Houston Ketamine Center

Depression / Anxiety Disorder Patients: It is recommended that you receive a series 6 (1 hour) infusions over 2-3 weeks. This is necessary to reset and restore the neural pathways and allow relief of your treatment-resistant condition. Most patients see improvement after their 1st or 2nd infusion, but it is important to complete the whole series for longer relief of your symptoms. For those who don’t see benefit after the 2nd or 3rd infusion, we may continue with a higher dose infusion. If there is still no response, we generally stop further treatment. If ketamine does improve your mood, outlook, and functionality, we suggest that you complete your series to maximize ketamine’s benefits. Chronic Pain Disorders Patients: It is recommended that you receive five 4-hour long infusions, typically done within 5 days. Although, patients can have profound relief in as little as one infusion, most patients will notice longer lasting results after the full course of treatment is complete.

On the day of your infusion treatment, an IV will be gently started in your hand or arm. Your vital signs will be closely monitored during the course of your treatment. Once the ketamine infusion is started, you may begin to notice feelings of euphoria, floating sensation, and a heightened perception to sound, light, and colors. Once the infusion is complete, theses feelings will begin to dissipate. Patients are monitored for approximately 30 minutes to an hour. After your initial series of infusion treatments, you may start maintenance (booster) infusions as needed to extend the remission of symptoms. The time interval between maintenance infusions is highly variable for each patient. Some patients may have a booster once per month starting 4 weeks after their initial treatment while others have gone over a year before needing a booster treatment.