Lori Calabrese, MD

Tag: IV Ketamine for Suicidal Thoughts

Ketamine for Bipolar Depression in Teens

Jarrett woke up with the weight of the world on his chest. He was so weighted down, so hopeless, and felt like he’d explode. He went to the kitchen, poured a glass of milk, drank it, and slammed the glass down on the counter. Then stomped outside, gripping his fists at this side. Jarrett didn’t realize he had bipolar depression in teens.

He was fed up with feeling this way. So irritable, sometimes explosive, impatient, and full of shame. He felt like a monster when he was like this. With such a short fuse, he snapped at his family, then stormed out of the kitchen.

Later, at school, he felt saturated with self-loathing and despair. Agitation stirred in him as he went to class and tried to focus. Just sitting in his seat seemed impossible, so he’d ask to go to the restroom just to be able to move around. And he dreaded going back to class. So he messed around, procrastinated going back. Finally, he returned to the classroom and folded his arms, stared at his lap, and just sat there until class was over.

This misery wasn’t new to Jarrett. He had been struggling with bipolar depression in teens for two or three years… just irritability at first, but then one day his parents had said something to him about inappropriate behavior and it cut him to the quick.

Suddenly, he felt himself getting angrier and angrier, and spewing words with an intensity he never had before. His mind was swirling with panic and offense, and he felt utterly betrayed.

The shocked look on their faces revealed they didn’t understand his reaction. He felt justified in his rage, more than he ever had before. The pain he felt from their accusation was the deepest he had ever felt. They could see he was genuinely hurt, but couldn’t understand why he felt so strongly.

And that was the beginning.

After that, other situations and disagreements led to similar reactions. His forceful words were peppered with profanity and vulgarity. Sometimes the culmination of this upheaval gave way to Jarrett storming out the door, ignoring their calls for him to come back.

Sometimes he was gone an hour, sometimes two or three. But he usually eventually returned in a calmer frame of mind, sometimes sorry for his outburst.

As he got older, the outbursts grew louder and went on longer. Then he began to form friendships with more troubled kids his age. His parents grew increasingly more worried and tried to influence how he spent his time. But it became more and more difficult to supervise him.

They were afraid for him, and made an appointment with a psychiatrist to try to get him help. The doctor diagnosed Jarrett with bipolar I disorder. Jarrett grew darker, and more depressed… and hopeless. They could hardly get him out of bed. He missed school because he just wasn’t functioning. Bipolar depression in teens can be so debilitating that school attendance can become almost impossible.

He seemed to sleep around the clock. Getting him to wake up and go to a doctor’s appointment was difficult…sometimes next to impossible. When they finally did, the doctor prescribed some medicines, some of which had intense side effects. Jarrett’s tolerance for the added difficulties caused by the medicines wore thin.

The medicines weren’t making much of an improvement in how he felt, and the side effects were complicating his misery.

He didn’t want to live like this any more. He wanted to die.

Finally, Jarrett read online about IV ketamine treatment for bipolar depression. He read about people who had been greatly helped by it. Even though it wasn’t a solution for all his symptoms, it might help resolve the depression symptoms that wound their way through everything.

When he told his parents about IV ketamine treatment, they searched online for more information, and for a psychiatry practice that offered it. They called the doctor who diagnosed Jarrett’s bipolar disorder to see if he would provide it, but he told them he didn’t offer it. Then they found a psychiatrist who offered IV ketamine treatment and made an appointment.

After a thorough evaluation, he began his first infusion treatment.

That afternoon after the infusion, he didn’t feel quite as deeply depressed, but he wondered if it was just that he was hopeful that this treatment would help. Sort of a placebo maybe?

The infusion was a new experience. He felt like he was floating and had sensations and images in his mind. It felt like he was moving through time and space. Overall, it was pleasant, and a bit curious.

A few days later, he went for his second infusion. That evening, he definitely felt a mild improvement. It wasn’t his imagination this time. He could tell something was changing. The difference was mild, but a great relief. Jarrett wondered if this was the full result of the treatment.

But, the following week he went for his third infusion and felt even better afterward. His hope was growing.

The 4th, 5th, and 6th infusions led to his feeling better and better and better. And in the weeks that followed his outlook continued to improve. He still needed treatment for his manias, but they didn’t come that often, and the freedom from depression made it so much easier for him to manage his school work.

Jarrett had hope for the first time in years.

He began to focus on his schoolwork to make up the time he had lost. For the first time since third grade he felt like he might have a future after all.

Bipolar disorder is the 4th leading cause of disability in young people ages 10-24. Often diagnosed in adolescence, it can wreak havoc during your teen’s formative years. Symptoms like emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and irritability can show up during earlier childhood before mania appears. Bipolar depression in teens is a severe form of depression that can interrupt your child’s childhood and adolescence, interfering with their normal growth and development, distorting their perceptions of themselves, and crushing their ability to succeed.

IV ketamine treatment can be transformative for your teen. The chaotic symptoms of bipolar disorder can scramble your child and make it difficult for him to focus on goals. When symptoms of depression disappear, the illness can become much more manageable. Your teen can feel more in control of his life.

Kids don’t understand when these symptoms emerge in them. They often feel angry and justified in their anger, incensed that they would be challenged. (Sounds like adolescence, doesn’t it? The difference is the intensity of the anger, how misunderstood they feel, and a cluster of other symptoms at the same time.) That son or daughter you were able to reason with in the past may no longer negotiate or cooperate.

If he or she seems irrational, panicked, and possibly violent, get help. This may not be a war of wills, but a mood disorder.

We can help.

To the restoration of your best self,

August 8, 2022
If Your Teen is Thinking of Suicide: Save Her with IV Ketamine

Shannon was 13 and woke up almost every morning disappointed to realize she was still alive. Her last thought before falling asleep was usually hoping, praying, she would not wake up in the morning. Her misery was difficult to describe but it involved every aspect of her life — parents and family, her school work, her friends, and her health. Shannon knew something was wrong. But didn’t know what IV ketamine could do. (When your teen is thinking of suicide, she may not even realize that’s where that could really go.) Her mom always said, “If everything and everyone around you seems wrong, maybe it’s time to look at yourself.”

