wait to have treatment.

How Long Does Treatment Take?

The exact dosage of your IV is always based on your body weight for optimal safety. On average, it takes about 45 minutes for most people to finish the full therapy.

Do I Have to Stop My Current Medications?

If you're already taking medications for depression or anxiety, there's no need to stop taking them to get these infusions. When you come to talk to us, we'll go over your medical history, including the medications you're currently taking, and consult with your doctor if necessary to make sure you're perfectly safe.

Learn More About Ketamine IV Infusions

If you're interested in whether IV ketamine therapy could help you with depression, pain, anxiety, PTSD, or more, and especially if you've not gotten relief from other treatments, don't wait. This groundbreaking treatment is widely used for hard-to-treat conditions and could be the answer you need.