Awakenings, by Northwest Ohio Ketamine -- expanded services with the same trusted care and continued commitment to your well-being.
by Northwest Ohio Ketamine
Awakenings, by Northwest Ohio Ketamine -- expanded services with the same trusted care and continued commitment to your well-being.
Ketamine is best delivered and experienced by the IV route. This provides minute-to-minute control of the drug effect and allows rapid adjustment when needed for optimizing and individualizing the experience. IV ketamine provides a more rapid onset and faster recovery, so you may return to your normal life not long after the infusion is completed (you should still not drive or operate machinery for 24 hours).
In studies, IV ketamine was superior to nasal esketamine (Spravato) in the management of depression. IV ketamine is a “racemic” mixture (like having a right and left hand—looks the same but are mirror images). Spravato is only the “right hand.”
Awakenings is Northwest Ohio’s exclusive provider of IV ketamine therapy. Alternate delivery methods are available for those with poor IV access.
In select cases, as determined by our providers, clients may be provided with home ketamine kits to continue their treatment.
We provide IV ketamine and home therapy only in the context of continuing behavioral health and coaching support.
Preparation for Your Infusion – Please see pre-infusion instructions for details:
Zofran for nausea is available to all clients.
There are very few side effects from ketamine—some increase in heart rate and blood pressure can be seen. If you have a history of hypertension, your provider may administer a small dose of medication intravenously to keep blood pressure and heart rate in a safe range.
You will not be asleep and will be able to communicate with yourself and staff.
You will be monitored—pulse, oxygen levels, and blood pressure. Rooms are private, but video cameras are in use to assist in monitoring you during your infusion.
You will be provided with a call button to notify staff if you need support.
You will be offered DDAVP, a small pill that helps reduce the urge to urinate so your experience is not interrupted by having to use the restroom or a bedside pan or urinal.
Some clients record their sessions so they can speak into their phone to log their experience in real time. This is optional but helps the integration process.
At a very low dose, ketamine has a direct pharmacologic effect in the brain that makes it a powerful antidepressant, helpful for anxiety disorders (from stage fright to social withdrawal), obsessive-compulsive disorders, dysthymia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, with a longer infusion, very low-dose ketamine is effective in treating CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) and certain cravings (helps quit smoking, alcohol, etc.). It also helps patients reduce reliance on opioids. These effects are generally very rapid.
What is truly unique about ketamine is that it is an entheogenic medicine and a dissociative psychedelic. Ketamine presently is the only legal Medically Directed Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. At Awakenings, we have behavioral health specialists and psychedelic coaches to help maximize the benefit of your journey.
These journeys can be truly transformational, but preparation and integration are critical. Why is the psychedelic experience important? Often, people in pain—those suffering from depression and anxiety, clients battling PTSD and other conditions—have suffered trauma in the past, and the continued suffering can and does lead to depression, PTSD, chronic pain, and anxiety disorders. In psychedelic-assisted therapy, your mind opens and will take you where you need to go to address the past, future, and present. Often you can face the past in a way that old shadows can be eliminated and new ideas implemented in a very positive way. There is evidence of neuroplasticity—creating new connections between brain neurons or reestablishing old connections. Not only does this energize the brain, it can result in better focus, improved performance in problem-solving, an enlightened view of the world around you, greater confidence, and often address, lessen, or eliminate what is holding you back in your subconscious.
To achieve this mind-opening, transformational psychedelic effect, a slightly larger dose of ketamine is needed. Clients still remain awake but may feel altered sensations of their body, surroundings, and mind-body separation. Some feel they travel to the cosmos, to be closer to spirits, the divine, or sense the energy in the world that keeps us all alive. If there are shadows, early treatments may be dark, even a bit scary. Proper preparation and intention setting lessen this, and Awakenings staff are there to assist you during the experience. Generally, journeys become more beautiful and mind-opening as a series of infusions progress.
Expectations are based on beliefs, assumptions about how things should be or end up. These may have deep roots in past experiences, teachings, upbringing, desires, and culture. There may be external and non-personal factors that often play into expectations. The problem with expectations is they can lead to disappointment when they are not met. An example from everyday life is a peer challenge such as sports: if you fall short, you are disappointed, and that affects the joy and satisfaction of participating.
Intentions, on the other hand, refer more to the goals or purposes we have chosen. It is what we bring to the table and is about the process and the journey, but without expecting a specific result or timeline. Intentions are of our choosing, while expectations usually have external factors directing us to a particular result.
It is important in psychedelic therapy, including ketamine therapy, to set intentions without expectations. You need an open mind and an open book—not a fixed path or timeline to completion. With good intentions, there are no disappointments.
When we have intentions, we are focused on our own actions and our goals. Intentions are necessary for us to imagine what we want for ourselves and our lives. Expectations are the gauge by which we can measure our progress toward what we set out to accomplish. The problem with expectations is that they can lead to disappointment and conflict when they are not met.
Psychedelics, including ketamine, can bring up memories, thoughts, emotions, even parts of ourselves we have forgotten. Painful experiences, unprocessed trauma, and grief can all arise during a journey or treatment session. Many journeys, of course, are beautiful and even pleasurable. Regardless of the experience, integration is part of the process of expanding the experience and incorporating the feelings, insights, and discoveries from the experience into one’s daily life. Like much in life, you need to practice what you learn to have the intended impact. It takes practice and focus to implement positive changes. You can integrate individually, with a group of peers, or with an integration coach. Critical to the process—or at least helpful—is journaling: write down thoughts, emotions, visions, impressions. It may be helpful to record (audio) your journey so that you can document feelings, thoughts, and visions in real time for later reflection.
Ketamine treatment is a process, and each treatment or session is often different, generally building on earlier experiences—particularly if you have taken time to journal and integrate the experience.
Any questions regarding your upcoming infusion? Please see our website:https://nwohioketamineclinic.com/ or call our experience specialists at (phone number).