She did look at herself, and didn’t blame anyone else for her frame of mind. She didn’t intend to be creating trouble of any kind…she just felt so bad…so, so bad. Shannon felt like a failure at school, always hearing from her teachers that she was she was “not living up to her potential.” She couldn’t focus, didn’t have the drive to do her assignments or study. And coping with other kids at school every day was painful and exhausting. She had nothing to say, and people shunned her because they thought she was standoff-ish.

Shannon didn’t intend withdraw, but it was all she could do. Her social anxiety was cruel and crippled her efforts at connecting with anyone.

She didn’t feel like her parents understood her, and her brother and sister never stopped ribbing her and poking at her.

Her parents would have sit-down talks with her and try to whip up her motivation, her commitment to her “responsibilities” … and it just discouraged her all the more. It proved to her what a failure she was.

They thought she would grow out of it, that time would just eventually give her a little boost, or that she would find a surge to enjoy life.

So they waited.

Shannon thought about dying often, but didn’t know if she had the courage to take action.

Months and months of this without improvement led Shannon’s parents to find a therapist and psychiatrist for her, and they put all their hopes on this treatment. Over the next year, fruitless talk, prescribed medication, adjusted doses, and then new medication…. brought no improvement.

Shannon had lived with this despair, hopelessness, anxiety, and listlessness, as well as feeling utterly worthless, for years — and she just couldn’t do it anymore. It seemed pretty clear to her that the rest of her life would be like this. The only solution was to stop living.

Then at school, a girl in her class told her she’d been in class with her for two years and noticed Shannon always seemed to carry a burden. Since she’d herself been deeply depressed, and had been a teen thinking of suicide, she thought she recognized it in Shannon.

She said, “I just want you to know you’re not alone. I’ve been there.”

Shannon told her she didn’t know why she felt so bad, and turned to walk away. The girl, Christy, rushed to catch up.

“Do you ever feel like you want to die? I did, and I wonder if it’s the same for you,” Christy offered.

“All the time,” Shannon responded.

“Would you like to meet up after school? Maybe we could hang out…talk…?”

Shannon was hesitant. She didn’t really know Christy that well, though they’d been in classes together. She was afraid she wouldn’t have anything to say. It would take energy she didn’t really have. ….Still, Christy seemed to understand what she was going through. She pushed herself to accept.

“Ok.”

They met and walked to Christy’s car. She drove them to a cute little place that served frozen yogurt.

They each got a cup and found a table. Before long, Shannon was talking about her situation and Christy listened, seeming to know how to ask the right questions.

Finally Shannon asked, “How do you know so much about all this? You seem fine.”

Christy told her about her own depression, how desperate she had felt, how hopeless. Then she read about a treatment that turned out to be her answer.

“IV ketamine treatment.” It’s used for anesthesia, but in the last 10 or 15 years it’s become a pretty amazing treatment for depression. It’s not like the pills you’ve tried. Some people feel great after the first infusion. For others, it takes a few infusions before they feel better. In general, the treatment requires a series of infusions, 6 or 8 or so, maybe more, and it can transform the way you feel. It’s hard to describe, but my suicidal thoughts stopped — it was like poof! — and my depression completely lifted.

“The reason I approached you, is because I know what it’s like to be deeply, dangerously depressed. I know the thoughts you probably have, and I wanted you to know there is hope. If there is anything I can do to help, I will.”

After Christy took Shannon home, Shannon talked to her parents. She told them about her talk with Christy and her desire to look into IV ketamine treatment. They all looked online for more information, to understand the risks and benefits.

Christy had given Shannon the name of the doctor who had provided the treatment for her so Shannon gave it to her parents. Before bed, Shannon’s mom gently asked her if she had had any thoughts of dying. She thought maybe her teen is thinking of suicide.

Shannon stared at her hands.

Her mom told her that in her research of IV ketamine, she had learned that ketamine was especially good for suicidal thoughts. That it can actually erase those thoughts.

“Shannon, honey, hang on. Tomorrow I’ll call and get you an appointment. Let’s see what this treatment can do. Will you hang on with me?”

Shannon nodded.

The next day, her mom made an emergency appointment and took Shannon in for a comprehensive consultation and she was able to get a ketamine infusion that same afternoon.

Within a couple hours, Shannon’s suicidal thoughts stopped. The depression didn’t feel much better yet but the thoughts and images of killing herself were gone. They made appointments for the rest of the series of infusions.

After the second infusion, Shannon thought she might feel slightly better. Still hopeless, despairing, and without energy, but she got out a book from English class and began to read an assignment.

She hadn’t made any effort with school in months. Initiative, her mom thought.

Then, after the third infusion, she could tell she was feeling better. Like sparks of light were seeping through the darkness of the last few years. From that point, she continued to feel better and better. After her 7th infusion, she was laughing, talkative with her family, sometimes singing under her breath. And as time went by she just kept improving. She worked with her teachers and explained her story, and made arrangements to make up her missed work.

Her parents were flabbergasted at the change they saw in her. She completed the year with A’s and B’s in every class, and enjoyed her school work… was motivated to excel. She talked on the phone with friends… and even went on a few dates.

Shannon and Christy became good friends, with their common history of depression and recovery. And together they reached out to other teens who were thinking of suicide.

Teen suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people between the ages of 10 and 14. It’s the second leading cause of death in people aged 15 to 24. It’s extremely important to recognize signs of depression as well as signs of suicidal thinking in teens and take action.

Because teens can be impulsive, suicide is a higher risk at this stage of life. The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the mid twenties, so executive decision making can be impaired. Teens may not think of the consequences of a decision that an adult over 30 is more likely to consider.

In addition, while depression is a serious risk factor for suicide, about half of those who commit suicide did not have symptoms of depression.

Some people can seem fine, are productive and excelling in life, when they cause their own death. So it’s important to talk with your teen about suicide in an open and matter-of-fact manner. Check in with them often.

Be sure your family is familiar with the new hotline for suicide: 9-8-8.

And know that IV ketamine treatment is available to help you recover. It’s not a fluke or a passing trend. (People might have thought that years ago when I first started providing this treatment.) Ketamine has been used for over 50 years safely. You may hear people disparage this amazing medicine as a horse tranquilizer, a psychedelic used on the streets as Special K, and other misnomers. The fact is that it’s been used in combat since the Vietnam war, is used for an anesthetic for humans and animals — and in the 21st century, it’s been studied and used effectively for depression, and other mood disorders. Like most good medicines for pain, ketamine has also been abused as a party drug for its dissociative properties.

