| Description: | FHE Health is one of few, if not the only treatment center, which combines the diagnostic tools of mental health professionals with Ketamine Infusion treatment in Florida. Our mission is to provide personalized, high-quality care for people suffering from afflictions where ketamine Infusions have proven to be a successful treatment option. We recognize ketamine treatments are only one part of a patients recovery and for a patient to truly be successful we develop an individualized treatment plan which includes a complete psychiatric evaluation to fit your personal needs.
History of Ketamine
An organic chemistry professor working for Parke Davis Laboratories first synthesized ketamine in 1962. Within four short years, ketamine was being patented as an anesthetic for animals and humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under President Richard Nixon’s administration, approved ketamine as an anesthetic for humans. It was quickly implemented during the Vietnam War as a field anesthetic for American soldiers. In addition, veterinarians began using ketamine as an anesthetic and sedative for domesticated and wild animals.
Ketamine’s psychoactive properties made it a favorite of illegal drug users in the 1970s. A dissociative anesthetic causing hallucinations when taken in larger than normal doses, ketamine was used in alternative psychotherapies at the time, along with psilocybin and LSD. Both psilocybin and LSD have since been banned from psychotherapeutic use. However, it is still legal for doctors to use ketamine for non-anesthetic purposes.
How Does Ketamine Affect the Brain and Body?
What is ketamine used for?Ketamine blocks (antagonizes) NMDA receptors in the brain, and in high doses produces anesthetic, hallucinogenic and dissociative effects. When administered in low doses, ketamine exerts an antidepressant effect that is still not fully understood. Some recent studies seem to indicate ketamine may work as an antidepressant by inhibiting a part of the brain called the lateral habenula, or the “anti-reward” center of the brain.
Ketamine’s anesthetic and analgesic properties result from antagonism of NMDA receptors preventing sensitization of certain neurons. The desensitization of neurons interferes with the transmission of pain signals coming from the spinal cord. Additionally, ketamine reduces nitric oxide production in the bloodstream. Nitric oxide is a gasotransmitter implicated in the perception of pain.
Ketamine also increases heart rate and blood pressure by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. In about two in 10 people given ketamine, nausea and vomiting may occur. All individuals taking ketamine experience minor bronchodilation which increases airflow in and out of the lungs. |
