Lori Calabrese, MD

Category: Brain Fog

Ketogenic Diet Weighs In: Sugar Addiction and Mental Health Now

Jenni paused to try to remember what she was doing. Coffee. That was it. Her mind was so foggy, as if her head was stuffed with peanut butter. Or styrofoam. Uggghhhh… she thought. Maybe coffee will help. But truth be told, she doubted it would help enough. She was tempted to sit down and abandon the coffee idea… but she pressed on. While she sipped the steaming beverage from her mug, she thought about the hopelessness she felt, and the futility. The irritability. And the agitation. How she wished she could remain calm and serene. That she could move through the routine of each day unruffled. But little things made her explode at times, then hate herself for it. Jenni caught her reflection as she walked past the mirror in the entry hall. Ugghhh, she thought again. Jenni hardly recognized herself anymore. She’d really gained a lot of weight these last 7 months. It was so discouraging. And…it was weird…she didn’t feel like she ate that much. How had she gained so much weight? She’d heard about sugar addiction, and even mental health exercises that might help, but didn’t believe any kind of addiction applied to her.

Chasing Energy and Relief in all the Wrong Places

And why did she feel so draggy, so run down, without stamina? Why so hungry when she’d already eaten? The gnawing craving for pizza, potato chips and dips, festive coffee drinks and soda, plagued her. She finally quit fighting it, drove the car to her fav caffeine drive-through, and ordered a venti coffee loaded with syrups and topped with whipped cream. Plus a croissant sandwich. And a frosted cookie.

There. That should hit the spot.

She wolfed down the sandwich, sipped on the coffee voraciously, and finally took big bites out of the beautiful, artistically decorated cookie. She was beginning to feel some relief.

For now, she felt less irritable, almost soothed. So she headed home after a quick stop at the convenience store to grab a bag of potato chips and some dip, a frozen pizza for later, along with some Rocky Road ice cream. And, of course, popcorn.

Each time she began to feel down again, she brainstormed and treated herself to a carbohydrate-rich delight. Cookies, frosting, frothy coffee, chips, dip, ice cream. It was amazing how much better she felt as she bit into them. However, by the third bite or so, the pleasure faded. Nevertheless, she finished eating them, anyway.

Over and over, every day. Desperately seeking relief via food pleasure.

By the time she finished the treat she’d been devouring, the pleasure was gone, and her emotions sank, along with her energy.

One day, she checked her email, and there was one seeking applicants for an “overeaters” club. While that certainly didn’t apply to her( or so she thought), she wondered if making friends at such a club might allow her to meet people who had ideas about her low energy, irritability, agitation, and feelings of futility – that seemed to be her constant companions.

So she read the entire email and found some links at the bottom. One of them caught her attention.

Your dysfunctional metabolism may be causing your depression which may be caused by your dysfunctional metabolism. What??

What’s metabolism got to do with depression? She clicked on the link out of pure curiosity, and discovered it was an article that connected depression, anxiety, agitation, and feelings of futility with your metabolism, and how you can treat those symptoms with certain types of foods, exercise and movement, social relationships, and maybe even meditation.

It seemed to imply that craving and eating sugary foods could be a sign of sugar addiction, and that could cause mental health symptoms. Shocking...

She read on.

What is this? Some sort of hype…? She wondered. Some sort of woo woo group?

As Jenni kept reading, she learned that current neuropsychiatric research and practice provided evidence that the kinds of symptoms that were plaguing her were connected to metabolic dysfunction.

Inflammation Can Cause Psychiatric Symptoms

She learned that metabolic disease often included inflammation, and inflammation is often involved in psychiatric symptoms. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, rage, irritability, agitation… these are often associated with inflammation. The worse the inflammation, the more intense the symptoms.

And this inflammation can be linked with ultra processed foods… and sugar. She read that when your metabolism is out of whack, you tend to crave sugar and carbohydrate-heavy foods.

Because – and this was a surprise – sugar is actually not needed for your health or survival. Who knew?? That, in fact, your natural digestion takes healthy foods like protein and turns them into the glucose (biological sugar) your body needs. So when you consume refined sugar – the white stuff – it’s always in excess of what you need. And it’s addictive. That’s why they call it sugar addiction, and it has consequences to your mental health.

Feeding the Monster: Sugar Addiction and Mental Health

Unfortunately, when you eat it, you want more. It triggers your pleasure center in your brain, which makes you want even more. But the more of it you eat, the less pleasure you experience…so you want to eat more to experience that pleasure again… And more. And then… well, after you stop eating it, you can start to feel withdrawals, so you want more still to make that feeling go away and the pleasure to return.

The trouble is, eating sugar and other ultra processed foods like hot dogs, potato chips, frozen pizza, candy, cake, donuts, and ice cream, feeds the sugar addiction, and you don’t get the nutrients your brain needs to function properly. These foods feed the inflammation. And when your brain is inflamed, it doesn’t get sore like an inflamed throat gets sore, or swell like an inflamed sprained ankle.

Instead, it malfunctions with symptoms like agitation, depression, irritability, and anxiety… manic symptoms. Even psychosis. Maybe your moods change rapidly. Maybe your memory isn’t so good anymore. Or maybe you develop an eating disorder. Those brain cells can’t function like they’re supposed to.

And to get better, it’s vital that you eat very small amounts of carbohydrates.

We’ve all done it—many of us grew up eating ultra processed foods, full of unhealthy seed oils, high sugar and lots of carbs. But feeding you body and brain that way over time means your metabolism suffers, and your become malnourished because your food is not nourishing. Even though you may appear obese on the outside, inside your cells are starving. They need the vitamins and minerals you get from whole foods like vegetables, omega 3 fatty acids from fatty fish like salmon and avocados, healthy and nutrient-dense animal fats, flavonoids from onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese… These are foods that feed your cells. Eating these foods, and removing ultra processed foods from your diet, as well as excessive carbohydrates, is using food as medicine. In fact, the right food IS medicine.

At the bottom of the page was listed a doctor whose practice focused on Metabolic Psychiatry. It’s metabolic medicine geared specifically to restore mental health.

Jenni slept on it. Then, in the morning as her sugar cravings began to crowd in again, she called that doctor and made an appointment.

The doctor discussed metabolic dysfunction, how damaging too much carbohydrates and refined sugar can be, and explained the approach she uses, a wrap-around program with all kinds of opportunities to build knowledge, support and success.