But make no mistake.

IV ketamine is one of the most, if not THE most, effective depression treatments available. It has a broad effect on the brain in the hippocampus, amygdala, the prefrontal cortex and the lateral habenula. It turns on mRNA which switches DNA to “ON” and triggers a proliferation of brain derived neurotrophic factor. This in turn acts like a compost to turbo boost the dendrites and dendritic spines on the brain neurons, to vastly multiply connections between brain cells, lighting up the brain with creative thought, bright emotions, hope, and confidence.

When your teen is thinking of suicide — when your child is thinking of suicide— you may recognize the signs… or you may not even dream they’re considering it because they appear so active and successful. Don’t be caught unawares. Encourage your kids to talk about their feelings. And know that a self-reliant successful person can be suicidal without showing signs.

Our goal is to help those who feel trapped in their frame of mind and in suicidal thoughts. Ketamine can stop suicidal thinking even before depression lifts—and that’s ok. It can save a life. It can save your life.

If you feel like Shannon, or worry about your own suicidal thoughts, call us.

We’ll help you with the best ketamine treatment available to be free of those thoughts, and give you the time you need to pull in everything you need to get better.

You’re not alone. We’re here to help.

To the restoration of your best self,

August 1, 2022
Ketamine for Teenage Depression: How To Set Your Teen on Solid Ground

Brittney dressed for school and left for the bus. She waited 20 minutes then slipped back into the house and slid under the bed. And she waited. She couldn’t face school…. all the kids who she felt judged her. The sleepiness that made it impossible to pay attention in class. The expectations from teachers she couldn’t meet. What can set a teen on solid ground? Brittney didn’t know about ketamine for teenage depression, so she had no hope that anything would change.

She wasn’t intending to do anything dishonest, she was just trying to survive. School was a problem she didn’t know how to solve. She had no energy or drive for homework, for the tension of being around people all day she had no rapport with. Every day, every day, every day…it never stopped.

She felt she would be trapped in this misery forever. So she found a safe place to avoid it.

Under her bed there was no pressure. No tension from unfulfilled expectations. No students asking her intrusive questions.

“Are you on something? You always sleep in class… What do you do at night?”

“No.”

“Why do you always sleep?”

“I don’t know.”

She just couldn’t stay awake. And she didn’t want to, anyway.

When it was time to be arriving home from school, she slipped out of the house… And when the bus stopped she walked into her home by the front door, went upstairs and watched TV. Teen depression can drive them to do desperate things.

Her mom came in. “Hi Brittney, how was your day?” “Fine.”

“Do you have homework?”

“I finished it at school.”

“Well, that’s good.”

Her mother never suspected she was not going to school until the teacher’s conference. And it came out that she … a former “A” student… was failing from missed homework, absence from class, and missed tests.

After a long talk, and lots of tears, Brittney’s mom realized her daughter needed help. And that was the beginning of a long, painful road. Brittney wasn’t thumbing her nose at the system, she was trying to survive. Her mom racked her mind to find solutions, but didn’t know about ketamine for teenage depression.

For years, we’ve been fighting a crisis of adolescent depression, bipolar depression, anhedonia, PTSD, social anxiety , substance and alcohol misuse, addiction, and suicide. As teens like Brittney drop out of adolescent society to withdraw into a seemingly safe, though dark place, they need someone to reach out and help.

Someone who recognizes their misery and is willing to help them discover how to find freedom and joy. Because these symptoms aren’t a natural part of adolescence. Misery isn’t a required rite of passage … so if your teen is exhibiting a sullen withdrawal, they may very well need treatment rather than punishment.

Because here’s the thing.

Adolescence is a challenging time with hormone fluctuations, changes in self image, reduced energy associated with fast growth and less sleep, and the problems that arise from being suspended between childhood and adulthood.

It’s no walk in the park to be a teenager, or the parent of one.

But it’s not an illness. When you see symptoms of illness, that’s the time to seek help.

And when it comes to illness… i.e., a psychiatric disorder…finding people who can help and a treatment that works can be easier said than done.

Some teens want to see a therapist and some refuse. Some respond to oral medication and some don’t. If your teen can take a pill and feel better, function better, and get better, wonderful. But if he or she doesn’t respond, something else needs to be done. These are formative years when your teen is forming ideas about who he is and what he wants his future to hold.

To let time go by without helping them feel their best is blocking that development. But it’s possible to help set your teen on solid ground.

And for that, stop and consider IV ketamine treatment.

Effective with a broad percentage of people, and responsible for helping so many more achieve remission, IV ketamine is a novel and advanced treatment that can be used for teens be used who suffer with psychiatric disorders like the ones we’ve talked about.

There has never been a medication that helps everyone, but no medication we use has ever helped so many as quickly as IV ketamine has. It doesn’t help everyone — but in our practice, it does help most of those who need it. And when it helps, it can transform.

If your teen struggles with anxiety about school, or social anxiety, or depression that hasn’t gotten better, or PTSD, IV ketamine treatment may be just the thing to relieve those symptoms and give him or her the chance to start the year on solid ground in high school or college.

It’s normal to be a little nervous about a new experience, but if your teen is depressed rather than excited about going to school, meeting new people, living in a dorm, and tackling harder classes, he or she may need the boost that IV ketamine for teenage depression can give.

If you start now, you have time to benefit from a series of infusions before school starts.

Back-to-school treatment to restore resilience and hope is far more important than back-to-school clothes shopping. Take advantage of 21st century neuroscience so that your teen (or you, if you’re a teen) can reap the benefits of IV ketamine treatment.

Let us help you prepare your child for the challenges ahead. Call us now.

Set your teen on solid ground and equip her to meet the demands.

Sometimes it takes a village.

To the restoration of your best self,

July 25, 2022
When You Need Resilience, IV Ketamine’s Got Your Back

Chronic Illness Creates Physical Stress

Janie has a chronic illness that causes her to be admitted to the hospital — often the ICU — relatively frequently. Her condition becomes urgent, throwing her electrolyte balance, her pH balance, and her other systems into disarray. Each time she’s admitted, she suffers dreadfully with overwhelming nausea, vomiting…. and her awareness dims. Janie needs resilience to get her through these times.

When this happens, she’s under extreme physical stress.

