Ketamine Therapy is an innovative treatment option for individuals struggling with various mental health conditions, but it can also offer significant relief from chronic pain. Here’s how ketamine can help with pain management and provide long-term relief.
Understanding Different Types of Pain
Pain can manifest in various forms, affecting each person differently depending on intensity, scope, location, and individual pain tolerance. The common types of pain include:
- Nociceptive pain: The most common pain condition, which can be somatic or visceral, caused by tissue damage. It’s described as a dull, stabbing, or throbbing sensation. Prevalent conditions include arthritis, endometriosis, chronic back pain, and fibromyalgia.
- Neuropathic pain or nerve pain: Is caused by damage to the nervous system and presents itself as a stabbing, tingling, or burning sensation. Prevalent conditions include phantom limb pain and complex regional pain syndrome.
- Combined: Many pain conditions present themselves as both nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
Physical pain is treated in various ways, from medications such as traditional painkillers, opioids, or topical treatments to physical and even psychological therapies. Injections are also a treatment option, as Ketamine is growing in popularity due to its potential pain relief properties.
Acute Pain vs. Chronic Pain
Both acute and chronic pain can vary in severity, cause, and impact, as both can be detrimental to mental health, but the main difference between the two types is the duration of pain.
Acute pain is a short-term condition caused by injury, illness, or surgery. This type of pain tends to quiet down over time with the right healing treatments or goes away on its own, depending on its severity.
Chronic pain is persistent pain that lasts at least three months, but it can be present for multiple years at a time. Chronic pain can present itself as episodic pain, such as migraines and endometriosis, which can go away briefly but often reemerge or flare up. New treatments are emerging for chronic pain using Ketamine Therapy, including ketamine patches, which can last for several hours throughout the day.
Physical Pain and Mental Health
Physical pain is usually intertwined with mental health, as it can cause immense emotional distress, anxiety, depression, or even trauma in severe cases. This can be caused by both acute and chronic pain, as both can disrupt daily life, relationships, work, and general emotional well-being. This can be extremely isolating, which is why psychotherapy is sometimes added as a treatment when healing from physical pain.
How Ketamine Can Help With Pain Management
Ketamine is an anesthetic drug with dissociative properties. It works by blocking the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDA) in the brain, causing a surge of glutamate, which is responsible for pain management. Ketamine can potentially offer rapid and short-term pain relief, as well as reduce inflammation, boost neuroplasticity, and help individuals break free from negative thought patterns.
Ketamine Therapy is a complex treatment that can cover both pain relief as well as the psychological challenges that can co-exist with pain conditions.
Ketamine Therapy
Ketamine Therapy is a transformative treatment option that offers symptom relief for those struggling with mental health conditions, as well as chronic pain conditions. A lot of individuals struggle with treatment-resistant conditions, for which Ketamine Therapy has proven to be beneficial due to its rapid onset of effects. Individuals who haven’t found relief with traditional antidepressants and conventional pain medications have reported feeling relief within hours or days of the ketamine session.
The treatment is conducted in a clinical setting by a compassionate staff of trained professionals. The administration consists of intramuscular injections (IM) or intravenous infusions (IV). IM is sometimes preferred over IV due to fewer side effects. The treatment consists of three common phases, including:
- Preparation phase: During this phase, the patient is being prepared for the session by setting intentions, breathwork, and meditation to reach the right mental state for the treatment.
- Medication phase: A compassionate Guide injects a dose of ketamine into the large muscle of the shoulder or administers the ketamine via an IV.
- Integration phase: During this phase, patients receive grounding support, through which they can learn healthy coping mechanisms and receive the necessary tools for deep emotional healing.
- Bonus sessions and follow-up care: In some cases, bonus or maintenance sessions are available for those with severe symptoms to ensure the optimal results from the treatment.
The duration of Ketamine Therapy can vary, as Kadelyx offers personalized treatment plans that are tailored to the needs of each patient. A typical Ketamine Therapy treatment consists of multiple sessions over the course of six weeks. The treatment plan is personalized after a detailed medical evaluation is conducted, which covers the patient’s medical and mental history, current symptoms, as well as their therapeutic goals.
Recovery Is Possible With the Right Pain Treatment
If you are struggling with a pain condition and haven’t found relief, you are not alone – book a free consultation at Kadelyx Health and learn more about Ketamine and its transformative effects.
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