Step One

Make an appointment at AKTARI by calling 480-626-2727 or by clicking on the Contact Us page.

Arrive at AKTARI with comfortable clothing and someone to drive you home. Discontinue your last dose of medications as directed (resume following treatment as directed). We will review consents with you and your family, answer any questions, and have you complete a questionnaire describing how you are feeling. Our medical staff will do a quick heart, lung, and neurological exam, and our nursing staff will check vital signs and start an IV. While reclining in an easy chair or laying in a bed, you will have EKG and blood pressure monitors applied – a standard precaution. Slow infusion of Ketamine almost never causes any significant changes in pulse or blood pressure, we just like to keep a medical eye on you during treatments.

 

Step Two

Ketamine will be added to your IV and infused over 45 minutes.

  • During this time you may relax, read, watch a movie, or take a nap.
  • After the Ketamine infusion is complete, the nurse will remove the IV, and your next Ketamine treatment session will be scheduled.
  • Because Ketamine may reduce reflexes and cause a vague feeling of detachment, patients may not drive home afterward. We require that you bring a driver, or our staff will be happy to call a taxi or Uber service with a chaperone.

 

Step Three

We will call you the day after your first infusion to evaluate your response to Ketamine, and confirm your next treatment appointment. At the beginning of each Ketamine infusion session, we will have you fill out a response questionnaire in order to track your progress. This will allow our anesthesiology and nursing staff to adjust Ketamine doses and therapy intervals if needed.

 

An Initial Treatment Series of Ketamine consists of four infusions over a two-week time period. Many patients have immediate relief of symptoms, and most others see some improvement a day or two after their first or second treatment. If you are in the majority of patients who have significant improvement in your symptoms by the fourth infusion, we will schedule two more infusions over the following four weeks apart. For those who continue to have a good response to Ketamine, we can schedule periodic once a month maintenance treatments to maximize the effects of the brain-repairing properties of Ketamine.

We usually discontinue treatment for patients who do not show improvement in symptoms after completing the first four infusions, and at that time review or offer other treatments that may be more effective for them.

“It’s truly amazing both in terms of how powerful the effect is, but also how quickly it works!”

Professor Colleen Loo, University of New South Wales, Australia