The year 2020 brings us a new year, a new decade, and the opportunity for a new beginning. I’m Dr. Bal Nandra, Medical Director of IV Solution and I want to tell you how ketamine infusions can treat your clinical depression and change your life in a few days.

As far back as ten years ago, ketamine was noticed to have a profound and rapid effect on improving the symptoms of depression, and many strong clinical studies have since repeatedly supported this. In fact, ketamine can be up to 80 percent effective for treatment of resistant depression, or TRD, which is defined as clinical depression that has failed treatment by two or more antidepressant medications that were taken for an adequate course of therapy.

Because of its success in treating depression, ketamine has been and continues to be also studied in treatment of other mental disorders with very good results. It is for this reason that ketamine has been called “the most significant advancement in mental health in half a century.” As part of this revolution, IV Solutions & Ketamine Centers is the first and most experienced private medical facility to make this treatment available in Chicago. The clinic offers customized therapy in a confidential setting with anesthesiologists, registered nurses, private treatment rooms, and skilled staff.

Developed in the 1960’s as an anesthetic drug, ketamine has been used to successfully treat depression for more than 10 years. It has a safe profile when administered by an experienced anesthesiologist. It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA cell receptors, which raises levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate. Ketamine also remaps and stimulates growth of nerve elements for long-term relief of clinical depression and essentially does a “reboot” of your brain. In fact, sophisticated imaging studies on mouse brain nerve cells has shown that ketamine can stimulate this nerve growth or neurogenesis as early as 24 hours after a single ketamine infusion.

Although primarily used to treat major depression, ketamine can also be just as effective when used to treat bipolar disorder, anxiety, PTSD, and even OCD utilizing modified protocols. It is typically effective within hours to days with minimal side effects, as opposed to oral antidepressants which are only effective in about 40 percent of patients, take a month or longer to work, and have many undesirable side effects. Many patients have improvement after their first or second treatments and are comfortable while they are receiving the treatment. Many people, with the guidance of their physician, may be able to decrease or even eliminate their other medications over time.

After the series of six 45-minute infusions for depression done over a period of two to three weeks, patients typically report relief of symptoms for many weeks to months, after which time booster infusions may be scheduled as needed. Patients can inquire directly for the treatment or can be referred by their physician or mental health professional. Our clinic prefers to integrate your psychiatrist and mental health providers into your care.

“I noticed a change the day after my first treatment,” says patient Kathy Wrubleski. “I think clearly, I make decisions effortlessly, I am calm. I’m fully present in the moment and I get goose bumps just thinking about how much I am now loving life. I liken it to waking from a coma. I have to learn how to live again.”

IV Solutions and Ketamine Centers is located at 300 Village Green Road, Suite 225 in Lincolnshire and at 712 N. Dearborn Street in Chicago. For more information, call 844-9-IV-MEDS (948-6337) or visit chicagoivsolution.com or ketaminechicago.com to watch and listen to our many patient testimonials, news, and radio stories.