Most people suffer from depression without their knowledge. You experience a change of mood and assume it is normal. With time you start feeling sad, secluding yourself from your friends, feeling sorry for yourself, and considering yourself of less value. This situation affects your lifestyle. Luckily your addiction medicine specialist in Charlotte can help you walk through this journey and come out victorious and enjoy your daily life again.
When you experience some of these symptoms for two weeks, you should visit your doctor for help. Experiencing a feeling of desperation, lack of excitement in your day-to-day activities which you previously enjoyed, withdrawing from friends and family, signs of insomnia (either you oversleep, or you experience resistive sleep), added weight due to overeating or loss of weight due to a lack of appetite, fatigue which causes slowed thoughts and difficulty performing your duties.
A combination of different factors can cause depression. Some of these factors are environmental, genetic, psychological, and biological. If your family has a history of depression, you are more likely to develop it. If you have a lot of stress, it affects your nerve cells' development in your brain. Depression can also be caused by anxiety and chronic pain.
Diagnosis
Your doctor will recommend different types of examinations to diagnose depression. Your doctor may request you to do a blood test to help him exclude some underlying causes like anemia and an underactive thyroid, which portrays the same symptoms as depression. If your doctor rules out any underlying condition, he will recommend you for further evaluation.
Your doctor will go through your medical history and look for a particular change in the pattern of symptoms that shows how different you are compared to how you used to be. Your doctor will also check for signs of functional impairment. You will share with your doctor about your family history and how long you have had the symptoms. In case of any suicidal thoughts, your doctor will request to know.
Treatment For Depression
After diagnosis, you will have a broad discussion with your doctor before he recommends any treatment. Ketamine therapy is one of the treatments that your doctor will use to treat your depression after taking antidepressants without progress. Your doctor can recommend either intravenous infusion or nebulized inhaled ketamine, depending on your condition.
Intravenous Infusion Ketamine
Your doctor will recommend you for intravenous infusion ketamine if you have a major depressive disorder, stress disorder, or post-traumatic disorder. The ketamine treatment is administered in sequences. Your doctor will give an IV infusion of ketamine in your arm. You will receive three ketamine infusions in the first week, followed by two in week two, then once for three consecutive weeks. After that, you will be getting ketamine therapy once per month.
Nebulized Inhaled Ketamine
Your doctor will recommend this treatment if you have bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and chronic headaches. Your doctor will help you inhale the ketamine mist then rest for two hours in the clinic as he observes you. Because you might experience a few side effects from ketamine treatments, you will be required to be accompanied by a family member or a friend to drive you back home.
Contact Charlotte Ketamine Center to get liberated from depression and live a fulfilled life.
