Ketamine

Ketamine therapy offers hope to patients for whom frontline mental health treatments like medication management and therapy don’t work. Axis Integrated Mental Health offers esketamine therapy at its offices in Louisville, Westminster and Aurora, Colorado. You could get swift and sustainable relief from depression symptoms with a carefully managed and insurance-covered esketamine treatment program. To learn more and arrange a consultation, call your nearest Axis Integrated Mental Health office or request an appointment using the online booking feature today.

What is ketamine?

Ketamine was originally an anesthesia drug, but more recently, researchers have discovered it has significant effects on chronic pain and a range of mental health problems. It’s available in three forms:

Ketamine infusions

Ketamine infusions deliver the drug directly into your bloodstream via a needle and cannula in an arm vein. Infusions may offer fast-acting, effective relief from depression and treatment-resistant depression.

Ketamine intramuscular injections

IM Ketamine is administered as an injection directly into the muscle via. needle under professional supervision. Injections offer similar effectiveness from depression and treatment-resistant depression as infusions, however, there is less customizability in dosing. Once an injection is started, there is no increasing, decreasing or stopping treatment based on patient response.

We know after treating thousands of patients, that the effects of ketamine rarely last and maintenance is required. Studies from Cambridge and Yale show that the effects of ketamine vs. esketamine are identical. Moreover, a tolerance is built to the drug over time and many patients confuse the efficacy with the experience, and increase the risk for psychological addiction the higher the dose of ketamine. Some may seek ketamine from illegal sources and the risks increase tremendously. For recovery to occur, ketamine therapy must be viewed as part of a comprehensive treatment plan and not THE treatment plan. We know that when a treatment is not covered by insurance, it is difficult to maintain the consistency needed for real recovery. For these reasons, we only offer esketamine therapy (Spravato) to patients, which is FDA-approved, covered by insurance, and costs patients as little as $10/visit for commercially insured patients and free for Medicaid patients. 

Spravato®

Spravato nasal spray contains esketamine, an extract of ketamine. Under the Axis Integrated Mental Health team’s supervision, you spray the drug into your nasal passages, from where your body absorbs it into your bloodstream.

Axis Integrated Mental Health has an established procedure for Spravato treatment, beginning with a 60-minute psychiatrist appointment. If Spravato is appropriate for you, your provider discusses its benefits and obtains insurance authorization for you.

Following approval, treatment begins as soon as possible. For the first month, you attend two treatment sessions a week, then for the second month, you have one session a week. After eight weeks, you enter a maintenance phase where you receive treatments as required. Read our article about Spravato Costs and watch the patient testimonial below to learn more. 

How does ketamine work for mental health?

People with depression have fewer synapses — the connections between neurons (nerve cells) — in the brain’s mood center. Ketamine helps to proliferate new synapses, improves the brain’s chemical links, and increases communication between the neurons.

Ketamine therapy also uses neuroplasticity principles (how the brain reacts and changes over time) to help the brain function better and improve mood.

Brain synapses exposed to ketamine can regrow and produce more links between neurons. This affects how parts of your brain controlling logic and emotion speak to each other, resulting in a fast antidepressant effect.

What can ketamine or esketamine treat?

Ketamine or esketamine can treat the following mental health conditions:

Treatment-resistant depression

Psychiatrists determine depression is treatment-resistant if symptoms don’t improve after two or more courses of antidepressant medications from different classes. You should have tried them for a reasonable period with no mood improvement or developed intolerable side effects.

Major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (clinical depression) causes persistent sadness, hopelessness, loss of interest, cognitive challenges like trouble thinking clearly, and changes in eating and sleep patterns.

Call Axis Integrated Mental Health to learn more about esketamine, or schedule a consultation online today.