Esketamine For Depression Here’s How It Works

Patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression no longer have to feel at a loss. There is encouraging news for persons suffering from severe treatment-resistant depression: Esketamine is a revolutionary medicine that can relieve serious depression within hours. Esketamine for depression treatment is a novel innovative medication that alleviates serious depressive illness within hours in some cases. Esketamine is praised as a completely novel medication that has enabled a large number of people to live their lives without the filter of depression.

What Exactly Is Esketamine?

Esketamine is derived from the anesthetic ketamine, which has long been used to treat depression. 

Esketamine is an intranasal medication that works in the brain. It is licensed in combination with an oral antidepressant for treating treatment-resistant depression.

However, it wasn’t until recently that esketamine, a more powerful variant of ketamine, received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permission for use as a nasal spray for those suffering from treatment-resistant depression. 

In addition to esketamine as an alternative depression treatment program, the FDA has approved Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) as well in the treatment of specific behavioral health conditions.

How Does Esketamine Therapy Work?

Because esketamine, like ketamine, has the potential to alter perception in the first two hours following treatment, it must be delivered in a clinical environment. 

Under a doctor’s supervision, you administer three doses of nasal spray, five minutes apart. You will be kept at the clinic under the doctor’s supervision until any probable adverse effects have passed.

Esketamine must be used with a standard antidepressant. The goal is for esketamine to offer immediate relief from depressive symptoms until the other medicine takes action.

Who Is Suitable for Esketamine Therapy?

Esketamine is now licensed for treatment-resistant depression. That indicates you’ve taken at least two other antidepressants (for at least six weeks each) and haven’t seen remission or at least a 50% improvement in mood.

How Is Esketamine Used to Treat Depression?

Esketamine and its related medication ketamine are extremely effective depression therapies for a variety of reasons, including:

• The antidepressant action of ketamine differs from that of other medications. Traditional antidepressants raise levels of naturally occurring neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. These molecules act as messengers, relaying information between brain cells. The hypothesis is that having more of these neurotransmitters allows for better communication between brain cells and hence improves mood.
• Esketamine functions similarly to other antidepressants, except it raises glutamate levels, the most common chemical messenger in the brain. The end result? A larger influence on more brain cells at the same time.

Are There Any Negative Side Effects of Esketamine?

Esketamine medication can cause a wide range of negative effects in patients. Hallucinations and feeling estranged from yourself or reality are the most dramatic. However, adverse effects often peak at 40 minutes and fade after two hours of therapy.

The first two treatments will have the most severe adverse effects. After then, symptoms normally subside. Other possible adverse effects include:

• Blood pressure rise
• Nausea 
• Feeling tipsy
• Drowsiness
• Headache

If you think that your current depression treatment is not working for you, you may want to consult with Wonder Years to explore if depression treatment SPRAVATO® (esketamine) is the right choice for you.