Ketamine is changing the lives of so many who have been suffering from treatment-resistant depression and suicidal thoughts. It is pulling them out of their darkness and ending the rollercoaster ride of trying medication after medication, getting their hopes up when a medication would start to work for a while, but then driving them deeper into a worsening spiral when it stops being effective. Ketamine interrupts the cycle of frustration and hopelessness in the most wonderful ways.
In 2018, Alan Ferguson spoke to CNN about his decades-long battle with clinical depression and multiple suicide attempts. During this time, he had been prescribed dozens of medications (SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants), but he found little relief. “I never got to the point that I thought, ‘OK, I’m feeling good,’ ” he said. “It was always, ‘OK, this is tolerable.’ But yet those thoughts [of wanting to die] were still there.”
Ferguson, by some stroke of luck, was referred to a ketamine clinic in Milwaukee. The morning after his infusion, he anxiously awaited “his pervasive ‘I need to be dead’ thoughts” but they never arrived. “No negative thoughts!” he recalled. “My problems still existed … but things were different. My most faithful, lifelong companion was gone!” The efficacy of Ferguson’s treatment is evidence of the power of this drug. He calls it a “medical marvel.”
Alice Levitt attributes ketamine to saving her life. Prior to her treatments, she had believed that her depression was a terminal illness. For her, living with chronic depression was like experiencing “blunt force trauma to the head, locking you into a pattern of negative thought and throwing away the key.” Throughout her life, she was shuffled from practitioner to practitioner and was desperate for something to help treat her depression.
Like Ferguson, ketamine came calling, and Levitt took advantage of the opportunity to try it. The day after her infusion, Levitt experienced less psychiatric pain, and felt as though she had more purpose. She began to enjoy doing things she had long neglected. Levitt stated she was able “to connect with the world outside my head again. I noticed myself smiling more. I was living for the first time in months.”
Success stories, like these, are proof that ketamine is a promising treatment for depression for several reasons. First, it can be effective for people whose depression symptoms have not responded to prior treatments. Second, the effects of ketamine are rapid, which is unique compared to traditional antidepressants. A third reason is that ongoing ketamine therapy can protect an individual from the return of depression symptoms.
If you struggle with mental health issues, contact our ketamine infusion therapy center today for a free consultation, or simply complete the brief form below and a member of our clinical team will reach out to answer your questions, determine if you’re a candidate for ketamine infusion therapy, and address your concerns.
Contact Ketamine Greater Boston
Contact our ketamine infusion therapy center today for a free consultation, or simply complete the brief form below and a member of our clinical team will reach out to answer your questions and address your concerns.
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