Ketamine Treatment for Anxiety

Anxiety disorders affect nearly one-third of adolescents and adults across the United States. Half of the patients affected see symptoms improve with standard treatment such as therapy and medication.

While traditional treatments improve symptoms of anxiety, it can take 12-16 weeks for patients to experience positive results. Ketamine infusions safely and quickly relieve the symptoms caused by intense or treatment-resistant anxiety, usually within a patient’s first treatment.

Ketamine Wellness Infusions PA offers ketamine treatment for anxiety and its symptoms. Continue reading to see if infusions are a viable treatment option for your recovery.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is described as excessive, intense, persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Symptoms of anxiety can include:

Feelings of nervousness
Feelings of restlessness or being tense
Increased heart rate
Trembling
Sweating
Difficulty controlling worry
Trouble sleeping
Trouble concentrating
Fatigue
Rapid breathing

When feeling anxious, an automatic reaction called the fight-or-flight response prepares patients to deal with the cause of anxiety. The brain releases biochemicals that activate and energize some body systems but shut down others.

When the trigger is gone, the body’s biochemical levels and systems go back to normal and anxiety disappears — unless there is an underlying anxiety disorder. When struggling with an anxiety disorder a patient’s body, mind, and emotions stay on high alert even when there’s no perceived threat.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Unlike generalized anxiety, anxiety disorders manifest intense, repetitive symptoms over a prolonged period. Symptoms associated with these disorders are more severe and patients are more anxious when facing triggers than a situation normally warrants.

There are five major types of anxiety disorders:

Generalized anxiety disorder: Patients experience exaggerated worry, tension, and anxiety even if no trigger is present.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Patients experience reoccurring and unwanted thoughts and/or participate in repetitive behaviors.
Panic disorder: Patients experience episodes of intense fear and physical symptoms such as chest pain, heart palpitations, abdominal pain, dizziness, and/or shortness of breath.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Develops when patients experience or witness a traumatizing event. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, avoidance, and negative mood and/or thinking changes.
Social phobia (or social anxiety disorder): Patients experience self-consciousness and overwhelming anxiety in normal social situations.

Benefits of Ketamine for Anxiety

Traditional treatments for anxiety disorders are psychotherapy and medication. Although these treatments assist with helping half the population with their symptoms, effects usually do not take place right away.

In recent years, ketamine therapy has been used in conjunction with traditional treatment methods to quickly alleviate symptoms associated with anxiety disorders.

Using ketamine for anxiety in small doses may help balance levels of glutamate, a brain chemical responsible for excitatory effects on nerve cells. Treatment often alleviates symptoms within hours — even in patients whose anxiety hasn’t improved with psychiatric medications. Ketamine may also promote new nerve growth and improve communication between nerves.

Most patients experience positive effects from one ketamine treatment. The duration of therapeutic effects varies from 1- 6 months. Once you complete the initial series of ketamine infusions, we will speak to your physician about your treatment and the progress you achieved. Working together with your provider will benefit your treatment outcomes, which is our main goal!

Schedule a Consultation for Anxiety Treatment

Ketamine Wellness Infusions PA wants to help patients in the Philadelphia, Doylestown, and Bala Cynwyd areas overcome their anxiety.

Schedule a consultation with our team of professionals to see if ketamine treatment for anxiety is right for you. We look forward to helping you achieve better days ahead.

How Does Ketamine Work?

Ketamine is mostly known for its action on the NMDA receptor in the brain, leading to increased activity of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. Increased glutamate levels may enhance one’s mood, decrease anxiety or depression symptoms. Ketamine can decrease the inflammation of the nervous system, as well as stimulate the development of new nerve connections. Frequently reported benefits from our patients are elevated mood, decreased depression and anxiety, improved energy levels, improved coping mechanisms, and others.

Is Ketamine Therapy Right For Me?

Ketamine offers a rapid and robust alternative to traditional medical and psychiatric treatments for pain syndromes and mental health disorders. Intravenous ketamine infusions often succeed where first-line therapies have failed to relieve your symptoms.

Patients who continue to struggle with symptoms caused by anxiety, major depression, postpartum depression, treatment-resistant depression, and bipolar depression often experience improvement within hours of their first ketamine treatment.

Ketamine offers such rapid results that it’s especially beneficial for treating patients with suicidality who can’t wait weeks or months to see if a psychiatric medication might help. Ketamine also offers effective symptom relief for PTSD and OCD.