Traditionally used as a sedative or anesthesia, the medication . Ketamine has recently become a prospective treatment for several conditions, including chronic nerve pain. Neuropathic pain is highly debilitating and affects up to ten percent of the population. It can result from a variety of sources, including nerve damage, cancerous growths, or dysfunctional patterns in the transmission of information within the nervous system.
Neuropathic pain causes not only physical impairment, but also affects the sufferer’s mental health and overall well-being. It tends to be unique and difficult to treat, despite decades of research dedicated to finding an effective remedy. This has driven researchers to seek out innovative treatments, the latest and most promising of which is the administration of the dissociative anesthetic Ketamine.
When peripheral nerves are damaged, this triggers the release of glutamate, a neurotransmitter serving as an agonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Glutamate is indicated in several neurological functions, including recognition of pain. The activation of the NMDA receptors is thought to play an important role in neuropathic pain. Ketamine, therefore, alleviates nerve pain by inhibiting this receptor and disrupting the release of glutamate.
A meta-analysis studying Ketamine’s efficacy in pain relief among patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) demonstrated a significant decrease in pain after one, two, eight, and twelve weeks of intravenous injection. One of the studies in this meta-analysis found complete remission of CRPS symptoms of all patients after only one month. Ketamine has also been tested among patients with phantom limb syndrome, with fifty percent of respondents experiencing pain relief after one month.
If you’re suffering from chronic neuropathic pain that has been resistant to traditional forms of treatment, consider speaking to the team at Metropolitan Institute of Pain about Ketamine. A number of clinical studies throughout the past several years have demonstrated its effectiveness among patients with chronic nerve pain resulting from a variety of sources. With proper dosage and careful administration, Ketamine has the potential to bring you immediate, long-lasting, and much-needed relief.