What Are Ketamine Infusions?

Originally used as a surgical anesthetic, ketamine is proving to be an excellent lasting solution to chronic pain. With ketamine, pain patients can experience significant reduction in discomfort, and begin to enjoy life again.

At Integrated Spine And Pain Care in Farmingdale, Deer Park, and Long Island, New York, board-certified interventional pain medicine specialist Mikael Sarij, MD, offers leading-edge treatments for pain including ketamine infusions.

Chronic back pain

Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting for three months or more. Around one in five Americans between the ages of 20 and 59 experience chronic lower back pain at some point in their lives. More than one in four of these adults with low back pain say that their pain limits their activity.

At Integrated Spine and Pain Care, our pain management specialists are committed to improving the lives of patients suffering from chronic pain caused by spinal injury or degeneration. One of these treatment options is ketamine infusion.

Ketamine: the basics

When people think of ketamine, they may be more familiar with its use in racehorses as a tranquilizer, or from television as the street drug “Special K.” However, ketamiune has a long and respectable history of use by surgeons who apply it as a safe, effective anesthetic.

Researchers have discovered that ketamine can also be used for other conditions, such as treatment-resistant depression and chronic pain. Ketamine works by blocking signals to certain pain receptors in the brain. It can also be used to “reset” some of some nerve cells in your spine and brain, damping down chronic pain sensitivity.

Types of pain ketamine can treat

Ketamine is more effective for certain types of pain than others. We use ketamine infusion to treat the following types of pain:

• Chronic pain
• Chronic back pain
• Chronic neck pain
• Chronic joint pain
• Chronic regional pain syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Neuralgia
• Phantom limb syndrome

Ketamine infusions are often a better choice than typical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which can cause stomach ulcers if taken too frequently. Many patients also prefer ketamine to prescription painkillers like opioids, due to those drugs’ risk of dependency.

Ketamine can make chronic pain subside for days, weeks, or even months, depending on your specific condition. The infusion experience is very relaxed; you’ll receive your infusions in our office while resting comfortably. You won’t be anesthetized by the ketamine, but you may feel drowsy and extremely relaxed during the infusion. The process typically takes around an hour, and then we’ll monitor you for a short time period before releasing you.

Are you interested in knowing more about the potential of ketamine infusions as a way to effectively, safely and responsibly treat your chronic spine pain? Contact the Integrated Spine and Pain Care office nearest you or reach out through the contact form on our website today to schedule an appointment.