At the same time, Janie fights depression related to feelings of inadequacy because the hospitalizations that occur so often have interrupted the normal development of her life. Being sick has put her life on pause. She blames herself for not building a career, and considers herself “worthless” because of her lack of success in the business world.

So Janie suffers from physical and emotional stress. Unbelievable stress. And expanding shame.

Work Pressure Creates Mental Stress

Brandon has a severely stressful job. As a manager in a fast-paced, intense environment, he is constantly bombarded with problems that need to be resolved. Things his team members are not in a position to solve themselves. The mental stress of this constant bombardment prevents him from having even a few minutes to recover. Brandon works from 8am to 10pm… and often through the weekend. Sometimes the bombardment continues far into the night.

He has very little time with his family, and wonders how long he can hold up under this prolonged onslaught of demands. The mental strain he experiences threatens to break him.

Janie and Brandon need a heaping dose of resilience. We can think of resilience as the power to quickly bounce back and recover from extreme stress.

Stress can be emotional, mental, or physical. All three types of stress can prune and wear down the synapses, or connections, between brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. According to research, the prefrontal cortex has heavy connections to the emotion-linked areas of the brain in people with a lot of resilience.

You NEED those connections.

Resilience Can Diminish if Not Supported

While it’s true that the prefrontal cortex is heavily connected to the emotions in a resilient person, non-stop stressors can still wear down those connections and resilience can wane. When your resilience is high, you have incredible flexibility of thought. But as your resilience diminishes, so does that flexibility. So does the synaptic plasticity that creates it.

There is a plethora of neurotransmitters that play a part in resilience: norepinephrine, neuropeptide Y, galanin, corticotropin releasing hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), dopamine, serotonin, abrineurin (BDNF), and allopregnanolone (ALLO). These neurotransmitters and proteins are an integral part of the networks that help create resilience.

And here’s an important point: not only is your gut involved in your response to stress, but large parts of your brain are involved in your response to stressful stimuli. Are you resilient in your response to the stress you face? Resilient people use higher levels of brain power — as in 3 times the number of genes — than those who have less resilience.

Think about that.

Developing Resilience

And how you develop resilience is influenced by your personality, your temperament, physical fitness, and your social support network. Do you see stress as a challenge or a threat….? It’s unclear how much of a role genetics play in developing resilience, but you can improve your ability to recover from stress by choosing an optimistic solution to problems, by honing a problem-solving outlook, by investing yourself in seeking what’s important to you in life and what brings meaning to it for you, by surrounding yourself with people who support and believe in you.

Pushing Yourself to Stretch Beyond Your Comfort Zone

You can also develop your own confidence by pushing the envelope, and see how much you can accomplish under duress… without disrupting your peace of mind. And you can support and help others with their challenges…which helps them and puts your own life challenges into perspective. And, by the way, this keeps your brain engaged in life, projects, work, and pleasure.

Can Janie or Brandon stretch? Can you?

When Janie’s in the ICU, and barely conscious from her severe condition, she’s not in a position to apply these lessons to improve her resilience. But when she recovers—each time she recovers—it’s a good time to think about her outlook, her problem solving, and her optimism.

And when Brandon’s in the throes of one thing going wrong after another at work, he may not be able to think of anything but the pressures that pound him. But when he’s off, he can work on his outlook, his physical fitness, his purpose, and he can choose to surround himself with people who support him and believe in him.

Sounds good, right?
Except when it doesn’t work.

When the onslaughts of stress are severe, they can wear down those connections between brain cells and reduce the neurotransmitters… and it may be just too overwhelming to build resilience.

You may need help with that.

IV Ketamine Can Restore Resilience

IV ketamine can restore resilience. It can build up the connections between brain cells in the prefrontal cortex. It can give you the benefit of turbo charged BDNF to create dendritic growth and spark those connections. The more connections, or synapses, the more you can reach out and the world can reach in. The better you feel.

Then you have the freedom to build your own inner thought life to support the resilience you’ve gained as a result of treatment. It’s a sort of “leg up” to better living and recovery ability.

Do you have stressors that overwhelm you? Have you tried treatments or medications that haven’t helped?

Call us

IV ketamine treatment can set you on higher ground, so you can not only develop resilience but you can maintain it. So you can face difficulty with confidence.

Let’s work together to equip you to thrive — not just cope — with the challenges you face.

You have just one life. Make it a joyful one filled with hope and confidence.

We’re here to help

To the restoration of your best self,

July 11, 2022
PTSD Permeates Our World with a State of Post Traumatic Stress

Since the Uvalde, Texas shooting at Robb Elementary on May 24 where 22 people were killed and 18 wounded, 40 more mass shootings have occurred in this country. As we spoke about in our post Shooters are Terrorizing Us, people who hear or read about these terrible events struggle to make sense of them, and in many cases feel the rise of PTSD. Traumatic events like this are all around us. PTSD permeates our world.

This is National PTSD Awareness Month, and you can help those with PTSD with your awareness and by understanding their pain.

PTSD isn’t limited to soldiers who’ve survived active combat. It’s also a risk for people in domestic violence situations and those who’ve been assaulted. It can also develop in people who’ve survived transportation accidents, those who have survived a vicious divorce, horrible bullying, and so many other terrible and damaging experiences.

Some say the whole world is living in a post-traumatic era.

I say we’re living in an era that’s currently traumatic. There is so much that threatens to fill our lives with trauma. From the deaths and severe illnesses of people we knew and loved related to the COVID pandemic —which is still happening! — to the wildfires, natural disasters, wars and shaken refugees pouring into any country where they can be safe… to the cruel murders carried out by marginalized people who have a hate crime or score to settle.

We’re seeing it all.

Hypervigilance creates a prison of trauma

PTSD permeates our world. Why is that? Maybe because our world is increasingly permeated by experiences that lead to post traumatic stress …. changes within our bodies and our minds characterized by hypervigilance, fear, and hopelessness.

When we speak of hypervigilance, what are we describing? It’s that exaggerated condition of constantly looking around you for potential threats…something or someone who might hurt you. If you experience trauma, the impact of it can stay with you, always threatening to rear its ugly head again.

This state can prevent you from relaxing, enjoying the circumstances you’re in, because of the danger of missing a threat. Your subconscious is constantly scanning for danger. Because it feels like it can be anywhere.

