Ketamine Treatments
A New Paradigm for Healing
Here at Daydream MD, we offer ketamine treatments. We offer four types of ketamine treatments:
IV Ketamine Treatment
In the world of treatment-resistant depression, IV ketamine treatment is a new player. You may wonder, at this point, what is ketamine treatment?
Ketamine treatment administered by an intravenous line has been found to treat depression, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health conditions, showing fewer side effects than other treatments like typical antidepressants when used with patients with treatment-resistant depression.
IV ketamine for depression is infused through an IV line, and once the ketamine treatment is completed (about an hour), you should notice a drop in major depressive disorder symptoms. It can help with other mental health issues, too, such as anxiety, obsessive disorders, and other areas of health care.
Our team will monitor each ketamine infusion to make sure that all of your vitals are within base ranges, and if they deviate from safe levels, the ketamine infusion therapy will be stopped.
Both the frequency of treatment sessions and the ketamine dose will be determined on an individual basis. Ketamine effectiveness has been found to be around 70% when studied long-term, with the most common depressive symptom (low mood) decreasing significantly. This is a large improvement when compared to antidepressant effects, especially with the range of side effects reported by patients.
Intranasal Ketamine Treatment
The next kind of Ketamine treatment that our team offers is in a nasal spray.
This kind of ketamine for depression and anxiety is effective for treating the symptoms of depression quickly. It is often used in between visits to see our team for ketamine infusion treatments. This route of administration for ketamine treatment for treatment-resistant depression can create the desired effects in as little as 24 hours.
How does it work? There are mucus membranes in the nose, similar to the ones that flare when someone has a cold, which allows small molecules to enter the bloodstream. This is how someone catches a cold, except, in this case, rather than a bacterium passing through the nasal membranes, it is a concentrated ketamine treatment for depression and anxiety.
Once through the mucus membranes, ketamine travels to the brain and attaches to the glutamate receptors. Remember, the basic ketamine treatment for anxiety and depression works by transiently increasing the amount of glutamate transmission in the brain, and ketamine can pass through the blood-brain barrier prior to metabolization by the liver.
We use Spravato as our ketamine treatment for mental health issues. While it is not as potent as intravenous ketamine therapy, it is FDA-approved and is covered by most insurance agencies.
Ketamine IM Injection
Next, our team can also offer intramuscular injections of ketamine treatment. These ketamine shots for depression are usually given in the upper arm. Still, our team will make sure that if that area is sore or cannot be injected, we will inject the medical ketamine treatment into another body part.
This kind of ketamine used to treat depression is administered in small doses, so any side effects you experience should be minimal. As the ketamine enters your bloodstream, you may feel tingling, but it should not be uncomfortable.
When receiving ketamine therapy in the arm or leg, you may feel slightly detached from your body. This is part of the dissociative effects of the drug, and our team will be there to ensure safety and comfort. As with other types of administration, we advise that following this injection, you have someone to escort you home, as it will be unsafe to drive. You will need to remain in observation with our team for just over an hour after the IM method so we can assess your coordination and your mental state.
Our team will typically devise the treatment plan around your needs, but we usually offer IM injections within a 3-week period. This ketamine treatment of depression is often spread over 6 sessions, and each session takes around 2 hours to complete, with the post-injection observation part included in that. With IM injections, you may feel the effects peak after about 3 days, and your mental state may return to baseline. This is one of the most effective ketamine treatments for treatment-resistant depression.
Oral Ketamine for Depression
At our clinic, it would be exceedingly rare to have one of our patients only undertaking the oral ketamine treatment for depression.
There are two reasons for this: first, it can be tough to estimate how the concentration of the ketamine in the doses will interact with the patient's body based on factors such as their weight and the medication's dissolving through the stomach. Second, the effects are not as fast as they are with nasal, IM, or IV administration. This means it can take a lot longer for any effects to be noticed; if they are, they are often minor.
This medical ketamine treatment is usually administered to patients in between IV administrations at our clinic. We only provide 5 days' worth of oral medication, so there is less chance of abuse potential or of the patient using this method becoming addicted to the ketamine.
Why Choose Us for Ketamine Treatment?
When people contact our team, they typically ask 2 questions. The first is “what is ketamine therapy? The second,“Why should I/we choose your clinic”?
Ketamine for depression is by no means a new idea, and when you choose to undertake it, you will want support from a team trained in its usage to help you. Our team at Daydream MD is dedicated to making sure that your experience using ketamine is a positive one and that you get the relief that you deserve.
Our team will help prepare you for treatment with guided talks and positive therapies and will ensure that the treatment you receive is perfect for your clinical case.
We will be with you during and after the treatment, and our medically trained team will monitor your vital signs to ensure your safety and comfort.
More than this, we are dedicated to making sure that everyone who comes to see us is treated as an individual and that their individual needs are met. We truly put our patients first at Daydream MD. So, call us for ketamine therapy today!
Meet Dr. Arslan Azam
We would like to introduce you to Dr. Arslan Azam, our CEO, CMO, and founder of Daydream MD.
Dr. Arsalan Azam is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician and the medical director of Daydream MD's treatments. He attended medical school as a Deans Scholar at Case Western Medical School and completed clinical rotations at the world-famous Cleveland Clinic.
His residency in Emergency Medicine was completed at Metropolitan/Harlem Emergency Medicine Residency. He has practiced as an emergency medical practitioner around the US, where he worked as a relief physician to help understaffed hospitals.
This emergency work led him to oversee many psychiatric emergencies, giving him the idea to start Daydream MD.
Dr. Azam has worked hard to build a team of exceptional medical professionals who oversee all areas of treatment at Daydream MD, so when you come to us for treatment, you are getting the best.
Ketamine Research
Interested in learning more about ketamine therapy? Click to read sourced third-party ketamine research, and below are a couple of our favorite sources for your ease of finding: