Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States, affecting over 40 million American adults each year, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
However, many traditional therapies for anxiety don’t offer relief for everyone, with approximately 30%-40% of anxiety sufferers still managing symptoms despite trying multiple treatment options.
At Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic in Phoenix, AZ, we offer ketamine as a groundbreaking new treatment for managing anxiety symptoms, especially in treatment-resistant patients.
Anxiety disorders are complex and may result from internal factors, including systemic diseases, and external factors, like trauma. Ketamine anxiety treatments can offer relief for the various ways anxiety presents itself.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used mainly by doctors to induce general anesthesia for specific medical procedures where the muscles do not need to be relaxed.
Recent studies show that ketamine may have benefits outside of surgery. Ketamine offers particularly impressive results as an anxiety treatment, especially in patients whose symptoms aren’t relieved with traditional medications.
Ketamine’s effectiveness stems from how it works, as the treatment targets different neurotransmitters than most existing antidepressants.
While anxiety is a completely normal biological reaction that allows your body to tell you when something is amiss, it can sometimes spin out of control. Some patients find that the fight-or-flight response that developed to protect people from dangerous predators now serves as a response to everyday stressors, like an exam or a work presentation.
Anxiety affects more than just mental health. Patients experiencing overwhelming or persistent stress can also experience adverse effects on the heart, lungs, and other organs.
You may have an anxiety disorder when anxiety doesn’t have a clear, immediate cause or when anxiety symptoms interfere with your ability to perform regular tasks.
Anxiety disorders manifest in many different ways, including:
Ketamine is a well-researched anxiety treatment for all of the above disorders.
Initially, patients chose ketamine for anxiety only when other methods to control their symptoms proved ineffective. Now, as the benefits of choosing ketamine for anxiety become more apparent, more patients are pursuing this groundbreaking treatment to control the intrusive and debilitating thoughts and fears that come with anxiety.
There are several benefits of choosing ketamine anxiety treatments, which is why Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic offers them. These benefits include:
Ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic used regularly since the 1970s and has shown to be well-tolerated by children, adults, and seniors.
In initial studies by the National Center for Biotechnology Information on the safety and efficacy of weekly ketamine infusion therapy in patients with SAD or GAD over 18 months, most patients saw a significant decrease in the physical and mental symptoms of anxiety, with limited, if any, side effects.
The benefits of ketamine infusion therapy begin to take effect within hours of a single treatment, if not immediately. Additionally, patients realize the full results of their ketamine infusion within 24 and 36 hours of receiving treatment.
These results are substantial, as most anxiety disorder sufferers are looking for a treatment option that takes effect quickly and provides more of a proactive rather than reactive response to overall anxiety.
While most anti-anxiety medications require daily treatment, ketamine seems to have a calming effect that lasts even after the drug has left the bloodstream. Therefore, patients undergoing ketamine infusion therapy may reap the benefits of their treatment for a sustained period after a session.
In fact, in one study that looked at maintenance treatments of ketamine for patients with SAD or GAD, 18 of 20 patients saw improvements that lasted up to 14 weeks.
Through several studies, ketamine has proved to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from anxiety. In addition, patients tend to see a significant and rapid decrease in anxiety and depression symptoms after treatment. These studies examined ketamine in treating disorders including PTSD, GAD, SAD, and OCD.
One of the ways that ketamine offers relief for patients whose previous attempts at medical treatments proved futile is the drug’s unique ability to stimulate the regrowth of synapses in the brain. Chronic stress, a key component of anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders, depletes some types of synapses in specific brain regions.
Ketamine targets glutamate, the most prevalent chemical messenger in the brain. The previously referenced studies show that ketamine treatments first improve behavior and restore circuit function in the brain, which leads to the regrowth of dendritic spines — the offshoots from neurons that eventually form synapses.
Those new synapses allow for extended benefits in neuroplasticity and ward off symptoms of depression and anxiety. These exciting results offer a window into how ketamine can change the brain over time and offer increasingly long-term benefits in resolving the symptoms of treatment-resistant anxiety disorders.
The skilled treatment providers at Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic in Phoenix, AZ, offer patients new hope in managing anxiety disorders’ debilitating physical and mental symptoms.
When it’s time to explore new options in anxiety treatments, our skilled healthcare professionals will meet with you to discuss your symptoms, medical history, and long-term goals and then develop a customized treatment plan.
We will work with your concerns and create a plan designed to offer true relief, including reducing the severity and frequency of anxiety attacks and helping you cope with stressors and manage your overall mood.
Schedule an appointment with Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic today to restore control over your life and anxiety. Call or reach out via our convenient online tool now.
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