A Step-by-Step Look at What Happens in Your Body During a Ketamine Infusion

Once used as a surgical anesthetic, the dissociative drug ketamine is now FDA approved as a treatment for major depression, and also shows promise as a treatment for anxiety, chronic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

If you’re living with any of these conditions, you might be curious about whether intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions could help improve your mental or physical health and wellness. You may also have questions about exactly what happens to your body, mind, and condition as you undergo treatment.

At Iconic Infusions, PLLC of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Dr. Bryant S. Edwards provides ketamine therapy for new and existing patients. In this blog, he gives you step-by-step information about what to expect during ketamine treatment, helping you make informed decisions about your mental health care or chronic pain management path. Here’s what you need to know about what happens when you take therapeutic ketamine.

Starting your ketamine infusion session

Ketamine therapy involves a series of repeated ketamine infusion sessions spaced out over time. You’ll undergo six treatment sessions over the course of 2-3 weeks. Each infusion takes about 40 minutes to complete, followed by a 1-hour resting period in our comfortable medspa environment. You may want to listen to music or use soothing aromatherapy during this interval.

Wear loose, comfortable clothing to your infusion appointment. A member of the Iconic Infusions, PLLC treatment team starts your IV drip, placing a very small needle into a vein to allow the treatment solution to enter your bloodstream. Most patients tolerate this part of the treatment well. Our team monitors you throughout treatment in case of any adverse reactions.

Your brain on ketamine: a closer look

Once the ketamine dose travels through your bloodstream to your brain, it takes effect rapidly. What effect does ketamine have on your brain? You’re likely to feel dissociative, as if you’re floating above your body. And, within your brain, transformations take place that address mental health symptoms and chronic pain.

There are three major areas of your brain where ketamine takes effect. First, it impacts your posteromedial cortex, producing the dissociative feeling you experience. But that’s not the effect most connected to your mental health or pain relief treatment.

Ketamine also affects your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, areas of your brain associated with executive function, decision-making, and memory. The treatment effectively “switches” neurological activity by blocking synaptic NMDA receptors, so that overactive neurons quiet down while other cortical neurons light back up.

Symptom relief after ketamine therapy

After your infusion session, you may notice improvement in your symptoms within days or even hours. You continue to receive booster or maintenance treatments every 2-8 weeks to maintain your results. This type of treatment may work for you when other approaches have not, as in the case of treatment-resistant depression.

Ketamine therapy can break you out of negative cycles, whether of remembered trauma or of recurring chronic pain. To learn more about whether IV ketamine therapy could be right for you, contact Dr. Edwards at Iconic Infusions, PLLC, now and schedule your initial consultation appointment. Reach out to us online or over the phone today to book.