Comprehensive Mood Disorder Treatment
Integrative Wellness Consultants PLLC is here to help if you are dealing with mood disorders. Our expert medical team offers online telehealth services to meet your needs. Please feel free to contact us today by
email or
click here to schedule a consultation.
Mood Disorders (Anxiety, Depression, PTSD)
We use a very low-dose ketamine protocol that produces quick relief and begins gradual and consistent mental health improvement. You will receive guidance and personalized recommendations on optimizing your treatment with our provider. We will complete a personal assessment with a telehealth visit with our provider. Medication will be delivered to your home if you are a good candidate for treatment.
What is Different About Ketamine?
Ketamine is an alternative medicine for depression and anxiety. It doesn't carry the same side effect profile as more traditional antidepressants such as serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, which often include sexual side effects, weight gain, and emotional numbness. Ketamine may be a better option for people with difficulty taking SSRIs. Ketamine orally works faster than traditional antidepressants. The neuroplasticity effects are strong, meaning the results are deeper than surface-level symptom relief and produce new connections in the brain. Ketamine can help get at the root cause of the psychological pain rather than just at the symptoms that arise.
Why Low Dose Ketamine?
The prescribed doses are psycholitic, meaning it produces an immediate state of calm, ease, and a sense of mental spaciousness. People can experience dissociativeness with ketamine. That means emotions may be difficult during this time with a feeling of disconnection, but it isn't as overwhelming in low doses. The key benefits include less intensity when doses are taken regularly to maintain a consistent level of medicine in their brain over time. This leads to stability and the ability to be more open and calmer.
How Does Ketamine Work in the Brain?
The effects of ketamine on the brain are very complex and still being studied by researchers worldwide. Some of the most well-known mechanisms of ketamine involve neurotransmitters of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which are excitatory (promote neurons firing) and inhibitory (blocking neurons firing), respectively. Ketamine is an antagonist that blocks GABA receptors more effectively, meaning that GABA doesn't inhibit neurons firing as often if ketamine is taken. This leads to an overall increase in neural activity in the prefrontal cortex.
Ketamine is also known to interact with another neurotransmitter receptor, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA), which may be responsible for a sequence of molecular events that promote neuroplasticity through new connections. Proteins like BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor) and others also encourage neuroplasticity. We know ketamine promotes new neural connections and is at the root of treatment for depression and anxiety.
Ketamine History
Ketamine was first discovered in the 1960s as an anesthetic and is still used in surgeries and emergency rooms. Its safety profile is excellent since it doesn't impair the respiratory system. The World Health Organization has recommended that ketamine be considered an essential medicine and not monitored as a dangerous substance. More and more research is being revealed about this medicine's profound potential to impact mental health in psychiatry.
Contact our office at by email or click here for convenient and professional telehealth services.
