This blog was originally published on April 3, 2024. It has been updated to include the most recent information and research.

Alcohol addiction, also called alcohol use disorder (AUD), is a medical condition that affects 28.9 million people aged 12 and over in the United States. In fact, it’s the most common substance use disorder in the world. However, only about 8% of Americans with alcohol addiction receive the treatment they need! And while traditional therapies can help, relapse rates remain high, with 40% to 60% of people returning to alcohol use within the first year. Over the past several years, medically administered ketamine is garnering recognition for its effectiveness in treating alcohol use disorder, particularly in combination with psychotherapy. Learn more about ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP).

Recognizing the Signs of Alcoholism

The early warning signs of alcohol addiction can be hard to recognize in your own life, especially because alcohol is socially acceptable, denial is common and you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking. Listening to relatives, friends or co-workers if they ask you to examine your drinking habits or to get help is essential. Seeking advice from someone who has had a problem with drinking but has stopped can also be invaluable.

Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol addiction occurs when your use of alcohol significantly interferes with your life, and you find yourself unable to control how much or how often you drink. The condition can range from mild to severe. Without early treatment, a mild alcohol disorder can easily escalate and cause serious problems. Watch out for these signs:

1. Frequent binge drinking
   Binge drinking is clearly defined and refers to alcohol consumption that raises your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to approximately 0.08 grams per deciliter, equal to around five drinks in two hours for men and four drinks in two hours for women. Frequent binge drinking increases your risk of developing alcohol addiction, as well as other dangerous health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
2. Neglecting responsibilities
   Alcohol addiction can cause people to neglect responsibilities and obligations at home, work, or school despite negative consequences. You may want to quit drinking but are unable to stop or feel discouraged by unsuccessful attempts in the past.
3. Increased tolerance
   One of the first signs of an alcohol use disorder is increased tolerance, which results in the need to consume more alcohol to achieve the desired result. If you have a high alcohol tolerance, you may exhibit fewer signs of intoxication; however, your judgment and reaction time are still impaired.
4. Withdrawal symptoms
   When people with alcohol addiction stop drinking, they often experience withdrawal symptoms such as:
   – Sweating
   – Rapid heartbeat
   – Hand tremors
   – Insomnia
   – Nausea and vomiting
   – Anxiety or depression

   These symptoms may occur within several hours or up to five days after you stop drinking. Withdrawal symptoms from severe alcohol addiction can be dangerous and may include seizures and hallucinations.

Treating Alcohol Addiction with Ketamine Therapy

Traditional methods for treating alcohol addiction include counseling, behavioral therapy, and medications that reduce the urge to drink. Many individuals benefit from rehabilitation programs, which may be inpatient or outpatient, depending on the severity of the addiction. Inpatient programs can range from 30 days to a year, helping individuals cope with withdrawal and emotional challenges. Outpatient programs allow for ongoing support while living at home.

Support systems, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or programs like SMART Recovery, also play a crucial role in helping those struggling with alcohol addiction maintain sobriety. These communities provide a space for people to share experiences and hold each other accountable, offering encouragement during moments of relapse or difficulty. Conventional treatments can be effective, but recovery from AUD is often a long-term commitment that requires daily effort and comes with a high risk of relapse.

When other treatments fail, medically-supervised ketamine therapy may be the solution, and a growing number of clinical studies support this. Researchers believe that ketamine treatment could be useful in helping participants shift their perspective and view their alcohol problems in a different way, promoting recovery from AUD.

Low doses of ketamine, in combination with psychotherapy, can help patients with severe alcohol addiction stay sober for a longer period of time, often with results taking effect soon after treatment.

At Keta Medical Center, all ketamine treatments are supervised by emergency room physicians, ensuring safety and care at every step.

Find out if ketamine therapy can help you or a family member with an alcohol abuse problem.
Schedule a free phone consultation.

Developed as a surgical anesthetic in the 1960s, ketamine first found success as a field medicine during the Vietnam War. Its anesthetic mechanism is different from other drugs, with reduced negative impacts on the body.

As a dissociative medication with hallucinogenic properties, the dosage of ketamine determines much of its behavior. In low doses, it provides a chemical alternative to drugs typically used to treat mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

Though its use as an anesthetic is now largely confined to veterinary medicine, ketamine stands as a treatment option for a wide range of mental health issues, including some that resist traditionally used medications.