It can make you feel on edge, tense, fearful, and overwhelmed. Post traumatic stress can keep you frozen in fear.

The stress of PTSD that permeates our world wears down and prunes the nerve connections (synapses) in your brain, making it difficult to think of other things, or focus on the people you love. It’s as though you’re on high alert and ready to jump to defend yourself at the smallest surprise or noise.

IV ketamine treatment has proven especially effective with PTSD. It causes those synapses to rebuild and reconnect to give you the ability to relax and enjoy the moments in your life with loved ones and friends.

How does ketamine work?

By triggering RNA to turn DNA “ON,” and to produce BDNF, a growth factor for brain cells that works like fertilizer to get those synapses growing, flourishing, and connecting…. filling your brain with new, robust connections. It’s as though the lights turn on as the signals in your brain transmit feelings of calm, relaxed enjoyment… and you can feel lighter and infused with hope. Resilience returns (or begins) for you and patience becomes part of you as you find new ways of enjoying your life.

Imagine waking up in the morning with a song going through your mind, or even waking up singing…! (I know, right? when was the last time?) Imagine not reacting when someone playfully slaps you on the back. That you can go about your business without scanning the crowd for some threat…

You can live free of those restraints and painful symptoms, and actually focus on your child’s birthday party, or conversation with your partner at dinner.

At Innovative Psychiatry, it’s a joy to see people freed from PTSD symptoms after ketamine treatment every week. (Makes working so late into the evening doing infusions so worth it!) The robust impact ketamine wields on PTSD is a marvel to witness and can be — hands down — life changing. Whether the trauma is from exposure to tragic events, or verbal or physical assault, or injuries from accidents, or a catastrophic disease.

Even though PTSD permeates our world — and maybe permeates yours — know that there is hope.

If you suffer from symptoms we’ve described here and nothing has helped, call us.

We’re here to help you receive your ketamine infusions in the best possible healing environment. You’ll have a beautiful treatment room where you can relax in a zero-gravity heated recliner while we monitor your heart rate and blood pressure. Your infusion of ketamine will be by a precise infusion pump that measures your dose to the tenth of a milliliter. We don’t hang a bag on a hook, cross our fingers, and let gravity take over, or run a bag in fast because we have to leave. (You wouldn’t believe the stories!) Your recovery is too important for that so we do our absolute best for you.

And while you undergo your infusion, you’ll be safe from infection from the COVID virus, as well as bacteria and molds. Because 99.99% of all viruses, bacteria, and molds in our air are destroyed by the plasma cell technology we’ve installed in our offices. This is that system we’ve talked about before that was developed by NASA and the Department of Defense for the International Space Station. While our technology works to protect you, you’ll be free to focus on your treatment and getting better.

We know that there are lots of ways to administer ketamine — lots of ways to administer IV ketamine… and most practices just don’t do what we do. Your journey starts with me—and with an incredibly thorough diagnostic evaluation—not a checklist, not a quick referral form, or a phone call where someone (medical? not medical? a closer?) just sets up an appointment. We don’t run a clinic with one size fits all…we do the very best we can possibly do to foster your recovery and remission.

Get in touch with us and let’s talk it through.

We want to see you enjoying your life — and you want that, too.

So let’s do this! You have nothing to lose and a bright future to gain.

To the restoration of your best self,

June 27, 2022
Shooters Are Terrorizing Us

Shooters are Killing People

We have a tradition in this country of excusing and explaining away the actions of a terrorizing shooter by declaring him mentally ill. We’re talking about shooters—the ones who open fire in a crowded public space and gun down the innocent. I hesitate to enter this dialogue but I feel compelled to today. The reason? Because those who truly suffer from conditions I specialize in treating — like trauma, PTSD, depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive thinking, and so many other conditions I specialize in treating are gentle, peaceful, empathic …. and would never become a shooter. The kind of rhetoric in the news these days (and dripping from loud-mouths) that “explains away” terrorizing shooters fuels fear surrounding psychiatric disorders. Shooters are terrorizing us, that’s for sure, they’re terrorizing our sense of security, curtailing our freedom, robbing us of peace. They are stealing our futures.

So let me be clear and speak loudly: we desperately need to get away from “explaining away.” Because the simplistic way of thinking “they must be mentally ill” (a phrase I loathe) also feeds the stigma that can surface when someone admits he or she is depressed, or has bipolar disorder, or PTSD, or autism or an addiction.

An Attack on a School or Church Requires Cognition and Strategy

The person who would plot and plan to enter a public place and shoot as many people as he can is a murderer. Full stop. His cognition is working well enough that he can plan clearly, strategize his actions, and craft his response to resistance. No wonder shooters are terrorizing us.

It’s not a game.

They kill without conscience.

Think about what that means for a minute.

Are We “Making Excuses” for Shooters by Calling Them Mentally Ill?

It’s difficult to imagine in a civilized world that anyone would purposely hurt defenseless children, or worshippers, or a family gathered at a barbecue. We can’t conceive of someone with a balanced mind setting out purposely, deliberately, and carefully to make sure that the mass killing is actually a mass killing. Unreal, right? So some people explain it with something else they don’t understand, such as mental illness. (“It must be….”) But it’s most likely that the tipping point for shooters who carry out their despicable acts happens because they’ve been radicalized by their associations, what and whom they listen to…. and eventually decide to act on it.

This is terrorism…not mental illness.

Shooters are terrorizing us and killing the innocent. That’s not to say that some of these shooters don’t have a psychiatric disorder. They might and they often do. But that’s not what motivates them. It’s who they listen to in many cases. Voices in their friendship circles, podcasts, or online … the ones they wake up to, fall asleep with, and dial into all day long. The ones who draw them into a marginalized way of thinking related to ideologies, race, hatred, and other dangerous concepts.

Trauma Caused for Thousands by These Events when Shooters Are Terrorizing Us

These events are upsetting and heartbreaking for all of us. Far more people suffer beyond the grieving families, friends, first responders and communities affected directly by the deaths that have been exploding around us. Everyone who reads about these incidents, or hears about them on the radio…or on TV or online…suffers with the horrors.

As a nation, we shudder. And we cry.

The trauma of these events causes damage not easily repaired.

But here’s the thing.

