treatment resistant depression

Should I Get One or Multiple Ketamine Infusions?

Should I Get One or Multiple Ketamine Infusions?

Research supports multiple ketamine infusions are needed to minimize depression symptoms and maintain antidepressant effects. We recommend pursuing the 6 series infusion to start, followed by boosters as needed.

To understand what could be best for you, you’ll need to explore where the recommended protocol comes from and what can happen with too much for too long, and more. It’s a lot but no worries we’re here to walk you through it!

Maintenance Ketamine Infusions for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Maintenance Ketamine Infusions for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Multiple studies have shown the benefits of using ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Typically, the spacing of the ketamine infusions have been either two or three times per week. However, one recent study published in 2019 in the American Journal of Psychiatry showed that the reduction in depression symptoms were maintained with once-weekly infusions.

Standard & High Dose Ketamine Infusions in Treatment-Resistant Depression

Standard & High Dose Ketamine Infusions in Treatment-Resistant Depression

There is a growing body of clinical evidence that has shown how ketamine works to produce antidepressant effects in those with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). These studies have used a common subanesthetic dose of 0.5 mg/kg over a period of 40 minutes when administered through an IV. An outpatient study from 2018, published in Molecular Psychiatry, recently added onto this body of research in order to find the optimal dose for antidepressant effects in those with TRD. They found that single IV doses of ketamine of 0.5 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg proved to be more effective than an active placebo in reducing depression over a 3-day period.

Teaching an Old Drug New Tricks: Ketamine and Depression

Teaching an Old Drug New Tricks: Ketamine and Depression

This piece was published first on BreastCancer-News.com.  For more information about the author, Nancy Brier, click here. 

“No fresh flowers,” my doctor said. “Avoid salad. No uncooked food. And don’t bring visitors home.”

Treatment for breast cancer took the better part of a year, and a lot of that time, I spent alone. No wonder cancer sometimes comes with depression.

Ketamine and Postpartum Depression

Ketamine and Postpartum Depression

She doesn’t want to get out of bed, she’s not the woman you knew, worse off she doesn’t want to hold her new baby. She is your wife, girlfriend, sister, or daughter. She is a new mother, and she has postpartum depression (PPD).  She knows something is off, but she is so deep in the weeds she doesn’t know where to begin.