Jenni learned more about the symptoms that had plagued her, about the sugar addiction and how it was sabotaging her body and her brain. And her emotional stability!

Touchpoints 180™

She was excited by the sophisticated work-up, the digital tools, the in-person connections and the personalization of it all. This wasn’t a one- size-fits-all handout, or a conveyor belt approach with nameless people behind a great logo. And starting wasn’t nearly as hard as she had feared. The rich and healthy foods that were prescribed for her were so satisfying that her cravings for sugar started to slip away.

Although there were moments over the coming weeks when she wistfully thought about those foods she was no longer eating, something had changed. She didn’t want them anymore, didn’t go out driving around to find them, and she realized she wasn’t eating something just to eat it.

Her brain felt different. Her thinking was different.

So this is what it’s like to take food as medicine. She liked it!

It Wasn’t Long Before She Felt the Improvement

Most importantly, she was feeling better and better. Feeling more upbeat, less reactive, and more and more with a sense of just…well-being.

And it just kept improving… Meanwhile, in the next several weeks she noticed her pants waist fitting more loosely… then her top began to hang from her shoulders. Her belly was shrinking! She started wearing clothes she used to wear that were a size smaller; then in 3 months, 2 sizes smaller. Wow oh wow!

From what she’d learned and more importantly, what she saw and felt, her body was metabolizing her fat, and she was losing weight without feeling hungry or tired. What a reward!

With all she’d learned about her metabolism and her health, she had no intention of returning to her old dysfunctional way of living (and eating). This was easy. She felt content. Less and less volatile. More at peace.

Jenni had found freedom in her body from her sugar addiction, and especially a bright outlook and mental clarity. The symptoms of agitation, futility, and hopelessness all quietly subsided.

She found she had patience when she would have exploded before. Her confidence in her ability to manage her life bloomed.

Are you struggling with your weight… and maybe an unrelenting addiction to sugar?

Do you have symptoms of Type 2 diabetes or other metabolic illness along with psychiatric symptoms?

If you struggle with brain fog, irritability, agitation, hallucinations, depression…and nothing you’ve done has helped, call us. We’re breaking new ground.

Come and join us in using a new and healthy approach, Ketogenic Psychiatry, Touchpoints 180™, and see what evaluation, guidance, and support can do to transform your life, your health, and your joy as you move forward in your best life.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 22, 2024
Diet for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome? Get Better with a Ketogenic Diet

Danielle and Zach had been married 6 years. They hadn’t wanted to have children right away, and decided to start their family 4 years ago. But as time went on without getting pregnant, they began to worry that something was interfering with conception. It had reached the point for Danielle that each time her menstrual cycle began, she felt sadness, loss, disappointment, and a growing hopelessness. They finally decided they needed to make an appointment with a fertility specialist. They wondered what could be wrong, and if there was anything more they could do on their own to conceive. Danielle secretly wondered if PCOS might be the problem, and if there was a special treatment or diet for polycystic ovary syndrome.

Fertility Specialist Solves the Mystery

After a thorough examination, the specialist told them that Danielle did, after all, have polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS. (Danielle had read about this in a magazine at the doctor’s office.) The doctor explained it was the most common endocrine/metabolic disease in women. Apparently, her ovaries were producing excessive amounts of androgens, which are male sex hormones. These hormones are commonly found in women in very small amounts, but the elevated levels they saw in Danielle were interfering with her ovulation.

She explained that sometimes a woman’s body isn’t making enough of the hormones she needs to ovulate, which is to release a mature egg from her ovary. When she doesn’t ovulate, the ovary can develop small cysts. And these cysts make the androgens, causing the androgen levels to increase higher and higher.

So what happens with high androgen levels? Well … things like infertility, missed or extremely light periods, excessive hair growth on the chest, stomach, and back, weight gain in her belly and trunk, acne, and hair thinning like male pattern baldness, to name a few.

Danielle had been sad for a long time. She also struggled with tension about getting with friends, meeting new people, and fears of bad things happening. She’d never been like this before, but her reluctance to get out and about, to have fun and socialize, was becoming a bigger and bigger problem.

Sometimes Zach didn’t recognize her.

The doctor sent them home with printed information. So Danielle and Zach got on their laptops. They read about PCOS, and learned about the changes it can cause.

They continued to wonder if there was anything she could actually do — instead of medication — maybe a diet for polycystic ovary syndrome or lifestyle changes that Danielle should consider? They read a scientific article that described many of Danielle’s symptoms, but focused on depression, anxiety, and weight gain, in addition to infertility.

Not what she wanted to hear.

She was also frustrated with her oily skin and new acne that was breaking out on her face and shoulders. She hadn’t had problems with her skin since she graduated from high school!

But wow — as they began to understand depression and anxiety, she realized she was struggling with those symptoms, too. She just didn’t want to see herself that way. Neither of them had ever had these symptoms before, so this was new ground. And she had been gaining weight in the last year.

The more Danielle learned, the worse she felt about herself. Her body was the obstacle to their starting the family they both wanted so much. She also was ashamed of the way she looked.

They read more articles that described how PCOS seemed to be linked to shorter life spans, because of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes, cancer in the uterus, and cardiovascular disease.

So the pressing question rose in their minds: How could they get this under control?? She felt like PCOS was out to destroy her.

They read about medications that might help … and the risks that accompanied those medications. Danielle and Zach had a lot of talking ahead of them.

What To Do?

Zach had been watching his wife’s health and outlook deteriorate over the last year and a half. He was deeply concerned, but felt at a loss to help. However, all this information they’d discovered made him feel they were on a path of discovery to find out what they could do about it.

Knowledge is power, right?

They searched together for treatment options, and learned about medications for Type 2 diabetes, medications to prevent the hair growth and acne, medications to help Danielle ovulate, medications for depression and anxiety, and on and on.

They both found the idea of taking so many medications unsettling, especially if they were able to find a way to conceive. So they kept reading.

One Saturday morning, as they sipped coffee, they were reading more articles, and came across an article by Michael Monostra about seven studies that analyzed the use of a ketogenic diet for polycystic ovary syndrome. The article referred to this specialized diet as an intervention, rather than a means of losing weight in the traditional sense.

Ketogenic Diet as a Treatment

It turned out that in these studies, women participated in this nutritional intervention for at least 6 weeks, and as a result their reproductive hormone levels improved considerably.

