Chronic pain is a real drag, especially when it starts taking over your life. Medications and other treatments may temporarily help, but what if they don't solve the problem?
If you've lost all hope in managing chronic pain, you can rest easy because there are other promising treatments to try, including ketamine infusion therapy. Ketamine is an anesthetic medication that offers promising results when doctors carefully monitor the dosage.
At Delmarva Pain and Spine Center, Dr. Schachi Patel provides various pain management techniques, including ketamine therapy. Dr. Patel is an experienced anesthesiologist who offers multiple treatments for conditions like CRPS, spinal stenosis, and sciatica.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic medication that provides patients with sedation, pain management, and positive changes in the brain. It can also cause hallucinogenic effects that people sometimes abuse.
Ketamine is safe in small doses for a variety of conditions. Anesthesiologists use it during surgery as an anesthetic. Still, more recently, other practitioners have utilized it for other issues like suicidal ideations and pain management.
A ketamine infusion is an excellent option for managing chronic pain that's resistant to other treatments – but how does it work? Ketamine infusions are similar to IV infusions in the hospital. Still, we can do it in the comfort of our office.
Dr. Patel thoroughly assesses your pain and overall health to determine if you're a good candidate for a ketamine infusion. She explains the process and risks before taking you to the treatment area.
We use a needle to place an intravenous (IV) catheter in your arm. Once the catheter is in the vein, we remove the needle and secure the catheter to ensure it doesn't come out during treatment.
Dr. Patel puts you on a monitor to watch your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing during the treatment. She determines the correct dose of ketamine for your needs and begins the infusion. Our team monitors you the entire time to ensure you have a good experience and no adverse effects.
You should feel immediate relief from pain or depression symptoms during the infusion that may continue for hours, days, or weeks afterward. However, you may require additional infusions for optimal relief of symptoms.
Many people can benefit from ketamine injections, including those with chronic pain and treatment-resistant depression. It's an excellent option for people who've tried everything else for pain or mental health issues without significant relief.
Dr. Patel thoroughly evaluates your condition to determine the best method of treatment. The best candidates for ketamine infusions are those who have any of the following:
Ketamine works for CRPS by interrupting pain signals to the brain. It may be a good option when other treatments fail.
Fibromyalgia causes pain throughout the body, which is often debilitating. Ketamine infusions block pain signals, reduce discomfort, and improve your quality of life.
Chronic migraines are tough to deal with, significantly, when traditional treatments don't help. Ketamine infusions keep pain down by blocking specific pain receptors and nerves from getting signals to the brain.
Ketamine therapy is also an excellent option for people living with nerve pain from diabetic neuropathy or nerve damage.
Cancer can cause various types of pain that make dealing with the disease even worse. Ketamine helps cancer patients cut back on pain to focus on getting better.
You may also benefit from a ketamine infusion if you have mental health issues like depression, PTSD, OCD, and anxiety. Ketamine helps these problems by creating new pathways in the brain that allow neurons and certain neurotransmitters to communicate with each other.
Depression and other mental health conditions cause these synapses to collapse over time. After several ketamine treatments, the brain makes new pathways for neurotransmitters that deal with emotion and mood.
Some people aren't good candidates for ketamine infusions, including those who are pregnant or have a history of substance abuse. It's also not suitable if you have allergies to ketamine or a history of psychosis.
To find out if a ketamine infusion could work for you, call our office in Newark, Delaware, today to schedule an appointment or request a consultation with Dr. Patel on our website.
