Ketamine Infusion Therapy

What Is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a drug that has been used for over 50 years in general anesthesia to calm patients prior to surgery. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers it one of only two “essential drug” anesthetics that should be available in every country.

The exploration into the therapeutic properties of ketamine began when patients who were administered ketamine prior to surgery reported unexplained, extended periods of pain relief for issues unrelated to the surgery itself. Ongoing studies have since found it to be remarkably successful in patients when conventional modalities have not brought the desired effects—while also preventing addictions from developing. This is because ketamine works in a significantly different way when compared to traditional pain-relieving and antidepressant medications.

Academic medical centers across the United States—including Yale University, the University of California at San Diego, and the Mayo Clinic—are now increasingly opting to treat their patients with pain and mood disorders with ketamine intravenous infusions. Now this groundbreaking therapy is available in the Sarasota-Manatee area at Reichbach Center.

How Does Ketamine Infusion Work?

Unlike some other types of anesthesia, ketamine typically doesn’t affect respiration, and it gives the patient a sense of general well-being or euphoria. It has also been commonly used with pediatric patients who have broken bones or dislocated shoulders.

Ketamine works on a variety of receptors, neurotransmitters, and pathways in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord/central nervous system) to induce both an antidepressant and analgesic effect. These chemical interactions produce the anesthetizing effects for pain and depression that patients experience.

Ketamine & Glutamate

One of the brain’s key neurotransmitters is glutamate, an amino acid found in 80% of neurons. Glutamate helps regulate the process of information and overall communication between the various regions of the brain and body. The effects of ketamine are achieved through its interactions with glutamate-producing brain cell receptor sites by stopping glutamate production and influencing communication between the brain and the body.

For those with chronic pain, ketamine can impede and “reset” pain receptors in the brain and balance out important neurons and hormones by changing glutamate and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) levels. This blocks the nerve channels that cause intense pain sensations while still allowing the nerve to function normally.

Intravenous infusion (an IV drip) ensures ketamine achieves the highest and most reliable blood concentration. At Reichbach Center, IV drip rates are fine-tuned throughout each procedure so that the optimal result can be obtained for each individual patient.

Ketamine for Specific Conditions

Ketamine has proven to successfully treat a wide range of complex and challenging conditions, from mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and mood disorders, to neuropathic and chronic pain. 

At Reichbach Center, we help our patient-guests experience relief from these conditions and more. For a better understanding of ketamine as a form of treatment for chronic pain or mental health, please use the links below.