When these incidents draw attention, we’re flooded by footage, news clips, firsthand accounts. Just hearing about and seeing these events—and the shooters who perpetrate mass killings—results in trauma.

Big T and little t trauma depending on how close you are to it, and what it reactivates.

What can be done about these wounds to people like you?

Let’s focus on that.

Brain Cell Damage from the Trauma People Suffer Over Such Events

Most of us start out in life with brain cells that are flourishing and abundant, resembling well developed oak trees. Happy Trees!! Then a stressful, traumatic event comes along and creates pruning. It’s as if shears are cutting away the branches from the brain cell, limiting what it can do drastically.

What had been a great oak among the brain cells, dwindles to a twig with very little function. Then, suicidal thinking often enters, cognition deteriorates, mood tanks, and joy (what’s that?) is reduced to anhedonia…or the inability to feel pleasure.

IV Ketamine Restores Signals Between Cells and You Feel Better

But when you receive IV ketamine treatment, it creates a cascade which turns on the production of BDNF to act like fertilizer so your brain cells can flourish again. Branches — we call them dendritic branches — grow and reach out and multiply until that pruned back twig is like the mighty oak again, remodelling synapses, setting up new connections, allowing new possibilities, removing suicidal thoughts — even in teens — improving mood dramatically, doing away with anhedonia, and sharpening cognition ….and you feel good again.

Just imagine for a moment feeling good again after years of feeling bad…or if that’s hard to imagine, read about it in real people who tell their stories.

But IV ketamine isn’t perfect.

It doesn’t ALWAYS do all these things — no treatment works 100% of the time for everyone — but it’s so effective and revolutionary in psychiatry because in the right hands, it can operate like this nearly all the time, transforming people like you so you can function at your best. To help you be your best self.

We can say this because we live it and see it every day. We think deep and long, have the guts and the courage (and the circles under our eyes!) to write up our findings and publish them, travel to teach our colleagues nationally and internationally. It’s why people drive in or fly in from far away to see us.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we love to see people like you rise above painful symptoms and flourish. Seeing your resilience restored, your hope and energy renewed, your courage and ability to adapt strengthened, makes everything we do worthwhile. (Even the dark circles!)

Our Treatment Setting is Calm and Relaxing

When you come in, you’ll find a comfortable, gorgeous, private room to create a wonderful setting for healing. The environment is kept pure and clean using Plasma Cell Technology we’ve installed in each space—actually designed and installed for the square footage of your treatment room. (Tell me: who else does that?) Developed by the Department of Defense and NASA, our technology was first created for the International Space Station and removes 99.99% of all viruses, bacteria, and mold from every square foot of the environment by instantly destroying its DNA and RNA. (We’re not talking about a filter here.) It’s the best technology available and it’s kept us —and you — safe since 2020. So you can focus on your treatment and get better.

Just know that this is your place to get better. To receive infusions of ketamine, integrate them with therapy, work on your infrastructure and your mindset… and achieve remission. We’ll talk about that more soon.

We’re here to help you on your path to healing, so call us and come in.

Better days are waiting for you.

To the restoration of your best self,

June 20, 2022
Your Family Can Help You or Hinder You in Being Your Best Self

When we think about family, what does your mind conjure? A mother, a father, and a few children? Or maybe a mother and children. Or a father and his brood. How you achieve being your best self is largely influenced by your family.

Maybe your experience with family is having two moms, or two dads. You might have a foster family with a mom and several children of various races with different backgrounds.

Or you just might have developed a family of your own by gathering people in need you’ve met, who need the support of family. Maybe you needed the presence of others who needed you, and found you needed them too.

Family can come in lots of shapes and sizes. A mother and a grandmother leading the brood, or a father and grandfather, like we see on the TV show, Blue Bloods. Fact is, it’s not about whether family members are related or not, it’s about people who feel a connection to each other, who may live together or not, but feel some sort of bond and mutual support that keeps them tied together. That bond can play an important part in your being your best self.

For those who have good family relationships, thoughts of family likely bring a sense of togetherness, laughter, and warmth. These are the people you can talk to about your problems and disappointments, and trust you’ll be heard without judgment.

They’re also the ones who will share your joys and triumphs.

Fundamentally, family has your back. Or at least it’s supposed to.

But, if you can’t relate to the warmth, laughter, and togetherness, you may have a family who doesn’t know how to function with support and lack of judgment. And if that’s the case, you may be suffering from wounds and scars from your family. And those can be hard to overcome and heal.

Family members in families like this are often scarred from being hurt by damaged people. It’s easy to see that in cases like this, your family might not be a strong influence in being your best self.

Family members who were treated harshly, or even abused, and who in turn, repeat those same behaviors with their loved ones. Because of their own scars, they may not be fully aware that their behavior toward people they love could be causing deep seated damage.

But for right now we’re focusing on you.

Mistreatment during your formative years can result in excessive anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts, as well as substance use disorders.

What about you? Is your family life full of joy, laughter, sharing, loving, and support..? Or is it a place you feel alienated and alone, defensive and afraid..? Or if you’re grown now, what are your memories like? Positive or hurtful? Maybe you feel anger and don’t know why.

It’s possible it started when you were too young to remember, or that you do remember the pain and you can’t figure out how to get over it.

Here’s the thing. It can be a lot of work to get the therapy you need to come to peace with your past traumas, but ketamine treatment can help resolve the symptoms and the fall-out. It can help you feel better, and by feeling better you can understand your feelings and even change them. If your family has hindered you in being your best self, ketamine can help.

How? Well, ketamine has the unique and mighty power of neuroplasticity. It helps the neurons in your brain to change, which helps you to change the way you see things. It’s effective in treating PTSD, treatment resistant depression and bipolar depression, and social anxiety, substance and alcohol use disorders, and suicidal thinking.

At Innovative Psychiatry we help people every week — who suffer from disorders like these — achieve remission with ketamine treatment. Your relationships with your family can be wonderful, or they can be extremely difficult. Sometimes, they’re a combination of both. But if you’ve been wounded, and scarred, ketamine treatment is something you can do to help you heal.

And when you come for treatment, we’ll take you to a private treatment room with a soothing atmosphere, so you can relax. We also have installed plasma cell technology to destroy all the bacteria, viruses, and mold in the room. You can rest assured that you’re safe from infection and can focus on your treatment…and getting better.

