Infusion therapy offers new hope for patients with depression

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 percent of Americans 12 years old and older report taking antidepressants. The drugs are among the most commonly prescribed drugs, but some people say they’re taking them as directed and still don’t feel better.

Many health experts insist patients need to try different medications, and dosages, and give them more time to work.

Now, a wellness center near The Woodlands says it has discovered what helps chronic pain patients is also doing wonders for people with depression.

Brittney Stephens, 29, had a history of depression. When she recently moved to Houston, she said she felt like the depression got worse, robbing her of all motivation.

“I didn't want to work. I didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to talk to anybody. I just, I was moving through the motions every day. At one point, I sat down and just said, ‘Brittney what will make you happy?’ And I couldn't think of one thing in the world that would make me happy. And that's the point whenever I said, 'I need to go get help,'” Stephens said.

She went to Kalypso Wellness. There, Dr. Mark Moran uses a common anesthesia drug called ketamine, which he administers in tiny doses that are given intravenously. Moran said ketamine can heal a wide variety of ailments.

“It certainly helps with nerve pain, like sciatica or shingles. It helps very well with depression and PTSD. It also helps with inflammatory pain like arthritis, and also has benefits with other things, like migraines, fibromyalgia and anxiety, headaches,” Moran said.

Ketamine is already being used in hospitals for chronic pain patients but discovering just how many other ailments it helps is still being researched.

The procedure itself is not FDA approved, because of that, no health insurance companies will cover this use of the drug and its hundreds of dollars per infusion.

However, Moran said this is the answer patients like Brittney are searching for.

“I had tried multiple medications, different types of therapy, they would work for a little bit and then I would just go right back into being depressed,” Brittney said. “I kept upping the dose and it just, I was tired of being medicated all the time.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, antidepressants are not meant to and cannot make people feel happy but aim to help people feel normal. NIH says research proves the medication can help the majority of people who they are prescribed.

Brittney said she had realistic expectations for the pills she was given but she said they made her groggy.

On the other hand, she said she’s not had side effects from ketamine and she insists this does make her happier.

“You're more focused, you're more clear, I’m more productive at work, I sleep better and overall my morale has been so better than whenever I was on the medications,” she said.

The cost of these infusions can be anywhere from $400 to $1,500, according to Moran. Kalypso said they offer patients package deals to bring the cost to $250 per infusion.

According to Kalypso research, 70 percent of patients feel instant relief. They recommend four to six infusions during the first three weeks, but Brittney only did it twice and said she’s not going to go again unless she feels symptoms of depression returning.