In all aspects of knowing our bodies, a deeper understanding is essential to finding solutions that truly fit with our lifestyles. InVita Health and Wellness is a multi-specialty medical spa and wellness center that helps its clients with individualized healthcare plans through functional and integrative medicine, aesthetics, concierge medicine, and wellness, as well as the service that it has placed No. 1 in: ketamine therapy.
Ketamine is an anesthetic medication that has been used since the 1960s, though curiosity about ketamine as a therapy treatment for mental health, chronic pain, and neurodegenerative disorders has risen over the past decade. Yale University and national institutes of health have increasingly studied its uses.
InVita Health and Wellness seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of individuals through structured care with ketamine treatments. Here’s how Dr. Sara Franco and her team are using ketamine to help patients.
Ketamine offers rapid relief for mental health conditions
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is estimated that 1 in 5 adults in the United States live with mental illness. Many who have struggled are probably familiar with taking an antidepressant, which can take four to six weeks to become effective. Ketamine works in a different way, allowing for much quicker relief.
The goal is to rewire the brain to turn off old receptors and make new ones, a concept called neuroplasticity. The patient’s own neurotransmitters can then work on them. At the very least, their current medication might become more effective, previously ineffective medications could start working, or they may require a lower dosage.
“When I do ketamine consults, patients will tell me they don’t feel like their medicine works anymore. It may be that you’re taking the right medication but putting it on a receptor that isn’t functioning properly, so you’re not going to get the full benefits from the medication,” Franco explains. “When you have anxiety and depression, you have these receptors that are constantly firing, and they eventually just kind of burn out. You have to get the brain to shut those receptors off and make new receptors.”
Studies have shown that 7 out of 10 patients with major depressive disorder found success with this treatment. As use of the medication has grown and more studies have been conducted, it has been found that ketamine is also effective in treating anxiety, PTSD, ADD/ADHD, postpartum depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and thoughts of suicide and other conditions.
“We’re seeing lawyers, doctors, and professors. I’ve heard more than one time that it just helped declutter their brain. It’s just like somebody reset them, and things are a lot clearer and sharper and they can focus,” Franco says. “These new treatment options can be used earlier in conditions, versus it being a last-ditch effort.”
Ketamine as a breakthrough solution for chronic pain
Around 20 percent of Americans struggle with a chronic pain condition that can last for years, leading to an extremely uncomfortable life. It’s common that traditional treatments either do not improve symptoms from the start or cease to do their job over time.
A 2022 study found ketamine is more effective for chronic pain when given in higher dosages and can provide the relief needed to live more comfortably. Providing an anti-inflammatory effect, it has shown to almost immediately relieve pain in patients with a variety of debilitating conditions, including chronic regional pain syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, migraines, neuropathy, chronic back pain conditions, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and arthritis.
Ketamine therapy helps manage chronic pain by changing how the brain interprets pain signals. It is thought to target a receptor in the brain, known as NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate). By blocking this receptor, ketamine disrupts the transmission of pain signals, allowing for a decrease in pain.
Offering safe and effective ketamine therapy
Despite the depiction in recent media, ketamine is a safe treatment option when accurately used with supervision from a clinical professional. Franco recommends selecting an anesthetist with strong knowledge of the drug for your treatment.
“I do want patients to be safe and make sure they’re choosing a provider that knows how to handle the side effects that come along with ketamine,” Franco says. “Anything that you take in excess can be dangerous. It can also be given very safely if you’re getting it from somebody who knows how it works.”
InVita Health and Wellness consists of board-certified anesthesia providers. Franco and her team offer this relieving treatment to patients while ensuring that it is provided safely, with minimal to no pain.
Additional information on ketamine can be found at invitahealthandwellness.com, including expectations for treatments, average costs, insurance coverage, and more.
This post was created by SLM Partner Studio on behalf of InVita Health and Wellness. To learn more, visit invitahealthandwellness.com.
