The world is full of chronic pain conditions that affect millions of people across the country and even more across the globe. From back and neck pain to arthritis, each chronic pain condition affects your body differently. Some are far more serious than others and require more extensive treatments. Fortunately, there are a host of pain management treatment options out there to help you manage your pain. Ketamine infusion is one such treatment option that continues to grow in popularity.
Over the years, pain management doctors continue to look for alternative treatments for pain management as opposed to relying on surgery and pain medications. Often, these options can cause even more issues and don’t lead to long-term results. Options like ketamine infusion help provide long-term pain relief to those in pain.
However, not many people understand how this treatment works. In fact, many people often think poorly of ketamine. After all, in the past, ketamine was a common street drug (referred to as “special K” or “vitamin K”). However, over the years, pain management doctors have developed ways to utilize ketamine as an effective pain management treatment.
With millions of Americans suffering from chronic pain, it’s only natural that they would be looking for a way to find pain relief. With the help of ketamine infusions, patients at Texas Partners Healthcare Group have experienced pain relief. Give our Frisco pain management clinic a call today to learn more about ketamine infusion.
As we mentioned earlier, when people hear the word ketamine, many of them think about its use as an illicit drug, understandably so. For years, people used it dangerously and improperly for recreational use. Often, this use would end in disaster. However, in the years since, pain management doctors have been able to implement ketamine in pain management programs.
Ketamine is a sedative that possesses pain-relieving and short-term memory loss qualities. It has proven to be successful in assisting in pain relief. It works by disrupting the chemical receptors (specifically the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors) that send pain signals across your nervous system. Along with blocking these pain receptors in your brain, ketamine also resets cells within your spine and brain.
Resetting cells is vital to the pain management process. Often, cells and nerve pathways stay in an activated state for too long, which leads to chronic pain. You’re more likely to experience pain even when nothing is wrong. Resetting the cells jumpstarts them and could stabilize them again.
When ketamine is administered in low doses (as is the case with ketamine infusion), it helps modulate and control pain, especially neuropathic pain.
Over the years, pain management doctors have discovered that ketamine infusion can help treat a host of different chronic pain conditions. While doctors have been using ketamine in surgery (as an anesthetic) for decades now, its uses for chronic pain continue to grow.
At our Frisco pain management clinic, we use ketamine infusions to help treat:
As we learn more and more about ketamine infusions, healthcare experts are developing new guidelines when it comes to administering the drug safely. These are just a handful of chronic pain conditions ketamine infusions have proven to be successful in treating.
If you would like to learn if this treatment is right for you, contact Texas Partners Healthcare Group to speak with one of our chronic pain doctors.
However, as with all drugs, ketamine does come with potential side effects. Ketamine infusions are low dosage to protect the patient from these side effects. Most often, these infusions are successful. However, in some instances, patients may experience side effects, such as:
These side effects can be dangerous, which is why it is so important that healthcare providers administer low doses. When ketamine is abused, it can lead to memory loss, changes in sight, sound, and mental states, and much worse. Only use ketamine under the supervision of a doctor.
At Texas Partners Healthcare Group, ketamine infusion is used for various purposes. Its purpose is to help patients manage their pain and experience pain relief. Often, the patients who receive ketamine infusions did not respond well to other forms of pain management. Or they plan to undergo surgery.
Due to the risks mentioned above, along with the fact that many people are sensitive to ketamine, doctors prescribe ketamine infusion with care, always at low doses to protect the patient.
Pain management doctors administer ketamine in different ways. However, the most common way they give ketamine infusions is through an intravenous (IV) pump in your abdomen. Typically, the medication is mixed in with saline in an IV bag, infusing slowly throughout treatment.
It involves delivering a carefully controlled dose of ketamine into the patient over a period so that the level of ketamine absorbed into your bloodstream is gradual. Often, the procedure takes anywhere from one to two hours.
The dosage may change until you experience the desired pain relief or if you experience side effects. Fortunately, most patients recover shortly after their procedure. Often, they’ll feel groggy, have cloudy thoughts, and might even struggle to walk straight.
A single infusion could last a couple of days or a whole month. We often recommend a series of up to three infusions to extend the benefits of ketamine infusion therapy.
Not everyone is the right candidate for ketamine infusion. Patients with high blood pressure, a fast heart rate, or a history of seizures are at a greater risk of dangerous side effects than others. That is why it is so crucial to speak with an experienced pain management doctor. They will answer any questions about ketamine infusion you may have and determine if this treatment is right for you.
If you are curious if ketamine infusions are right for you, please contact Texas Partners Healthcare Group today to learn more.