They read that the ratio of luteinizing hormone (LH) to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is normally around 1:2, but in women with PCOS it’s higher, around 2:3. This high LH needs to be brought down to balance with the FSH to reduce the symptoms and the infertility of PCOS.

These studies found that the dietary intervention of a ketogenic diet for polycystic ovary syndrome, actually did just that. What? And as a bonus, the women also lost weight. Because a ketogenic diet uses “good fats” to generate energy in cells, body fat is broken down, ketones are generated, and weight loss happens. The ketogenic diet consists of very low carbohydrates, so weight gain slows way down.

And because this results in a balance between LH and FSH, the body can once again ovulate.

Hope began to grow, and Danielle and Zach searched for a way to have medical supervision, and to get help for her depression and anxiety. They found a psychiatry practice that offered Ketogenic Psychiatry.

Hmmmm. Now that’s interesting…

So they checked out the website of that practice, and learned they offered a whole program for using a ketogenic intervention and lifestyle changes for psychiatric and metabolic conditions. There was a dietitian and a whole team who played an integral role in patient treatment. It seemed that this program could possibly help Danielle in multiple ways.

From what they read, a ketogenic diet was not just for PCOS, but was proven to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as eating disorders, cardiovascular symptoms, Type 2 diabetes… even dementia. It was all about making the cells more healthy and resilient by fueling them with ketones.

Zach and Danielle decided to visit the practice together. They search had an individual evaluation—3 different appointments, lots of labwork, body composition testing… it was fascinating. They each got their own personalized treatment. And they loved the face that the doctor and the team joined them on taking walks in nature, meeting new friends on the same journey. Slowly they started to upgrade their food choices.

They discovered they loved eating nutrient-dense healthy food instead of the sugar filled sweets and high carb bread and potatoes they had always relied on. And the processed foods like hot dogs, lunch meat, breakfast cereals, and packaged muffins.

But they never looked back.

Avocados, eggs, cheeses, cream sauces, salmon, scallops, trout, bacon, steak, fresh mushrooms, colorful vegetables, and so many other delicious foods made up their meals. Eating had become a treat.

But more enjoyable was what happened to them. Within several weeks, the brain fog they both had experienced for so long, seemed to just lift. They both had a clarity they’d never really had before.

They wouldn’t have believed it.

Their energy for engaging in life, facing challenges, growing together as a couple, and feeling hope for the future began to permeate their minds and hearts.

Hope Was Growing

Then, it happened. Five months after starting the ketogenic program, Danielle seemed to missed her period. She was worried that the PCOS was causing her menstruation to stop so she went to the gynecologist.

After an examination and checking her urine sample, the doctor came back in her exam room beaming.

“Danielle,” she said. “You’re pregnant!”

“Are you sure?? I have PCOS!”

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re about 6 weeks along. Are you still participating in that ketogenic program?”

“Yes, Zach and I both are. It’s helped us so much, we don’t plan to ever stop. It’s become a lifestyle. We’re both so much healthier and happier. And now we’re going to be a family!!”

“I’m beyond happy for you both. I’m going to contact the author of that article you gave me about PCOS and ketogenic interventions and learn more. This may be a real breakthrough for other women like you. Please make a prenatal appointment for 4 weeks on your way out. And congratulations!!”

Danielle’s feet didn’t touch the ground as she walked to the appointment desk. She couldn’t wait to tell Zach. As soon as she got to the car, she called him.

“Hi Daddy… “

“Huh..? What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. You’re a daddy. I’m 6 weeks pregnant!!!!!”

Zach dropped the phone. She heard all the clunking clatter as he tried to retrieve it.

“Are you serious???””

“YES!!!”

“I love you, Momma!!!”

“Get off work as soon as you can. I’ll see you at home!”

Thirty five weeks later, Danielle and Zach welcomed a beautiful 7lb. baby girl. For the next several weeks they were sleep-deprived, but phenomenally happy. Then, three and a half years after that, they welcomed an energetic 8 lb. baby boy.

The symptoms of anxiety, depression, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, acne, and hair growth on her body had all long subsided. She felt resilient, confident, energetic and hopeful about her life and her family. Danielle could never have imagined a diet for polycystic ovary syndrome could have transformed their lives like it had.

She and Zach had found metabolic balance and were vibrant. They relished their family life with exuberance. And they determined to bring up their children with healthy real foods that give their bodies the best foundation for health.

Consider what Ketogenic Treatment Can Do For You

What about you? Have you noticed how much can go wrong when your metabolism isn’t functioning at its optimum best? Do you suffer from depression, anxiety, brain fog… maybe insulin resistance causing weight gain? Do you have symptoms like Danielle did, or a diagnosis of PCOS?

It’s no less than remarkable what a ketogenic nutritional intervention can do to set your health on solid ground.

If you can relate to any or all of Danielle’s symptoms, and you’re overwhelmed about what to do, call us.

Our Touchpoints 180™ program includes a customized plan by our registered dietitian with real food that you like, nature walks for exercise, relaxation, and fresh air, videos to show you how to prepare simple meals for your ketogenic diet, and lots of support.

We want you to enjoy optimum health, relief from symptoms, and the joys of a clear, bright outlook. Let us help.

To the restoration of your best self,

September 11, 2023
When Your Brain Won’t Work, Can Ketamine Improve Cognition?

What can you do when cognitive function skids to a slow crawl… how can you restore it?

Nelson clattered along the path that followed the lake. His shoes were loose and slapped the ground with each step. He could have stopped to tie them on more snugly, but who cared? He was frustrated and too tired to carry about his shoes. How to fix his situation? When your brain won’t work, can ketamine improve cognition?

He’d been really down for months now, but life had to go on. School had to go on. What could he do — tell them he wouldn’t be coming for awhile because he was ‘downa’? Sounded to him like a great way to get a bucket of zeros.

But it was hard. He couldn’t think of answers to things he could normally answer or even figure out things he could usually figure out. He felt like a genuine nubster. Like gum you chew and chew and spit out, and there it is a sticky blob on the ground. Like that. Useless. Unsightly.

What do you do when your brain won’t work? He talked to his doctor about it last time he had an appointment. She said this was not an unusual thing to happen when you’re depressed. Okayyyyyy…but NOT HELPFUL.

Even if it was true, he needed a solution. Something that would get his mind working for him, rather than against him.

