Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato) Treatment to Calm Bipolar Mood Swings without Weight Gain
Bipolar Disorder is Characterized by High and Low Mood Swings
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that is widely misunderstood, especially by those who don’t have it. Also known as manic depressive disorder, bipolar disorder causes shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. It is characterized by mood swings that comes in periods of highs and lows.
The high phase is called hypomania if mild, and mania, if severe. The low phase is called bipolar depression. Unfortunately, it can take up to 10 years for a person to receive the proper diagnosis which prolongs treatment. Traditional treatments for bipolar disorder come with a host of symptoms including weight gain.
Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato) Treatment is Offering New Hope to People with Bipolar Depression
Now, there’s new hope in treating bipolar disorder with Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato). Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato) has been associated with impressive benefits in bipolar depression. For example, in one study of 53 adults with bipolar depression, a single session of intravenous ketamine resulted in 51% of patients responding and maintaining the response one week later.
Unlike Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato), most of today’s commonly prescribed medications can have side effects such as fatigue, sexual dysfunction, gastrointestinal disturbances, and weight gain. Bipolar disorder is commonly treated with mood stabilizers including lithium, lamotrigine,as well as antipsychotics, and infrequently antidepressants. The drugs in each of these groups affect your body differently, including how they affect your weight. These traditional treatments can cause weight gain by increasing blood sugar levels and affecting activity levels.
Ketamine and Esketamine (Spravato) can treat bipolar disorder without all of the side effects of traditional antidepressants. Patients can experience rapid relief from symptoms which leads to a healthy lifestyle and weight loss instead of weight gain. Most of the side effects of ketamine are transient. Intravenous ketamine is a safe and well-tolerated treatment for patients with bipolar depression. Depression scores and suicidal ideation are both reduced rapidly after ketamine infusion.