Ketamine Infusion Therapy for Pain Management Is Available in the Phoenix, Arizona, Area

The longer you live with pain, the more it can become the center of your world, casting a long shadow over almost every aspect of your life.

Unfortunately, this describes nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States (60+ million people) who report struggling with chronic pain, which is pain that lasts for three months or more.

If pain has become an unwelcome presence in your life and you feel frustrated by pain management efforts to date, it might be time to explore ketamine infusion therapy, which has a great track record for pain relief.

Recognizing that patients in the greater Phoenix area, including Chandler, need the very best options for pain management, the team at Apex Pain Specialists is pleased to offer ketamine infusion therapy. Under the capable direction of Dr. Naveen Reddy and Dr. Maziar Massrour, both of whom are board-certified in pain management, we’ve helped scores of patients to find meaningful comfort in life.

The history of ketamine

Ketamine was first introduced in the 1960s as an anesthetic, and it works very well in this role by offering near-immediate relief for pain.

Over the next 50 years of use, medical researchers found that ketamine can do so much more thanks to its sweeping effect on brain chemistry. This is because ketamine works as an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist to block the human brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter.

In plainer English, ketamine works by blocking pain signaling, but it goes a step further and reprograms your brain’s pathways to be less sensitive and reactive to pain.

Tackling pain and mood with ketamine

While ketamine excels at relieving pain, it also works on areas of your brain that control mood regulation, and this is important.

The reality for many people is that, the longer they’re in pain, the more entrenched the pain signaling becomes. And the longer you’re in pain, the larger your chances are for depression and anxiety. To illustrate this point, consider this: 40% of people who struggle with chronic pain show clinical signs of depression, anxiety, or both.

And when you have a mood regulation disorder, it can heighten pain perception, which keeps you locked in a vicious cycle.

With ketamine, we break this cycle by tackling the pain and improving mood regulation at the same time.

Undergoing ketamine infusion therapy

If we find that you’re a good candidate for ketamine infusion therapy, we can get started. Ketamine infusions last about an hour and you’ll need someone to drive you home afterward. In most cases, we recommend a series of ketamine infusions and, once you finish, the results should provide you with meaningful relief that lasts.

To explore whether ketamine infusion therapy would make a good addition to your pain management plan, we invite you to call our Chandler office at 480-820-7246 today to schedule a visit. You can also use our online booking tool to request a consultation.