To be honest, he felt like he’d become stupid. Though he had been pretty sharp when he was growing up. But this year, his junior year, he felt like a real dim bulb and didn’t know what he could do about it. He had a feeling it was related to this depression. He used to have a great memory, and now… well, he didn’t. He REALLY didn’t. He couldn’t remember what he’d learned, couldn’t figure things out. Just COULDN’T. ..this depression he was fighting… well it was biting the dirt. He needed his brain back. When your brain won’t work, can ketamine improve cognition?

He walked home with a guy, Roger, who also was seeing a doctor for depression. Nelson decided to talk to him about it and see if he could relate. Anyway, it was nice not having to pretend everything was fine. When they didn’t feel like talking, they didn’t.

“Hey man.”

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Is something up with school? …or I mean, it seems harder right? Maybe I’m off or something. Like… can you keep your grades up? Because I’m having a harder time thinking than I did before this year…and my grades are dropping…”

“Yeah… I’ve had a harder time than before. I talked to my doctor about it…it’s just one more thing to be depressed about, and to feel bad about. One more reason to feel like a failure. Anyway, my doctor talked to my parents and they started talking about IV ketamine treatment. I’m getting it now. Twice a week. I can’t say the change is instant and magical, but I can say the depression is definitely getting better and the problem with thinking is improving, too. I’ll let you know how it goes…”

“IV ketamine. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll talk to my parents about it. This feeling that I’m not smart anymore is really kicking me in the gut. I already feel like a failure and this is making it so much worse. Thanks man. Keep me up to date ok…?”

“You bet. I should tell you that ketamine doesn’t just help the thinking problem. It can give you the feeling that you can accomplish what you want to accomplish…like you have confidence. And hope…. Plus all those feelings of self-criticism, self-hatred, beating yourself up….? That stuff calms down and gets quiet. And it helps you want to get stuff done that you need to do. Hard to describe, but it’s helping me. A lot. I have one more week of treatments left.”

Ketamine. IV ketamine.

So here’s the thing. Major depressive disorder affects more than 16% of people in their lifetime. And among those, nearly 40% of those patients have cognitive dysfunction. That means they experience impaired memory, decision making ability, and problem solving.

One weird word you don’t see much anymore — but is at the root of “cognizant” is — cognize. And that’s what you need to do, but it’s hard to do when you’re depressed. It’s hard to cognize… to grasp, fathom, pick up on things. You may be cognizant that you’re not keeping up. That you’re making mistakes. That problem solving and figuring things out has become harder and harder. Making decisions is harder and harder. But to be able to “cognize” effectively is important. And that’s where “cognitive” comes from.

Cognitive function is the most impaired function as a result of depression, and it’s also the function most improved by ketamine. What a relief! There’s hope!

A research team led by Anna Stippl used the Beck Depression Inventory – II, or BDI-II, to measure depression severity in a group of 47 participants just last year. The BDI-II is one of the most widely used tools used for this. They divided into three categories the elements of the inventory: Cognitive, Affective, and Somatic.

And it turns out that IV ketamine treatment can improve cognition. In fact, the largest reduction in symptom severity following IV ketamine treatment in those categories was in the area of cognition.

So, while IV ketamine treatment reduces Roger’s depression symptoms of lethargy, hopelessness, despair, and wanting to give up…. It also helps his cognition: ability to make decisions, problem solve, find solutions, and set priorities. And it also relieves the body aches, listlessness, lethargy, and lost feeling that seemed to dominate Nelson.

In fact, improved cognitive function has been reported after a single ketamine infusion — yep! — as well as following a series of ketamine infusions.

What about ketamine causes the positive effect ketamine has on cognitive function?

This team suggests it’s the enhanced control in the prefrontal cortex after ketamine infusions, which is mediated by rapid production of new synapses directly related to brain derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.

While there is no easy fix for major depressive disorder, and the cognitive impairment that can go with it, IV ketamine can provide dramatic change in cognition, outlook, behavior, and hope.

You may think that the purpose of ketamine is to just help you feel better. And it is — though that’s an oversimplification. Because these areas of cognition, mood, behavior, and physical symptoms like body aches, all play a role in how you feel and function. Ketamine helps so much more. It helps when your brain won’t work, ketamine can improve cognition…and make you better on many levels.

IF you have symptoms like Roger or Nelson, and nothing you’ve tried has helped….call us.

We live and work to help you experience relief from your symptoms, like cognitive function, sadness and despair, and listlessness, lack of energy and hopelessness.

You can reach out for hope, better performance, and freedom to pursue the rewarding life you long for.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 31, 2022
Taking a Closer Look at Neuropsychiatric Discoveries About COVID from 2021

As we look back on the discoveries of 2021, we find a collection of enlightening, if somewhat troubling, information.

Not surprisingly, there was a wealth of research to better understand, and fight, COVID-19 in 2021. For instance, the coronavirus’ impact on the brain and theories for how it gets into the brain, have created shocking revelations. Neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID give us information for more effectively fighting this invasive coronavirus.

The current pandemic has presented challenges the likes of which defy memory. The terrible Spanish flu pandemic from the early 20th century lasted for approximately two years.

Since we’re looking down the barrel of a possible third year from COVID-19… or longer….we continue to research this illness to understand how it does some of the things it does.

We were introduced to COVID as a respiratory illness that eventually led to respiratory failure in some patients. That was especially true in those older or with compromised immune systems…or underlying illnesses. And it still is. But at this point, we’re especially concerned about the effect it has on the brain. Neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID are vital in this pandemic.

Illnesses involving the nervous system and psychiatric symptoms are causing researchers to focus on brain damage caused by this virus. Things that have been prevalent are cognitive and attentional symptoms that manifest as brain fog. In addition, psychosis, depression, anxiety, seizures, and suicidal thinking and intent have all become prevalent.

Inflammation of the central nervous system is a likely contributor, and we’ll be talking about that soon.

In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers discussed things like anosmia, which is the inability to smell. (That’s associated with the brain’s olfactory system…) and they’ve also found COVID-19 proteins in the lining of the brain’s blood vessels. They’ve hypothesized about ways the proteins may invade the brain bypassing the blood/brain barrier.

The blood brain barrier is a safety barrier to protect the brain from viruses, bacteria, and toxins. But somehow COVID-19 is getting through this and infecting the brain.

For instance, researchers at University of California, San Diego, published new evidence suggesting how this coronavirus creeps in to access the brain. They discovered that cells called pericytes surround the blood vessels of the brain. These may be acting as Trojan horses, providing a path the pericytes may use to enter the brain. They then multiply and infect the surrounding tissue in the brain.

This research team found that pericytes contain ACE2 receptors, which is a passageway COVID uses to invade cells in the lungs, heart, kidneys, intestines, and arteries. Not until this research were they found in pericytes.

Not surprisingly, getting to the bottom of these methods whereby the virus invades the brain is an urgent and intense focus of current research. The more we research, the more neurological and psychiatric discoveries about COVID emerge.

This team built a living model using nerve tissue from stem cells by which they could study the infection of the brain by COVID more closely, as well as methods by which the virus invades.

From autopsies conducted on people who had died from this disease, they learned that the COVID virus had spread through the brain through blood vessels and cells in the immune system. Just one way neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID are so valuable.

It’s important to note that inflammation can give way to leakage through the blood vessels in the brain.

Patients with long COVID (also called long-haulers) often experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, when they never have before. Seizures. Anxiety. Depression. Suicidal behavior. Even strokes. Finding out how the virus works and how to reverse these effects is an emergent need for medical science.

IV ketamine treatment is an extraordinary treatment for social anxiety, depression, suicidal thinking, substance and alcohol use disorders.

We can’t treat you if you have an active COVID infection. But, we can treat you once your infection has become inactive. For the sake of our other patients, please wait till you have recovered from COVID symptoms and have a negative COVID test.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we go the extra mile to protect you from the COVID virus. When you come in for treatment, you’re protected from infection and can relax.

We’ll meet you at the door and take you directly to your treatment room. Settle into a comfy recliner. Feel free to bring your own soothing music to listen to during your infusion.

We’ve equipped our offices with a plasma cell technology that destroys the DNA of viruses, bacteria, and mold in the air. It’s contained in that little white box you’ll see on the table in each room, and it’s world class. Developed by NASA and the Department of Defense, it’s a no-nonsense method of keeping the environment clean and pure for you during this pandemic.

If you suffer from anxiety, depression, or suicidal thinking, please call us.

But if you also suffer from social anxiety, PTSD, substance or alcohol use disorder, then do call.

IV ketamine treatment is the most effective rapid outpatient treatment available for depression, and is extraordinary in its benefits with these disorders.

Start the New Year feeling good, with burgeoning hope.

Reach out for life-transforming IV ketamine treatment.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 3, 2022
How Flavonoids Protect Your Brain and Make It Work Better

Flavonoids go to bat for you and for your brain. They shield, protect, and fight for you — throughout your brain and over time — to help you flourish. Improve your resilience. Sharpen your mind. Enhance your memory. Prevent brain fog. Protect from conditions associated with dementia. Let’s talk about some of the ways flavonoids do that for you.

We’ll only scratch the surface, but we want you to learn why flavonoids are so important for you to eat every day and how they hit a home run for you. Every day.

Cholinesterase Inhibitors

Flavonoids protect your brain in thousands of ways.

Acetylcholine is responsible for impulse transmission across some of your synapses. But acetylcholine can be pretty scarce in Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia, because it’s broken down by enzymes called cholinesterases. Although we still don’t know the exact cause of Alzheimer’s, there are several things that we see happen in the brain of someone who has it: cholinesterases break down too much aceytolcholine, beta-amyloid plaques deposit, tau proteins get phosphoylated, and oxidative stress reigns.

We’re all scared it could happen to us.

It turns out that cholinesterase inhibitors are one one of the useful therapeutic options to keep acetylcholine in the synapse — long enough to do its job. If the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is missing from the synapse, messages are deterred from traveling across the brain.

In Alzheimer’s, acetylcholine is pretty scarce.

Currently available drugs employ this process to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. (And the same approach is being studied for other neurodegenerative conditions, like Parkinson’s and ataxia.)

There is a critical need for more safe and effective treatments against kind of dementia that all of us fear. The kind that literally makes you lose your mind. A bushel of flavonoids tested against cholinesterases (to see how well they inhibit them) led to quercetin — a flavonol flavonoid (!) — which turned out to be the most active and most effective. It inhibits cholinesterase 76.2%.

You don’t need to buy quercetin. Just eat it. You find quercetin in capers (the most concentrated food source), red onions, shallots, scallions kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, red apples, grapes, berries, cherries, green tea, and elderberry tea.

Free Radical Scavengers

Free radicals are pretty neurotoxic. They are highly reactive atoms with an unpaired electron that live for maybe a fraction of a second… and in that fraction of a second, they can wreck havoc in their search for another electron to stabilize themselves.

They’re produced naturally in our bodies as we break down nutrients (which we can’t avoid), and when we’re exposed to carcinogens in the environment (which we can avoid!).

Free radicals are bad actors. They damage DNA, cross-link proteins and damage them, damage lipids, and even damage cell membranes.

There’s just nothin’ good about ’em.

When they’re on the loose, they disturb the functions of different proteins, lipids, and essential body elements.

In addition, free radicals contribute to inflammatory damage to neurons and the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We see that because we find elevated levels of oxidative stress markers in people with Alzheimer’s.

Another hallmark of AD is that glial cells get activated–but not in a good way! When microglia activate, they generate pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as superoxide anions, and free up nitric oxide to react with superoxide …. and create even more stress on the brain. Inflammatory action in the brain is NEVER a good thing.

Help!

Green tea is brimming with antioxidants. They chelate metals and scavenge free radicals — additional ways that flavonoids protect your brain. The most effective scavenger, though, is EGCG. It inhibits fibril formation during ABeta aggregation and inhibits ABeta-induced cell death–which helps neurons in the hippocampus survive. (ALWAYS a good thing.)

I know this all sounds like alphabet soup. But be assured of this: anything that involves the chemistry of the brain and nervous system is dominated by alphabet descriptions. And we’re not quite finished with that.

As far as Neurotoxins and Neuroinflammatory Modulators are concerned, flavonoids come to the rescue again.

Scientific evidence implies that flavonoids may counteract underlying mechanisms of neuronal injuries which can slow down and block the advancement of some neurodegenerative disorders.

For example, drinking green tea may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. It can weaken and slow neurodegeneration as well as help prevent ischemic hippocampal injuries.

Plus, the neuroprotective properties of flavonoids help with other diseases like Huntington’s disease via the ERK pathway. Citrus and blueberries may both slow down and inhibit that kind of neurologic damage.

And what about brain fog?

Flavonoids Improve Your Cognition

For instance, soy foods have isoflavones. They have this wonderful talent to enhance your ability to learn and remember. Why? Because they tend to mimic the way estrogens function in the brain. In addition, they also specifically increase BDNF — so important in creating dendritic branching and arborization — and nerve growth factor (NGF) in the hippocampus and prefrontal regions of the brain.

These are foods like grapes and grape juice, cocoa (eat that 78% dark chocolate!), and blueberries — all improve your cognition. In fact, all those foods plus pomegranate, strawberries, and pure extracts of quercetin and EGCG can improve memory acquisition, help you retain short and long-term memories, and then help you pull those memories back out on a dime and remember when you want to.

Something called the dentate gyrus is highly sensitive to the effects of aging. It is the place where all of your sensory input first merges together to form unique representation and memories. Blueberries can improve the effects of spatial processing (and visual memory) through their action on the dentate gyrus.

All in all, flavonoids protect your brain in lots of ways by aiming their efforts at blocking and weakening the enzymes that produce amyloid plaques which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

They can prevent the behavior abnormalities of AD. And tannic acid improves memory and behavior in AD.

The list of flavonoids that improve memory, block amyloid plaques, and improve conditions for those with AD is astounding. Since medications for Alzheimer’s are only marginally effective, if at all, it begs for more research in using flavonoids in Alzheimer’s and in other neurodegenerative disorders.

But remember that you don’t need to have dementia to benefit from the health giving properties of flavonoids. These same foods — enjoyed over time — can improve your cognition, your memory and recall, and your overall state of alertness now. Enjoy your veggies, your cocoa, and your green tea!

At Innovative Psychiatry, we encourage our patients to feed their brains with antioxidants and flavonoid-rich foods — in all the rich and varied colors they come in. Prevention is the best cure … but once a neurodegenerative disorder creeps in, you can’t go wrong to pound it with flavonoids that protect your brain and specialize in improving cognition.

If you’ve been suffering from symptoms of treatment resistant depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, social anxiety, substance or alcohol use disorders, or suicidal thinking, and treatments so far haven’t helped, call us.

IV ketamine treatment is a series of ketamine infusions that can be extraordinarily effective in your brain to relieve those symptoms. By working in multiple areas of your brain, ketamine can restore and proliferate synapses that will set your symptoms on their ear. It’s a remarkable treatment. Over a short series of infusions, you can find yourself emerging from a dark hole of symptoms and finding you have the light, energy, and hope you need to invest in your life again.

When you come to receive your treatment, you’ll be surrounded by a soft, spa-like atmosphere—quiet, zero gravity heated recliners, rooms with skylights, windows, treetops, or very low light — we’ve created it all so that you can fully relax. Gorgeous. Clean. We even use super high-tech plasma cell technology to destroy 99.999% of all viral and bacterial DNA from the air and so powerful it can lift and destroy it from surfaces! It was developed by NASA and the Department of Defense, and has been tested in hospitals around world. We are the first ketamine practice in the USA to offer this. So you can focus fully on making the most of your treatment without worrying about the Delta variant while you’re here.

All of our staff is vaccinated—it’s mandatory. (You should demand nothing less.) And we are PCR-tested every week at our expense by a private molecular DNA lab nearby. It’s concierge service for us — and for you.

Everyone is different — and every brain is unique — so ketamine doesn’t work for everyone. (Nothing works for everyone.) But the percentage of those who don’t benefit is so small that odds are it will be transformative for you.

If you’d like to make an appointment for an in-depth consult to learn about how this extraordinary treatment could help you, call us.

You’ve struggled long enough. Give yourself the opportunity to feel restored, so you can pursue the life you want to build.

To the restoration of your best self,

August 30, 2021
Flavonoids: What they are, Where you get ’em, and Why they’re so Important for your Brain.

Remember brain fog? Let’s talk about the role diet plays in your mental well-being, cognition, and health. We’ve discussed the microbiome, and nutrients that are good for your outlook. But let’s go deeper.

It’s time to talk about flavonoids, since flavonoids impact your vulnerability to serious degenerative brain disorders. Like Alzheimer’s, for instance. Your outlook is important, but avoiding Alzheimer’s is vital. You’ve seen flavonoids in the news (and probably on the cereal box) right..? And you had to wonder about flavonoids: what they are…what they do, are they good or bad..? Let’s talk about them in more general terms today, then next week we can look more closely at the details like how they protect you from neurodegenerative disorders and more.

Bottom Line — You Need ‘Em! Probably more than you’re getting. So let’s dig in.

Flavonoids are natural compounds found in plants. They’re made from phenylalanine, and found predominantly in the green pigments in plants. And they have a long history of medical use in treating a variety of ailments. These compounds dominate therapeutic agents because they’re widely disseminated, incredibly diverse, and easy to isolate.

Researchers who identify and work with flavonoids list over 7000 in medicinal plants, fruits, vegetables, and wines.

Incredible, right?

Flavonoids: What They Are… and Can They Be A Way To WARD OFF Dementia..?

A paper published in 2019 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, by researchers in Chile, Pakistan, Canada, and South Korea, provides a wonderful summary of the sources, chemistry, and importance of flavonoids — not only for improved health, but for protection from debilitating neurological disorders.

Listen up.

You’ve probably seen the word on food labels and in articles about diet and nutrition. But what does this word even mean??

These are naturally occurring compounds that dominate the components in the green pigments of plants. Through the ages, we’ve used them to treat various maladies.

Why? Because flavonoids are also the major building components for various drugs. (They’re used by people who want plants to be their medicine as well as scientists who develop innovative medicines.)

Flavonoids have the ability to bind with various proteins in the body and to modify chemical transporters, enzymes, hormones, DNA… chelate heavy metals and scavenge free radicals. (At this point you should be saying, I want some of that!)

Put another way, they boast strong antioxidant properties.

In addition to all this, recent research determined that ingesting flavonoids as part of your diet significantly improves cognitive capabilities. It can inhibit the neurodegenerative processes that occur with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Types of Flavonoids – They’re Extensive

Now, there is a mountain of biochemistry to explain this, but suffice it to say, these little compounds can be life altering in the best sense. In terms of prevention, flavonoid-rich foods like cocoa, green tea, blueberries, citrus fruits, cereals, and red wine, can launch a multitude of beneficial processes for proteins that protect and manage nerve pathways, as well as multiply and strengthen different types of brain and nerve cells. More flavonoid-rich foods include onions, leeks, broccoli, celery, parsley, tomatoes and soy products.