Keta Medical Center specializes in ketamine therapy, including low-dose ketamine infusions and esketamine nasal sprays. Let us show you how you might benefit from adding ketamine to your treatment plan. We’ve outlined below some of the many uses of ketamine therapy to help you discover if you’re a candidate.

A recent alternative

Though ketamine has been around for about 60 years, it’s only been in the last decade that off-label use for mental health treatment has taken off. Unlike other medications used for this purpose that can take weeks to take effect, ketamine is fast-acting, and you may begin to feel its effects before you leave the office. Let’s take a look at some of the many uses for ketamine therapy.

Anxiety

While it’s normal to feel anxious from time to time, it’s not normal for anxiety to rule your life to the point of panic, nausea, or heart palpitations. The quick onset of ketamine therapy for anxiety via intravenous (IV) infusion serves as an excellent complement to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and traditional anxiety medications, particularly when you’re not seeing the results you expect.

Bipolar depression and depression

Perhaps the most effective mental health benefits from ketamine therapy come with its use in treating bipolar depression and depression. In particular, Spravato® nasal spray is ideal for treating some forms of treatment-resistant depression.

Alcohol addiction

Relapse rates after treatment for alcohol addiction are typically high with conventional treatments including behavior therapy and medication. Supplementing alcohol addiction treatment with low-dose ketamine therapy helps patients resist the urge to relapse and stay sober longer.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The anxiety, tension, and moodiness commonly experienced by PTSD patients can be difficult to treat through conventional means. The power of ketamine therapy as a mood stabilizer makes it an excellent addition to PTSD treatment when other methods fail.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Once again, the fast action of ketamine beats traditional drug therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Clinical trials show dramatic results, with obsessive behaviors stopping in the middle of ketamine treatment.

While the precise way that ketamine works isn’t fully understood, what is different is that it has no effect on serotonin, the key neurotransmitter on which traditional medications work. With an altogether different chemical effect on the brain, low-dose ketamine is a mental health game changer.

Contact Keta Medical Centers at any of our four offices to learn more. You can schedule an appointment by phone or online, and we offer a free consultation with one of our doctors to help get you started. Ketamine may also be your game-changer, so book your visit now. 

Like any addiction, those with severe alcohol use disorder may have a hard time breaking the cycle. Typically treated with medication and talk therapy, many sufferers are resistant to treatment. Adding ketamine infusions may be the help you need.

One of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States, excessive alcohol use can shorten life spans by an average of 26 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Like any addiction, breaking an alcohol habit can be difficult, since it creates both physical and psychological dependence.

Even with treatment, the addiction cycle can be hard to break. Conventional treatment usually combines medication and talk therapy. While that’s effective for some patients, others still struggle with the draw of alcohol.

You’ve now got a complementary treatment to help support alcohol addiction recovery. The team at Keta Medical Center specializes in the delivery of ketamine infusions for alcohol addiction. A dissociative anesthetic that also has a role in treating depression, low doses of ketamine delivered by intravenous (IV) infusion can improve the performance of other treatments, raising the odds for successful recovery.

What is ketamine?

First developed as a general anesthetic, ketamine has some advantages that made it useful as a field medicine in the latter part of the Vietnam War. Its effects vary, depending on the dosage. When given in small amounts through an IV line, it’s used to treat chronic pain, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more.

Ketamine and alcohol addiction

Being addicted to alcohol doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re an alcoholic. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a condition with a wide spectrum of causes and effects. Binge drinking, daily drinking, and any other form of alcohol consumption that interferes with your life or health falls on the AUD spectrum.

While the chemical effects of ketamine on receptors in the body and brain are known, it’s not fully understood how the effects on these receptors combine to produce the evidence-based results that ketamine achieves.

Withdrawing from alcohol has depressive effects on a patient after detoxification in a time span known as the high-risk relapse period. It’s thought that ketamine infusions support abstinence by reducing these depressive feelings.

It’s also known that ketamine works through different pathways than conventional antidepressants, providing a treatment that works alongside these drugs. One of the most promising applications of ketamine is its use for treatment-resistant depression.

