Ketamine infusion for chronic pain

Ketamine is one of the oldest medications around. It has potent psychoactive effects including hallucination and sedation. Because of the sedative effects, ketamine is widely used as an anesthetic.

Psychiatrists also use ketamine to treat severe depression that has not responded to other treatments.

In the field of Pain Medicine, ketamine can be used to treat chronic pain conditions involving central sensitization–an increased sensitivity across the senses. This includes CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome), EDS (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome), trigeminal neuralgia, and fibromyalgia.

Because of its unique pharmacology, ketamine is offered to patients as IV infusions.

Below is an infographic explaining ketamine infusions and its logistics.