How To Get Ketamine For Depression

Many of us start experiencing depression in the early stages of life; even when we check the figure for depression among American adults, approximately 21 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode. 

There are various drugs that people use for depression to alleviate symptoms. Ketamine is a new prescription drug for people suffering with depression. Depression can lead to serious physical health conditions, and if you don’t get the right treatment, this can lead to severe mental health issues. 

In this blog, you will learn about what ketamine is, why it is prescribed by medical professionals, and in what quantity.

Ketamine

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for the maintenance and induction of anesthesia. Medical professionals use this anesthetic to induce a loss of consciousness and relieve pain. 

Moreover, it is commonly abused for its hallucinogenic and dissociative effects. In the 1960s, ketamine use started in Belgium for animals as an anesthetic medicine. 

In 1970, the FDA approved it as an anesthetic for human use. It was used as an aesthetic for the treatment of injured soldiers on the battlefields in the Vietnam War.

More than 3,000 patients have been treated with ketamine since 2011. Ketamine is one of the best medications you can use for depression. There are some other commonly prescribed medications as antidepressants which are also rarely fast-acting. 

They require months or weeks prior to the experience of the patient any relief from the debilitating depression symptoms. They also cause drowsiness, nausea, insomnia, and constipation. 

Weight gain isn’t a side effect that is usually associated with the side effects of ketamine.

If you are searching for treatment for ketamine, you will want to know how to get ketamine prescribed. The fact is that you can easily get a prescription for ketamine, but filling that prescription can be difficult and expensive.

Prescription Ketamine

Any medical professional can prescribe you ketamine. However, you can’t just walk straight into the pharmacy and buy it, as ketamine is only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved as an anesthetic in a medical procedure.

Generally, when ketamine is given to an individual, it is given through intravenous infusion (IV) over the course of 45 minutes. 

Ketamine can have potential side effects on your body; those being given an infusion are closely monitored during and after the procedure. 

In selected cases and scenarios, doctors may elect to provide ketamine through an intramuscular or intranasal route, but this, too, shall be done in a medical setup.

Medical professionals prescribe ketamine for curing depression as well as pain disorders present in major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Some doctors have their specialization in depression or pain, and some will treat both.

Depression

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), depression is a curable mental illness experienced by nine percent of Americans at any given time. You can experience depression at any level or stage of your life. 

Depression has no relation with your age. There is a similarity in the signs and symptoms which appear in individuals who suffer from depression. 

Also, it doesn’t matter in which state or country the person is present, like the U.S, Canada, Iran, Japan, and Switzerland. Women suffer more in numbers from depression as compared to men.

While major depressive disorder is one of the most common, other depression types also exist based on additional specific symptoms. The classification of clinical depression is as follows:

Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder is a disorder in which you are in a depression phase or episode for a period of two or more weeks.

Depression with Melancholic Features

You experience the same major depressive disorder, but there are some additional symptoms, like waking up two hours earlier than you usually do. You will experience the worst depression in the morning time. Moreover, you will also start feeling excessive guilt.

Depression with Catatonic Features

In this depression type, you will experience the same major depressive disorder and depression with melancholic features. But, there are some additional symptoms in it, such as extreme mutism or negativism—uncontrollable repetition of words spoken and motor immobility.

Atypical Depression

This type of depression includes symptoms like you feel that you need to have more sleep than normal, increased appetite, weight gain, and heaviness in the arms or legs.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

It is a type of depression that occurs in correspondence with a season. This depression will usually be experienced in the winter season, recurring for two years or more, and is often atypical depression.

Postpartum Depression

This is a major depression type that immediately follows childbirth.

Depressive disorder not otherwise specified (NOS):

This depression is usually recognized by a clinician but doesn’t explicitly fit into a defined category.

The term “depression” is most frequently used to describe major depressive disorder. To distinguish it from bipolar depression, depression is sometimes referred to as “unipolar depression.” 

Major Depressive Disorder

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ most recent edition provides a definition of major depressive disorder (DSM-IV-TR). A list of symptoms of depression includes the following:

• Sadness, emptiness, and a downbeat attitude
• Lack of interest in or enjoyment from a previously enjoyable activity
• Decreased or increased demand for energy and sleep.
• Lower or higher appetite
• Difficulty paying attention, concentrating, and making decisions.
• Ideas of harming oneself or others

Clinical Depression vs. Situational Depression

Environmental and genetic factors can contribute to the development of clinical depression. But occasionally, people struggle to deal with a stressor event or a change in their lives. People are likely to experience depressive symptoms in this situation. 

That’s why sometimes, this condition is referred to as situational depression. In situational depression, a person just experiences normal depression in an adjustment disorder with depressive features. 

Adjustment disorders might include depression symptoms, but these symptoms are for a short time, and any outside stressors are responsible for it.

How To Get A Prescription For Ketamine

Any licensed medical doctor can prescribe ketamine for the treatment of depression; you can also go to your family healthcare provider and get a prescription for ketamine. 

However, family doctors do not typically do any diagnosis or performance, but they will refer you to someone who is specialized in the field.

Your doctor completes referral forms, which are then typically faxed to the clinic or office of the specialty physician. Referrals often include information about the condition you are being treated for and the therapies you have already tried.

Once you’ve received a recommendation, the clinic or specialized physician will do their own evaluation of you to determine whether ketamine is indeed the best course of treatment for you. Assessments are intended to gather data on things like:

• Your psychiatric history and which psychiatrists you are consulting, including your present and past disorders and diagnoses, suicidal behaviors, hospitalization, etc.
• Your social history, such as current living conditions and social support.
• Your family psychiatric history.
• Medications and treatments which you were receiving in the past.
• Substance usage such as alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, etc.
• Your medical history, including experience with anesthesia.

There are some conditions and scenarios which are excluded from an individual receiving treatment for ketamine. 

Alternatives are required for some medications after the ketamine treatment has been performed on an individual, or you may have to discontinue some medications.

Individuals who should not get ketamine treatment include:

• Those individuals who are suffering from psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.
• People who experience seizures.
• Individuals who are consuming aminophylline for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Individuals with cardiac disease, high blood pressure, or lung problems might need additional treatment before the infusion of ketamine infusions. 

Once you get clearance from psychiatric and medical tests, then you can go for the ketamine infusions. In the first two to three weeks, an individual can expect to have six infusions.

Ketamine for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Ketamine is an unusual type of psychedelic drug, which is often called a dissociative drug. Ketamine, also known by the street name “special K,” has been referred to as a drug of abuse. It has been used as an anesthetic for decades in hospitals and veterinary clinics. 

Due to its clearance for treating treatment-resistant depression (TRD), which is severe depression that has not improved with other therapy and includes people having suicidal thoughts, it has recently become more extensively utilized.

In studies when ketamine was compared to a placebo, depression scores decreased subjectively and statistically significantly, and the efficacy of ketamine for TRD was first shown for short-term treatment. 

In a trial where ketamine (together with the standard antidepressant) helped patients stay in stable remission 16 weeks into treatment, it was discovered that nasal ketamine has longer-term efficacy.

With ketamine, TRD relief arrives quickly. People who are battling the crushing weight of depression can begin to experience the benefits of ketamine within approximately 40 minutes, as opposed to waiting weeks for an SSRI to perhaps offer some help.

Depression Treatment

Depression is a condition that is developed by the build-up of proteins in an individual. Ketamine is actually the repairing substance that repairs the damage made to the brain, which is an outcome of the production of long-term stress hormones. 

The body then responds to the stress hormone cortisol and other hormones in the brain, and they cause harm to it in the process. 

Depression induces different feelings in people, which is then followed by counseling from various therapists and psychiatrists, a variety of traditional antidepressants, in and out of inpatient and intensive treatment facilities over a long time. 

However, the individual may also develop panic attacks and will go through periods of self-harming and suicidal thoughts.

There is also a therapy that individuals like to take, ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). This therapy is a form of neurostimulation which involves electrical impulses.

Ketamine Therapy: What To Expect

Ketamine infusion therapy is usually not referred to as the first line of treatment; firstly, antidepressants are given to individuals. If the antidepressant medications don’t work, then an IV infusion is applied in the arm, and its effects last from days to weeks. 

The sequence of ketamine therapy starts with receiving the infusions. Three infusions are received in the first week of treatment, then two in the second week, and one in the third week. After this, individuals receive once per month on average.

You can use an injection for the induction of a drug into a muscle, or you can also place a dissolvable medicine under the tongue of an individual. 

Patients with bipolar disorder can also use ketamine for its treatment, but it is not usually recommended by medical professionals for patients going through active mania, psychosis, or with unstable cardiovascular disease.

Providing Help For Veterans

Along with depression, ketamine also eases the disorder which is experienced by many veterans, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

This type of mental health problem develops in people after they have experienced some sort of trauma, such as combat, which can be easily treated by ketamine. A ketamine clinic can help you the best in this regard.

Ketamine Safety

Mostly, mental health experts recommend staying safe when it comes to ketamine consumption. Yes, it is an effective and excellent treatment when it comes to rapidly reducing the symptoms of depression. 

But, you don’t know the negative consequences that this drug can have on you in the long term. According to some research groups, higher doses of ketamine can be toxic to brain cells and cause bladder damage. 

A single dose at the start is enough to treat depression. Some clinical trials in a clinical setting are continuing for the long-term effects of ketamine, its safety, and its optimum doses.

Ketamine Nasal Spray

Nasal sprays of esketamine are effective and fast in treatment-resistant depression. Those individuals who take nasal sprays as treatment will recover earlier than those who consume traditional antidepressants. 

In the ketamine sessions, you receive the treatment from nasal sprays at a doctor’s office. You can also consult your family doctor. 

Finding A Facility For Ketamine Therapy

For those individuals going through drug abuse or any kind of depression, there are rehab centers that offer state-of-the-art facilities. 

They include various treatment therapies, which include inpatient and outpatient rehab services, and may even include ketamine therapy. Insurance companies provide you with an option to finance your treatment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Seek Help from Indiana Center for Recovery

For those suffering from alcohol or other drug addiction, Indiana Center for Recovery offers a variety of treatment options. To best suit your needs and expectations, our patient treatment programs are specialized to your needs. 

The patient will be able to actively take part in their recovery thanks to the dedication of our team of mental health professionals, medical personnel, and therapists. You will be able to lead a sober life thanks to our thoughtfully created approach to addiction treatment. 

If you require treatment for addiction brought on by alcohol or any other drug, call us at (844) 650-0064.