Innovative Psychiatry
In the last several years, a medicine began to emerge as a remarkable treatment for mood disorders. It was developed and FDA approved for anesthesia around 1970. Over 25 years later… it began to show its colossal hidden ability. What sort of ability? The power to relieve depression and other psychiatric disorders in a most dynamic way. Disorders like PTSD, bipolar depression, postpartum depression, addiction, social anxiety, and even eating disorders respond to this extraordinary treatment that involves a series of IV infusions. And perhaps the most remarkable of all, ketamine infusions can erase suicidal thinking in a few short hours. These articles about ketamine treatment are presented here to dispel stigma about psychiatric conditions and to give hope about treating them.
Researchers tested it with trepidation 10-20 years ago. Then each study built upon the last. Their work revealed more insights about what actually causes depression, and how to treat it effectively. Never before has a medicine helped relieve symptoms in such a wide variety of people and their symptoms.
Ketamine works in multiple areas and systems of the brain. It improves the function of mechanisms that have been impaired by the stress of depression and anxiety. It helps the G proteins that pile up on lipid rafts in the cell membrane slide to off. This equips them so they can do their job enhancing signal transmission.
It also turns on the mRNA switch which in turn flips on DNA to build up brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF). BDNF then causes synapse connections between neurons to proliferate in turbo mode, transforming and replenishing the connections between brain cells all around the brain, lighting it up with information, cognition, creativity, and insight.
There’s more that it accomplishes, like tamping down the cell bursting in the lateral habenula so you can experience the reward of pleasant moments. We don’t know what researchers haven’t discovered yet, but we look forward to hearing what’s next.
The results of IV ketamine treatment are transformative. Those who have been weighted under a blanket of lethargic apathy and despair typically find they feel better and better after treatment. They often find they have the energy and motivation to dive into tasks they couldn’t face in recent memory.
More patients with treatment resistant conditions respond to ketamine than any other medicine available. It may sound odd, but the patients it helps the most are those who suffer the most from severe disorders. With continued research, neuroscience researchers and psychiatrists are learning methods of administration that help more and more patients enjoy a rapid and robust response,.
As a result, these individuals enjoy renewed hope. They express amazement at their energy for life and work, and an overall transformation in what they enjoy and are able to accomplish. They report a more balanced and joyful outlook, and the desire to rebuild and strengthen their relationships.
With all the good IV ketamine treatment accomplishes, some people still don’t respond to it at all. The percentage of people who don’t respond is comparatively small, and we need to see more studies that can help explain why.
There are others who have a significant response initially, then the response fades. One reason for that may be they have a deficiency of certain components in their blood. They may have a low folate level, or low testosterone, and some other deficiencies. In cases like this, sometimes replacing those nutrients helps that patient respond to ketamine treatment and experience resilience again. There are even cases where a patient’s blood levels are normal but the levels of certain components in their cerebral spinal fluid is low. By replacing that deficiency, the patient is able to enjoy a very positive and robust response to ketamine treatment.
Neuroscience is gaining knowledge by leaps and bounds in the 21st century. We hope to see more and more medicines that work as well as ketamine for those who have not yet been helped.
These articles about ketamine expand on those things we learn from neuroscience research in the labs, as well as those things we learn from research in our practice.
Is TIME Telling the Truth about Ketamine? In the most recent issue of TIME magazine (7/27/17), the cover story by Mandy Oaklander celebrates the potential of ketamine treatment for depression. While we’re thrilled to see ketamine’s remarkable benefits for psychiatric mood disorders broadcast to such a large readership – (26 million!), we’re concerned about misconceptions […]
Let’s talk about anxiety…and phobias. I guess we all have something that gives us the creeps, or we’d just like to avoid, like snakes or spiders, or pet poop. But for some people, there’s a strong persistent reaction to that thing or situation to the point that it’s amplified far beyond the actual potential danger […]
Life-Changing Email Wonder what it’s like to have a changed life from IV ketamine treatment…? Imagine opening an email that could change your life. Let’s say you’re an IT architect, or a chef, a kindergarten teacher, or a construction worker. And let’s say something happened … something terrible, terrifying, and painful. You might have caught […]
The Range of Bipolar Disorder Bipolar Disorder is a “spectrum” illness with episodes that come in a range of forms (depression, mania, hypomania, mixed episodes, dysphoric hypomania) … cycles that can turn on a dime (episodic, rapid, ultradian) … and severity that ranges up one side and down another. Wait a minute. What? The episodes […]
When Depression Doesn’t Get Better When you’re sick of one more trial. One more dose increase. A new augmentation agent. Another cross taper…reducing dosage on one drug while increasing it with another… When you’re sick of just feeling so sick and tired and miserable. When you can’t stand the thought of gaining more weight. What […]
Another way IV Ketamine SMASHES depression Sometimes news is so hot it sizzles. It lures you away from whatever you’re into. It captivates you. And then — just face it — you think to yourself, with admiration, OMG. You say to yourself … whoever came up with that is brilliant. They nailed it. Well, Mark Rasenik […]
I could use some of that. We hear that all the time. Relief, relaxation and relishing your life can sound so far away … but it doesn’t have to be. As word gets out about IV ketamine treatment for depression and other psychiatric mood disorders, more and more studies are emerging. New information is surfacing […]
Ever have somebody copy you? You know, try to be like you? Imitate what you do, where you go? try to get what you have? They wannabe like you. Well, maybe not just exactly like you — kind of like you and better than you all at the same time. It’s happening with ketamine. We’ve been talking […]
IV Ketamine and Treatment-Resistant Mood Disorders After reading today about a beautiful young man – let’s call him Tom – whose life ended tragically at the crossroads of despair, I started thinking. Like many of my own patients, he had a wondrously warm and giving heart — and a compassionate heart the size of Montana for […]
PTSD Has a New Predator: IV Ketamine He’d seen active combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. His unit had grown close. Tight. Trusted each other with their lives. They’d cheered when word came that Jarrett’s baby had been born. They’d gotten drunk with Ben when his mom died. They had each other’s back, and knew each other in […]