Depression
reported taking antidepressant medication
have a Major Depressive Disorder
Report taking antidepressants for at least five years
Depression is the most common mood disorder affecting people around the world.
While common, it is a serious condition that causes symptoms that affect how you think, feel, and go about your daily life. It can remove the joy out of life and make simple daily requirements like eating, sleeping, and working difficult to accomplish. While feeling sad, lonely, and unmotivated are normal part of the human experience, the average person feels these effects then typically recovers in a short period of time. Depression differs in that it causes these feelings to be more intense and they don’t go away on their own. This is because depression is associated with an imbalance of brain chemicals that requires medication to treat. Depression diagnoses require symptoms to be present for at least two weeks, and while there are different forms of depression that develop under different circumstances, the debilitating effects can severely impact an individual’s ability to function regardless of how it forms or presents itself.
Treatment-Resistant Depression
Treatment-Resistant Depression or TRD occurs when a person doesn’t get better after trying at least two antidepressants. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRI’s are the most common medication administered for people with depression and most of these medications take months for a patient to begin to feel the effects, sometimes only to determine the medication is not performing well enough. Ketamine treatments for TRD may be the most remarkable use of ketamine yet. When ketamine is used for TRD it often acts rapidly, typically within a few hours to relieve depression symptoms. Ketamine can be the relief needed after years of the same dosage of the same medications which often only dull the pain, and along with it the happiness that comes with life.
Symptoms
Some symptoms of depression include:
- Feeling sad, hopeless, pessimistic
- Irritability
- Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
- Loss of interest in things that used to make you happy
- Restlessness, trouble sleeping, over or undersleeping
- Difficulty concentrating
- Loss of appetite or overeating, abnormal gains or losses in weight
- Thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts
How Ketamine Can Help
Better treatment for depression exists through ketamine infusions. Ketamine administered in small doses works by directly impacting the brain chemicals involved in depression. When receiving a ketamine infusion, the medication blocks specific receptors in the brain increasing the amount of glutamate, the most abundant amino acid in the brain responsible for the optimization of chemicals that enable clear thinking and stable emotions. It triggers neurons and stimulates growth of neurological connections that have often laid dormant or have been affected by years of chemical imbalances. It re-activate neural pathways in healthy ways that can quickly reduce depression and reinvigorate your spirit. Some ketamine infusion patients experience immense relief within hours of their treatment which is why it is so useful for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts. To achieve the highest levels of benefit, our patients complete treatment based on specific protocol and guidelines established by researchers and tested over years of treatment. Your individual needs, symptoms, and goals of care will be addressed to determine your course of treatment.
If you have yet to experience relief through your antidepressants or your current treatment, schedule a free consultation with the experts at NeuConnections. To learn more about ketamine for depression disorders, call the office, click the Registration button below.
