Most patients with depression count on medications like antidepressants to improve their mood, yet antidepressants fail to help nearly one-third of all people with depression. Gino Ang, MD, and the experienced team at Ketamine Center of Connecticut offer ketamine infusions that rapidly improve your symptoms even if you didn’t respond to antidepressants. To learn more about ketamine for treating depression, schedule an appointment by calling our Milford office today.
Everyone has the blues now and again, and they know that their mood eventually improves and they feel better. Many people believe that depression goes away just as easily as the blues, but it doesn’t.
Depression is a deeply rooted problem that affects your energy and doesn’t simply disappear on its own. When you’re depressed, you:
If you have several of these symptoms for at least two weeks, it’s a sign you have major depressive disorder.
Postpartum depression is not just the baby blues. It’s a type of major depression that occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth and, like major depression, it doesn’t improve on its own.
Women who have postpartum depression often struggle to bond with and care for their new baby. They tend to withdraw from family and friends. They also experience the same symptoms as major depression.
Your depression is treatment-resistant when your symptoms don’t improve after at least two trials of antidepressant medications. Many patients with depression don’t feel better even after taking four different types of antidepressants.
Ketamine has been safely used for decades as an anesthetic during surgical procedures. In a low dose, however, ketamine has a different effect: It relieves the symptoms of depression, even in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
Ketamine rapidly improves your symptoms because it directly balances glutamate, a brain chemical that’s associated with depression. The medication also helps regenerative nerve connections in your brain.
If you respond to ketamine, you may feel your depression lift within several to 24 hours of your treatment. By comparison, antidepressants don’t take effect for weeks to months because they target different brain chemicals.
The anesthesiologists at Ketamine Center of Connecticut give you an intravenous (IV) infusion of ketamine using a pump that precisely delivers the right dose. They also continuously monitor your heart rate and blood pressure using a wireless device called Caretaker®.
Your entire procedure takes about 90 minutes, which includes time in recovery. If your depression improves, your provider schedules a series six total infusions over 12 days to produce longer-lasting results.
If you suffer with major depression, postpartum depression, or treatment-resistant depression, call Ketamine Center of Connecticut to schedule an appointment.