There are so many types of flavonoids that the list is too extensive for us here. But the classifications include isoflavones, neoflavonoids, flavones, flavonoids, flavonones, flavanonols, flavanols, anthocyanidins, chalcones — defined by their chemical structure.

(I really was a Chemistry nerd at Wellesley College!)

But what is pertinent for me now — and for you — is what happens when neurological development goes awry.

What Causes Alzheimer’s disease?

Like in the case of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alzheimer’s stands out as a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by gradual, progressive memory loss, cognitive dysfunction, errors and confusion in daily routine activities, and a decrease in intellectual learning. We’re terrified of it. AD affects increasing numbers of adults as they age beyond 65, to 75, 85 and older. Sometimes it starts in people in their 50’s! About 35.6 million people worldwide live with Alzheimer’s today.

But here’s the rub.

We don’t really know what causes Alzheimer’s …yet.

Still?

I knowwww…..

Even so, some important findings have been established — such as deficiency of cholinesterases, deposits of beta-amyloid plaques, hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins, and generation of oxidative stress. They’re all there.

And there are only 5 drugs on the market approved for use in Alzheimer’s. Four of them are cholinesterase inhibitors. The fifth one is a glutamatergic system modifier called memantine.

I get that all this might be a bit much. But what I’m getting to is that there are no effective medicines for Alzheimer’s…. the drugs that are out there can maybe help slow the progression of it.

(But you ask, compared to what? Compared to whom?)

What about this? Since flavonoids are known to block beta-amyloid from forming plaques and tau clustering… since they scavenge free radicals and sequester metal ions… wouldn’t it be a great idea to use flavonoids in the design and development of anti-AD drugs?

Because in addition to those who suffer dementia, people like you and me sometimes just need a little relief from brain fog. Maybe flavonoid rich foods can help with that …?

Why? They not only help get rid of toxins, they also modulate inflammatory actions on neurons.

Huge!

It’s inflammatory factors that create dendritic pruning— the pruning that actually prunes you — and makes you lose energy, interests, enthusiasm, drive, resilience.

We live in concert with our biology, and when our dendrites get pruned, our lives get pruned.

So…what if we incorporated concentrated forms of flavonoids into our diets every day?

At Innovative Psychiatry, we talk to our patients about eating “all the colors” in their diets. The reason is that those rich colors hold treasures for your cognition, balance, focus, and wellbeing. They can also help protect your brain cells from attack by neurodegenerative processes.

If you find that you’ve lost your sense of mental and emotional balance, perhaps due to anxiety or depression, and you’re not feeling in command of your life, call us.

Sometimes you need a boost to achieve a level of remission that empowers you to exercise, eat all your colors, and follow all the other guidelines for wellbeing.

IV ketamine treatment can revitalize your outlook, jumpstart your creativity, and fill in the patience and hope you’ve been needing.

And when you come for treatment, you’ll find a comfy private room with a zero gravity heated leather recliner to help you truly relax and get the most from your infusion. We have space age technology that destroys viruses and bacteria in the air and on our surfaces, to ensure that no matter what the Delta variant is up to, you’re breathing air that is 99.999% safe. (We LOVE that!)

You deserve a jump start on reaching your own remission and joy.

And we’re here to help you experience that fresh footing.

Let’s work together for your fresh start.

To the restoration of your best self,

August 23, 2021
Can’t Think, Remember, or Make Decisions? What to Do About Brain Fog

Thanks to the Delta variant, the pandemic is not over… yet. Impaired cognition has reached a crisis point for many throughout the world.

Elanna walked into the kitchen and laid her hands on the counter top. Why was she here? She looked for her phone, but she was holding it. Well, that was good, at least. She looked around for a hint…water was OFF at the sink. Well, that was good. Finally she remembered her bill she needed to pay by check. So she hurried to her desk to write the check and mail it. What had her son told her to read about…? What to do about brain fog? What was it?

The next morning she found the envelope to pay the bill on her desk. Oh NO!!! That needed to be mailed yesterday!!! So she slipped it into her purse to take it to the post office.

Then her phone rang. It was the box store to schedule delivery for her refrigerator. “Tuesday, between 3pm and 5pm? Yes,I’ll be here.”

Next, she brought in the mail, and felt relieved that at least her bill payment had gone out today, even if it was a day late. A special envelope caught her attention. She pulled at it to free it from the rest of the stack. She recognized the handwriting and eagerly opened it.

A wedding shower for her closest friend’s daughter! On Tuesday at 3:30pm. Wonderful!

She called immediately to RSVP and assured her friend she’d be there with bells on!

Remember Elanna’s bill payment in her purse…? She doesn’t….

The following day she grabbed her purse, stuffing an apple in it on her way out the door in case she got hungry. She made several stops to find just the right gift. It wasn’t easy, because she found herself distracted repeatedly by all the appealing things on display that had nothing to do with a wedding shower.

The weekend was a whirlwind of activity, and finally Tuesday morning arrived. She wrapped her gift, dressed enthusiastically, then rushed out the door for the shower. She had great fun with her friends and their daughters, everyone twittering about Hannah’s wedding.

She asked around, super casually, what they knew about brain fog… and if brain fog was a thing. One of the young women said, “It’s a mental fuzziness, an inability to think clearly, make decisions clearly, that kind of thing.”

After helping with cleanup, Elanna got home at dusk and saw a note on her door. She pulled it off and set it on the kitchen counter.

She was tired, so she picked up her laptop, and sat in the recliner with her feet up.

After a long exhale, and relief in her throbbing feet (heels are such a pain!), she noticed the laptop stilll folded closed in her lap. What was I going to do? She closed her eyes…and drifted off to sleep…then the phone rang. “Hello, I’m calling for Elanna. Would you like to reschedule the delivery of your refrigerator?” Oh no. That was today…..ugghh.

What To Do About Brain Fog… It Affects So Many Aspects of Life

The customer service agent explained she owed another $79.00 for the repeat delivery. (Yikes!). She also encouraged her to go to their website and make a note of the new delivery order number.

Elanna thought, I don’t want to go to their website..! “Can you just give it to me now?”

“No ma’am. My department delivers the appliance. The scheduling department assigns the delivery order numbers. And keep in mind that this number is different than the order number itself. This is about the second delivery. You’ll need this to give to the delivery person so you can be sure you get the correct appliance.”

Elanna looked up the website…then thought, where?? Where do I go? How do I get there? She looked at the menu and there was nothing about deliveries or delivery order numbers. Where do I go???