When you’ve lived with these painful symptoms for so long, you can’t imagine you can be free of them, it’s hard to imagine how some infusions can resolve your misery, but they often can.

We’ve been doing this for years, and we know that ketamine treatment isn’t for everyone. For some people It doesn’t work. For others, it doesn’t seem to work initially, then weeks later, remission sneaks up and takes over. In still other cases, symptoms dissipate after the first or second infusion. Ketamine response is different in different people, just as everyone is different, and everyone’s brain is unique.

But the bottom line is that you are likely to transformed by ketamine treatment.

If you suffer from symptoms that interfere with your life, call us.

We want you to get better. That’s what we’re about.

To the restoration of your best self,

May 15, 2022
Mothers of Babies, Teens, and Mothers of Senior Citizens… We Honor You!

Whether you’re expecting your first child or your kids are senior citizens themselves, your heart has been on your sleeve for the duration. Is there anything like being a mother? Whether you’re a. mother of a baby, a teen, or a mother of senior citizens, the worry never dissipates. They’re always on your mind.

Here in the US, we celebrated Mother’s Day last weekend. But everyday is a celebration of this most wonderful – and sometimes not so wonderful – relationship. The rearing and loving of a human, who pops out of the womb with his own ideas, plans, intents, and decisions compares with nothing else in this world.

But on the other end of mothering, when children are grown, is when the tables turn in a long, slow process as grown children come to face their mother is a human being, rather than the self sacrificing superhero she’s always been. And that’s a rich opportunity to really learn to know her. Some mothers live long enough to nurture as mothers of senior citizens… and sometimes their senior citizen children are focused on caring for their elderly mother. Turn about is fair play when it comes to your mom.

Adam is 40…and says his mom really WAS a super hero. The things she accomplished, the things she did for him as a child. No one could ever keep up. But when she was diagnosed with cancer, she became weak and frail. Then she didn’t recognize him at one point, and he says her mortality confronted him like a fist to his midsection. And that’s no joke.

Marcie Anne talks about how she herself was a realist. Always was. So her mom’s romantic and poetic views of life seemed to hit her cross ways from the time she was very young…as in three. Now in her mid thirties, her realistic mind set is even stronger. She says if she had to name a time when she was really seeing her mother as she was, it was when Marcie Anne was between 20 and 22…during her mom’s painful divorce.

She made the point that there’s nothing like watching a parent torn to their core during a crisis like that.

What about you? Do you remember when you realized your mother wasn’t just someone in your life to serve you, but rather a feeling, vulnerable human being in her own right and that there are needs of hers you can meet?

Perhaps your mother wasn’t healthy enough to be there for you, but rather caused you to suffer by imposing her needs and desires upon you. There are some mothers like that, and if yours is I’m sorry.

That said, there are no mothers who are perfect, right? None who are never selfish, or who never make mistakes or disappoint you.

If you’re a mother, you know the deep exhaustion and creativity that life requires of you…and at the same time the reward of watching these young humans grow is beyond description.

If you, like me, have children by natural birth, adoption, fostering, or just serendipity, you know that the greatest rewards come when we give the most. And few occupations…or rather callings…can require the investment mothering does, or brings the returns.

But we all know that sometimes mothers become ill and can’t give to their children as they wish to. It can be a catastrophic illness like cancer… or a psychiatric one like severe treatment resistant depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, substance use disorder, or suicidal thoughts that won’t stop.

In situations like that, the best Mother’s Day gift just might be ketamine treatment. As much as you love and appreciate your mom, she may love and appreciate you even more. To help her get back her heart, her clear mind, her cognition, and to help her get the treatment that restores her hope, and relieves the symptoms of the disorder, lets her live and love again like her heart aches to do.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we’re set up and equipped to help you receive the treatment you need to function well without depression, social anxiety, or alcohol misuse.

So you’re free to enjoy your family and your life, and you have the energy to invest yourself in things that matter to you. Your life is to be lived, and ketamine treatment can help you live it.

To Mothers Everywhere, Happy Mother’s Day–every day!

To the restoration of your best self,

May 9, 2022
Feel Like Giving Up? That’s When You Need Resilience

Find out how to get it fast.

Feel like giving up lately? Not just giving up what you’re doing, but giving up on life…? You’re not alone, you know. Still, just because you feel something a lot of other people feel, you don’t have to act on it. This is why you need resilience. Resilience can give you the power to overcome hopelessness and try again.

Take Kevin. He has a good job, but he hates it. He doesn’t get along with his boss, and his marriage is not going well. Kevin feels like he’s always the target of someone’s criticism and ridicule. (Maybe it’s his imagination, but it sure feels legitimate.)

At New Years, he went to Las Vegas and played blackjack. He had a great time. Maybe he drank too much to maintain good judgment — didn’t have a clue at the time, of course — and he ended up losing his retirement savings. (You heard that right.) He didn’t realize how bad it was till he was sober, and by then it was too late. It would be different if he’d just lost fun money. But it was his retirement… at least the portion he had access to.

Kevin felt like such a total fool.

Of course his wife was horrified. And he knew it was a foolish thing to do. He thought he could recover it, until he realized it was really gone and there was nothing left to wager.

Dead end. Empty pockets.

The shame that engulfed him threatened to drown him. He was humiliated and afraid. So afraid. It felt like there was no hope of recovering. It felt like he was against a brick wall.

Sometimes being suicidal is a symptom of a severe psychiatric condition, like depression or bipolar disorder, and sometimes it comes on more suddenly in response to complex circumstances.

Like the men who jumped from office buildings during the stock market crash of 1929. That’s not to say psychiatric conditions weren’t involved. It’s safe to say those people lacked resilience.

But sometimes, circumstances become so extreme, leaving you to think you can’t face what the next day will bring…and sometimes giving up the fight seems the only viable option…at least from where you’re standing in the storm.

A child is ridiculed at school, and her parents find her hanging by the neck in her closet. Or those people who lost everything in the stock market crash and impulsively jumped to avoid the horrors they faced with no money. Or someone like Kevin, who feels the world is against him, and his self respect is destroyed… so he thinks if he ends his life he would be free of the ridicule.

For someone in that position, a desperate craving to escape is often one factor in the decision, but there are usually many more. And without confidence and resilience to know he’ll bounce back, he’s left with hopelessness.

It’s hard, really hard, to live without hope.

