I've Been Struggling with Depression: Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Help?

Given the stress and uncertainty in the world today, it’s little wonder that depression is reaching all-time highs among Americans — 29% of adults have been diagnosed with depression, which is 10% higher than it was in 2015.

For decades, antidepressants have been the frontline treatment for depression, but they don’t work for everyone. In fact, about 30% of people don’t respond to these medications. 

Thankfully, new and exciting options are available, including ketamine infusion therapy, which is providing new hope for depression sufferers.

Since depression and chronic pain are often linked, our team here at Pain Medicine Consultants understands the importance of offering depression treatments at our pain management practice, and we’ve had great success with ketamine infusion therapy. 

Here’s a look at how this innovative approach to depression might be able to help you finally break free from this debilitating mood disorder.

The effect of depression on your brain

When you have depression, there are chemical and physical changes that occur in your brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex, that interfere with how your neurons (nerve and brain cells) communicate.

With depression, these lines of communications are cut off because of abnormal neurotransmitter activity. Neurotransmitters carry messages between neurons. 

More specifically, depression involves a class of neurotransmitters called glutamates that communicate with the areas of your brain that regulate both mood and emotion.

How ketamine can jumpstart better brain activity

The reason we took a small dive into the chemical and neural activity in your brain when you have depression is to illustrate why ketamine works so well.

This drug works by blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in your brain to stop the depressive symptoms. Ketamine also encourages neuroplasticity — the medication helps newer, healthier neural pathways to form, which allow your neurons to communicate better.

Unlike antidepressants, ketamine works almost instantly, which is why the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for people with treatment-resistant depression and to put a quick stop to suicidal tendencies.

How we deliver the ketamine

For fast-acting relief of depression symptoms, we deliver the ketamine as part of an intravenous infusion so it goes directly into your bloodstream. We do this in a controlled environment (here at our offices), and you’re under our watchful eyes the entire time.

The great results keep piling up when it comes to ketamine’s ability to put an end to depression. One small study concludes, “Ketamine has a robust and rapid effect on depression, which was seen immediately after the administration of ketamine and sustained at the end of one month.”

Our experiences are along these same lines. We’ve helped many of our patients to stop the downward spiral of depression with ketamine infusion therapy. 

In fact, we not only stop the spiral, the innovative treatment encourages better mood regulation, helping our patients to finally break free from the dark hole of depression to find happiness again.

If you’d like to explore whether ketamine infusion therapy is right for your depression, you can start by contacting us at one of our offices in Pleasant Hill, Corte Madera, or Pleasanton, California, to schedule an appointment.