The phone rang again… this time it was the creditor she thought she had paid. She was sure she mailed it. Then again…

Confusion, scatterbrained mistakes, a feeling of helplessness…can be costly.

Elanna searched her purse, and there, under the stuffed apple, was a crumpled envelope. Oh no….

“I’m sorry. I forgot it was in my purse.”

“ Yes ma’am…be sure to add $25.00 to that check as a late charge.”

Frustration! What Can You Do about Brain Fog??

Elanna was so frustrated she didn’t know whether to cry or scream. But she still hadn’t written that email. She would do that right now. Write to Ben, Write to Ben, Write to Ben, she murmured to herself so she wouldn’t forget by the time she got into her email. So many unread new messages! So much junk that needed clearing out. After a quick hello, telling him about a couple of events of the week, she transitioned to her real reason for writing.

But.. her mind was blank. And she felt blank. She didn’t remember what she had meant to say very clearly…it was all mottled and tangled in her mind…like a wisp of dust floating away. She finally wrote that there was just so much going on…and closed out the email. It was quick, insubstantial, and pretty meaningless.

How frustrating!

What in the world was wrong with her? She pushed the laptop aside, and went to the kitchen for ice cream. Elanna needed a BREAK!!!

And what about you? Have you noticed your mind is foggier than it used to be? Do you think less quickly, calculate more slowly…or have trouble with creative problem solving? When you write that cover letter or that email, is it clunky and poorly composed?

Oh to be able to think again!

Actually, neuroscientists have found that this reduced cognition — what we’re calling brain fog here — is a widespread problem for people in all walks of life.

There seems to be no question that the pandemic plays a huge role. All the depression, anxiety, and PTSD, not to mention alcohol use and substance use can blur cognition for so many.

In addition, there’s a surge of concern among physicians and neurologists that we’re actually in a global cognitive crisis.

Listen up.

We now know that 50% of people who recover from the COVID-19 infection suffer from brain fog and fatigue. 50%! Many experience ongoing difficulties in executive function, cognitive control and just overall decreases in cognition that lead to disability and impaired functioning and sometimes, disability.

An over arching fear among health experts is that these deficiencies could go on and on — for years.

The cognitive skills we’re talking about include the ability to focus attention, to perceive, register information, lay down memory and retrieve it, as well as difficulties with word finding, language and reasoning.

Besides being potential long-haul symptoms of COVID-19, impairments in many of these skills are also common (but poorly recognized) features of depression, anxiety, autism, PTSD, dyslexia, OCD, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, as well as being found in ADHD and dementia.

Add to this, the fact that the world population is aging … and that will heighten this cognition crisis. Experts say that by 2060, the number of people 65 and older is expected to double.

Makes you stop and think. And gulp.

Who’ll take care of them all… errr…I mean all of us?

85% -94% of people with acute depression suffer cognitive impairment. Brain fog.

So what can YOU do about brain fog?

The Role of Psychiatric Conditions in This Cognitive Decline

Look at depression, and you’re looking at over 264 million people across the globe who suffer from it. Depression not only lowers mood and zest for life, but it also impairs cognition, attention focus, memory, information processing, decision making skills, cognitive flexibility, and executive functioning.

The fact is that 85%-94% of people with acute depression experience cognitive impairment. Once you reach remission from depression, you can still suffer cognitive impairment. 40-45% of people who achieve remission report cognitive impairment in at least one area.

This is huge.

And so pressing that neurologists are working hard to develop forms of cognition remediation therapy.

So far, cognitive remediation therapy shows promising. Combining holistic approaches to diet and health, exercise, cognitive training, antidepressant therapy, and neuromodulation seems to help.

And of course, if your treatment for depression, PTSD, drinking isn’t working for you, IV ketamine treatment could be just the ticket.

Bottom line, we want remission for you. Restoration of resilience and cognitive restoration.

How cool would that be??

A Ketogenic Diet May be a Promising Option for Improved Cognition and Clearing Brain Fog

It could feel so good to have the fog clear.

We work with ketogenic diets in many of our patients. (One of the many ways we’re at the forefront in our field – and why we get such good results.)

Of course, some find that overwhelming, unappealing, or inconvenient. But we educate, empower, and motivate our patients to consider all their options so they can surge forward and reclaim their best selves.

We can help you leverage your gut microbiome with food rather than too many probiotics, flavonoids for improved cognitive functioning, and your own ketones as a fantastic energy source for the mitochondria in your brain (and throughout your body) — without the brain fog or food coma that can accompany carb and sugar surges.

Mitochondria are tiny organelles in the cell that produce the energy needed to power that cell.

It’s a brilliant concept, and a novel treatment approach for mood and anxiety disorders (and in our hands even in chronic anorexia!) but you rarely hear psychiatrists talk about it

But we will. Lots more to come.

Meanwhile, one option is to treat the disorder that may be contributing to brain fog with IV ketamine treatment. While we’re not portraying that IV ketamine kills brain fog, we know that brain fog that happens with some psychiatric disorders can improve when the disorder is treated.

A few studies, between 2015 and as recently as 2020, have reported sone improvement in brain fog with IV ketamine treatment. So that’s promising, too.

You’ll be able to relax in a quiet and soothing treatment room to make the most of your ketamine treatment.

At Innovative Psychiatry, many patients ask what to do about brain fog. Of course, everyone is different and the kind of brain fog and the reasons behind it are different. The work-up, the recommendations for exercise, ketogenic and metabolic diets, the lifestyle changes — are specific to you, and to your ongoing struggle with anxiety, trauma, or mood. All of these things together can make a noticeable difference.

If there is enough difference that you can write a knockout piece of copy, complete assignments and projects, draft a quick email, pick up the house — then that’s going to improve your life. And that may be just the beginning.

Do you find you have brain fog, in addition to anxiety, depression, or trauma that just lingers? If so, call us.

Let’s talk about options that can help.

When you come for treatment, you’ll find a lovely, relaxing private room with a heated zero-gravity recliner to help you get the most from your treatment. Don’t let the gorgeousness fool you. We’ve installed hospital-grade plasma cell technology to remove all viruses, bacteria, and mold from the air and hard and soft surfaces…yes, including the Delta variant! So you can rest assured knowing you’re safe from infection in our offices.

Sometimes the symptoms attached to a disorder make the disorder so much more unbearable.

We look forward to meeting you and working together with you to help you know hope.

To the restoration of your best self,

July 26, 2021

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