People call it a selfish decision, or a coward’s decision, and I hate to hear that. The duress that someone has endured to reach the point of ending his life is hard — if not impossible — for us to grasp. We all have stress, and stressors, and it may be tempting to compare your own struggles and resilience to his decisions and outcome. But you can’t do that with someone who’s suffering.

That person leaves behind loved ones who are grief-stricken but it doesn’t mean it was done thoughtlessly. Often, he has convinced himself that his loved ones will be better off without him.

So then, it can seem like there is a pathway to suicide that appears on the surface to be fueled by circumstances, and a pathway paved by illness. (And oh it is so much more complicated than that!) But in both cases, resilience can offer hope and strength to move forward.

What is resilience?

It’s the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, to spring back with energy to overcome when circumstances knock you down. When you feel like giving up, resilience is what you need to stand up and overcome. So what do you do if you don’t have resilience?

Big question. If you’re in a hurry, if you don’t have time to fool around, if things are down to the wire…

One thing you can do is reach out for IV ketamine treatment to restore your resilience, your joy, and your hope. And…the emotional energy to face what life throws your way..

When that internal pressure to give up becomes more and more daunting, resilience helps you to resist that defeating pressure and keep trying. Keep overcoming.

At Innovative Psychiatry, applying ketamine treatment to suicidal thinking is one of our most important responsibilities. Ketamine has a unique ability to STOP suicidal thoughts that’s even apart from and before it helps severe depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, social anxiety, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorder.

Sometimes in an afternoon. It can save you a trip to the ER. It could save your life. Or someone you love.

Give yourself the opportunity to overcome defeat and shame, and to stop suicidal thoughts. Reach out for resilience and hope.

We’re here to help.

To the restoration of your best self,

May 2, 2022
Ketamine2022: Ketamine and Related Compounds at Oxford, UK is over. …Unforgettable!!

Thrilling? Yes. EYE opening? Yes! Opportunities?? YES!!

This week saw the best conference of the ketamine-for-depression specialization. A gathering of neuroscience researchers, psychiatrists, chemists, and more came to share their work with ketamine and related compounds. Researchers hailed from all over the world — the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, France, Australia, Italy, Canada and the US presented their work and poured out the bounty of their findings. Clinical trial sites spanned Eurasia to Australia to North America. Ketamine2022 at Oxford, UK.

There is nothing like coming together with like-minded professionals to learn and exchange ideas about this medicine we’ve seen do so much. And instinctively, our gut says it will do so much more.

Ketamine, initially developed as an anesthesia medicine. But surprised us all when we found it could treat depression extraordinarily well—depression that had not responded to other medications. From there, ketamine has gone on to be studied and used clinically to treat PTSD, bipolar depression, and it had been shown to stop suicidal thoughts, and to reduce craving and relapse in alcohol and cocaine use disorders.

Biopharma companies presented their data on the compounds they’re developing: Axsome, Clexio Biosciences, Janssen, Bexson Biomedical, Relmada Therapeutics, Perception Neurosciences.

(These are exciting times and it’s thrilling to see what’s gone on behind the scenes during the pandemic.)

There were SO MANY, far too many to describe here. But know that the field of ketamine and related compounds in psychiatric treatment is growing all the time.

We sat at the feet of long-time respected ketamine researchers and a crowd of the best and brightest in the field.

Rupert McShane of Oxford drew together an extraordinary group.

Carlos Zarate, Jeff Becker, Jason Wallach, Roger McIntyre, Gerald Sanacora. These are household names in the world of ketamine for psychiatric treatment.

Carl Zarate is an undisputed leader in ketamine research for psychiatric disorders. He spoke on glutamatergic modulators and next-generation antidepressants. The hope is growing that even those who aren’t helped by ketamine treatment will find relief through another fast acting solution.

Roger McIntyre talked about the real world evidence that supports long term treatment with ketamine. He also participated in a debate about whether there is enough data to support widespread therapeutic use of ketamine in psychiatry for treatment resistant depression.

Jeff Becker and Jason Wallach spoke about their new system for subcutaneous delivery of ketamine for acute post-operative pain.

Jason Wallach spoke again about dissociatives–NMDA receptor antagonism and structure/activity relationships. (He is always so passionate, so brilliant, and so compelling!)

There were so many wonderful speakers, wonderful insightful topics … evidence that treatment for psychiatric disorders is full of hope on the horizon.

So more about the conference. Overall, the presentations ranged from esketamine use longterm to new oral meds which were NMDA receptor agonists for major depression. Also about subcutaneous delivery of ketamine, and IV ketamine to prevent postpartum depression after a planned C-section, and data comparing ketamine to ECT. The topics were varied, extensive, important, and innovative.

I spoke on results from a small pilot trial my team and I are conducting using ketamine in the treatment of chronic anorexia — with a therapeutic ketogenic diet (yep! in chronic anorexia) followed by a series of ketamine infusions.

(The publication is under review, so this was the first sneak peak at the data.)

There are so many new things happening in the world of ketamine and related compounds.

Going forward, we’ll be talking about some of these topics connected to ketamine and related compounds as they develop… and change the face of therapeutic ketamine in depression and other psychiatric disorders and pain conditions.

Here at Innovative Psychiatry, people who’ve suffered from major depression and other related conditions come to us every week seeking treatment because what they’re doing isn’t working. Often they leave with hope, joy, confidence, and a spring in their step. It’s important to understand that ketamine isn’t effective for everyone. No medicine is. But it’s transformative for many who need it. And we administer ketamine using the most effective methods available.

If you suffer from major depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, social anxiety, alcohol use and substance use disorders, and/or suicidal thoughts…call us.

Like the speakers at this conference, we’ve dedicated our days to help you find resilience, restoration, and hope — through IV ketamine treatment.

When you come for treatment, you can relax in a beautiful, private treatment room to receive your infusions—knowing we use state of the art air disinfection. Using a system designed by the Department of Defense and NASA, each of our rooms is protected by plasma cell technology that destroys viruses, bacteria, and molds in the air. (Even though a new variant of Omicron is in the US now, we have extraordinary technology in our clinic to protect you from it.)

You can relax and focus on just getting better.

Call and let’s determine together if you’re a candidate for this lauded treatment. You deserve to enjoy a rewarding life.

To the restoration of your best self,

April 11, 2022

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