What are the benefits of Ketamine?

In comparison to antidepressants, ketamine alleviates symptoms of depression quickly. Instead of seeing results over a period of weeks from medications, individuals with treatment-resistant depression have felt improvements within hours. Ketamine also serves as a potent anti-inflammatory for nerves and increases the body’s natural pain relievers.

How does Ketamine work?

Aside from ketamine’s anesthetic and hallucinogenic effects, research has suggested that ketamine prompts the production of glutamate in the body. Through a cascade of events, it stimulates the brain to create new neural connections, a process called neuroplasticity. As a result, the brain is able to adapt and individuals with depression have the opportunity to develop more positive behaviors and thought processes.

Currently, there are a few main methods of administering ketamine.

Intramuscular

All different routes of ketamine administration come with a higher or lower bioavailability; in practice intravenous and intramuscular administration allows the most ketamine to affect the body, while the other routes result in lower effective doses due to metabolism and other factors.

Ketamine is carried out in a physician’s office or clinic under the supervision of a healthcare provider and commonly used to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD), and chronic nerve pain.

Pharmacokinetic data suggests an intramuscular injection results in active drug levels very similar to a forty-minute-long infusion, and empirical studies have shown equivalent efficacy (or benefit) with intramuscular administration.

Intranasal (IN): A more potent form of Ketamine, otherwise known as esketamine is administered by a nasal spray. This method is commonly used to treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD).