Millions of people find themselves suffering from chronic pain due to illness, injury, or degeneration of the body. If you suffer from severe, chronic, neuropathic pain, ketamine for pain management may be a treatment option for you. Pain management specialist and anesthesiologist James A. Nassiri, MD, MA has effectively helped patients alleviate their pain symptoms using ketamine infusions. If you're in Beverly Hills or Rancho Cucamonga, California, schedule an appointment with visit Dr. Nassiri at Westside Pain Specialists today for a ketamine consultation.
Ketamine is one of the most widely used drugs in modern medicine today. It's on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines and is FDA-approved for a variety of medical uses.
Ketamine infusions have been used to treat the extreme physical pain of conditions that other treatments failed to alleviate. The ketamine infusions have also been used for postoperative pain management in place of opioids like morphine or oxycodone.
A single intravenous dose of ketamine taken before any skin incision can decrease postoperative pain and reduce morphine consumption. In some instances, ketamine has also been used effectively for the treatment of depression.
Chronic pain is usually the result of an injury to the soft tissue in the body. The existing nerve endings, once traumatized and irritated, begin to send a consistent signal of burning or searing pain directly to the brain.
Ketamine treatments focus on extinguishing these pain signals while simultaneously growing new pathways to the brain. Because these new nerve endings don’t have the history of the old trauma, healthy, painless neurological signals replace the pain signals.
At Westside Pain Specialist, treatment is individually planned by Dr. Nassiri depending on the nature of your pain and your responses to initial sessions. The ketamine must be administered precisely to achieve the desired effect.
It's essential for you to understand that ketamine should only be used in a professional environment such as Westside Pain Specialists. There, Dr. Nassiri can monitor the dosage amount needed to control your symptoms.
During the treatment, you may feel a displaced effect. Patients have often described it as a “floating experience” where they feel a pleasant sense of relaxation. Most patients who experience prolonged pain relief will need to return occasionally to booster the infusion.
The goal of the ketamine infusion therapy is to achieve lasting relief. Dr. Nassiri will determine when or if additional treatments are necessary based on your needs.
