Depression Specialist

What symptoms occur when I have depression?

Many people consider “the blues” the same as depression. However, depression is more severe, and unlike the blues, it seldom improves without treatment.

The primary symptoms of depression are feeling depressed or sad and losing interest in the activities you usually enjoy. Additional symptoms include:

• Weight gain or weight loss
• Increase or decrease in appetite
• Excessive sleepiness or insomnia
• Restlessness or agitation
• Fatigue and loss of energy
• Feeling worthless
• Difficulty concentrating
• Thoughts of death or suicide

You’re diagnosed with depression when you have several of these symptoms nearly every day for at least two weeks.

How is depression treated?

Depression is typically treated with psychotherapy, antidepressants, or a combination of the two. However, up to 30% of all patients find that their depression doesn’t improve after trying several courses of medication, a condition called treatment-resistant depression.

If your symptoms don’t respond to treatment, the team at Austin Ketamine Clinic offers another option: ketamine therapy.

What is ketamine and how does it treat depression?

Ketamine is an anesthetic medication that has been used during surgery for decades. It has such a safe history that it’s a preferred anesthetic for children’s surgery.

However, when you take ketamine at a subanesthetic dose, it produces a different effect. Low doses of ketamine alleviate pain and can rapidly lessen symptoms of depression.

Clinical studies show that many people with treatment-resistant depression achieve symptom relief by the end of their first intravenous infusion.

Ketamine works quickly by balancing levels of a brain chemical called glutamate. Antidepressants also affect glutamate, but only in a roundabout manner after first targeting different brain chemicals. For this reason, if you respond to antidepressants, they take weeks to relieve your depression symptoms.

What should I expect during ketamine treatment for depression?

The team at Austin Ketamine Clinic spends time with each patient and develops ongoing relationships as they work together with you to overcome depression.

During your first consultation, they talk with you about your symptoms, perform a psychological evaluation, and review your previous depression treatments.

After determining you’re a good candidate for ketamine, you simply relax in a comfortable room, and your personal provider administers your ketamine through an intravenous infusion over a 60-minute period.

Most patients respond quickly to their ketamine infusion therapy, seeing results in two to three weeks, with just one treatment. However, longer-lasting results stem from a series of six treatments administered over 2-3 weeks. 

After your initial series of six infusions, you may need a booster infusion every 4-6 weeks to maintain your results. After completion of the initial series, most patients are prescribed a regimen of ketamine to help maintain progress between treatments to be utilized at home.  In addition, between appointments, your provider stays in touch with you and uses software to monitor your mental health. The team at Austin Ketamine Clinic is there for the long run, staying in touch with you to monitor your mental health and ready to offer support if your symptoms return.

If your struggle with depression, call Austin Ketamine Clinic or use the online booking feature to schedule a complimentary consultation.