Racing heart. Churning stomach. Sweaty palms. Shallow breathing. The common advice “Oh, stop worrying! It’s all in your head!” adds insult to injury for anyone who’s experienced the physical sensations present during an anxiety attack. Add to that a resistance to traditional treatment methods, and it can feel like you’re never going to find a way to get over these feelings of worry and fear. But relief is possible, and it’s waiting for you. Therapeutic ketamine infusions for anxiety have shown promising results in individuals experiencing treatment-refractory anxiety. Read on to learn more about IV ketamine for anxiety symptom management.
How Does Ketamine Infusion Therapy Treat Anxiety?
Ketamine was initially used in the induction of anesthesia, but research shows that the drug can trigger increased glutamate production, the first step in a snowballing series of events prompting new neural pathways to be formed in the brain. By creating additional neural pathways, the brain becomes more adaptable, allowing the brain to continue generating these connections and the patient to develop more positive thoughts and behaviors.
This effect has not been observed in traditional antidepressants (primarily selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs), and although researchers don’t yet understand exactly how ketamine creates this ripple effect in the brain, the benefits of ketamine on people suffering from treatment-refractory forms of depression and anxiety are astounding.
Are Your Anxiety Symptoms Taking Control of Your Life?
General anxiety disorder (GAD) is a condition in which a person feels persistent, unnecessary worry or fear in situations that don’t call for it or that are out of their control. Many people experience feelings of anxiousness without having a clinical diagnosis, but these feelings are, as much as they are annoying, mostly stress-induced and nothing to bat an eye at.
Anxiety becomes a clinical issue when its symptoms are having a profound negative impact on the person’s day, and the symptoms occur with no perceivable threat present. There are several subtypes of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder (SAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and various specific phobias, but they all display a similar set of symptoms as general anxiety disorder:
- Nervousness, restlessness, or being tense
- Feelings of danger, panic, or dread
- Rapid heart rate
- Rapid breathing, or hyperventilation
- Increased or heavy sweating
- Trembling or muscle twitching
- Weakness and lethargy
- Difficulty focusing or thinking clearly about anything other than the thing you’re worried about
- Insomnia
- Digestive or gastrointestinal problems, such as gas, constipation, or diarrhea
- A strong desire to avoid the things that trigger your anxiety
1. Achieve symptom relief in hours, not weeks
Research shows that a single therapeutic dose of IV ketamine produced an antidepressant and anti-suicidal effect in 4.5 hours for people that had not found success with traditional medications. These effects were still present 24 hours later, with 40% of participants reporting continued benefits seven days post-infusion—a huge improvement over SSRIs, which take weeks to produce a therapeutic effect.
2. Tap into disordered thinking/behavior patterns
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, meaning that it can put users into a mild, trance-like state that makes them feel detached from their physical body, which sounds much scarier than it actually is. Many patients describe the sensation as relaxing and not as psychedelic as you may assume, but the physical effects of dissociation are only scratching the surface. This dissociative state allows patients to disconnect from their physical self and become more in tune with their emotions and memories, which helps people understand and confront the origin of their symptoms.
3. Stop taking medications that don’t work for you
Up to 30% of patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder may be resistant to traditional treatments, such as SSRIs, which is a lot when you consider there are more than 40 million adults experiencing anxiety in the United States alone. Ketamine, on the other hand, is a proven method for those who haven’t experienced relief through traditional medications.
Is Ketamine Treatment Right for Me?
As a dissociative medication with a lightning speed onset of action, ketamine infusion therapy makes anxiety treatment one less thing to worry about. If you’re suffering from an anxiety disorder, like generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder, and aren’t experiencing reduced anxiety symptoms through traditional medications, it may be time to talk to a doctor about ketamine infusions for anxiety.
Mindscape Ketamine & Infusion Therapy—Relief is Possible
At Mindscape Ketamine and Infusion Therapy, we know debilitating the symptoms of anxiety can be, and we’re here to provide relief. Our office is committed to delivering our patients customized ketamine therapy for the treatment of various mood disorders, migraine headaches, and chronic pain conditions with attention to their emotional, physical, and financial needs. For more information on IV ketamine infusions for anxiety, contact us today for a free consultation.
If you or someone you know needs help today, you can find help at the Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They’re free and available 24/7:
Text “HELLO” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741
Call the Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255
If you or someone you know need help right now, call 911 or go to the closest emergency room.