A clinical study published online by the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2022 showed that patients receiving ketamine infusions in addition to psychological therapy stayed abstinent longer than control groups.

How does IV therapy work?

You may know IVs as the bags of fluid that deliver medications and nutrients to patients directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system. This direct delivery permits faster effects for rehydration, pain relief, or nutrient deficiencies.

IV is the ideal delivery method for low-dose ketamine therapy. A typical session takes about 30 minutes and patients often feel results like improved mood shortly after. Ketamine infusion won’t interfere with other medications and it works well for patients who haven’t seen results through other treatments.

Find out if ketamine infusion is right for you by contacting the nearest location of Keta Medical Center. Schedule your consultation online, or call one number to book with any of our offices. Get past the weight of alcohol addiction and inquire today. 

Ketamine, a drug introduced in the 1960s as an anesthetic, has garnered marked interest over the past two decades as an effective treatment for depression, especially in cases resistant to standard medical treatment.

According to the National Institute of Health, up to one third of those suffering from depression do not respond to prescription antidepressant medications. Top researchers at Yale and the National Institute of Mental Health, among others, have demonstrated how ketamine can work quickly and effectively, improving symptoms for more than 70% of patients whose depression is resistant to traditional treatment regimens. In stark contrast to the delayed effects observed with traditional antidepressants, which often require several weeks of therapy for a clinical response, the impacts of ketamine are felt immediately, often within hours of treatment.

A novel formulation of ketamine as a nasal spray called Spravato was developed by Janssen and approved by the FDA for treatment-resistant depression. The treatment is typically covered by insurance and has shown results comparable to ketamine infusions. The affordability of the treatment has allowed us to reach a broader number of patients.

Even more promising, however, is that in recent years, an expanding body of research has demonstrated ketamine’s potential for treating a whole host of psychiatric conditions beyond depression. Like depression, many other mental illnesses are resistant to existing treatment options, and ketamine offers a ray of hope for many of these patients. For example, conventional treatments for bipolar depression (both bipolar I and II disorders) often fail to provide the balance and relief that patients deserve. By contrast, recent studies have shown that ketamine is an effective alternative treatment for bipolar depression, even for patients who have not been successfully treated with standard treatments such as SSRI medications and therapy. 

Ketamine is also showing promise in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD, which can be caused by a variety of traumatic events, is a condition that can haunt patients for years. Patients such a military vets, sexual abuse survivors, or patients that have endured any other type of childhood or adult trauma can have lifelong, daily struggles functioning due to the disabling and recurring memories. Recent research has demonstrated that ketamine can be highly effective in treating PTSD, with patients seeing improvements after a short treatment period, with long-lasting results. 

Anxiety disorders also respond well to ketamine treatment. Generalized anxiety is often triggered by stress and trauma and can lead to feelings of panic, heart palpitations, nausea, loss of appetite or even a fear of dying. While anxiety can sometimes be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy, lifestyle changes or medications, very often these interventions are insufficient.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is another mood disorder that has been shown to be effectively treated with ketamine therapy. OCD can be a distressing and disabling condition for many patients, and conventional therapies, even when effective, can come with debilitating side effects. In low doses, ketamine is becoming an effective treatment for OCD, and many patients see life-changing results after only a few treatments.

Inspired by the compelling evidence and desire to help patients struggling with mental illness regain their health, in particular after the COVID pandemic, we jointly founded and currently run KETA Medical Center (formerly MGM Ketamine Center) in Oradell, New Jersey. And we are opening a new office in New Rochelle, New York, and the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City in the near future. We collaborate with patients’ psychiatrists and mental health providers to bring the benefits of ketamine to patients suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses. We are distinguished from other centers because we take a unique, patient-centered approach to each and every patient; we work in partnership with the patient and their mental health provider to develop a personalized ketamine treatment plan to deliver results. 

Many patients have reported that our center’s unique combination of warmth, familiarity and utmost professionalism made the ketamine treatment maximally effective in combating their previously treatment-resistant conditions. They also appreciate the convenience of our evening and Sunday office hours.

Ketamine has long been used as an anesthetic in both surgical and field hospital situations. It’s only recently that ketamine and related products began treating some cases of depression. Now, clinical evidence supports its use to treat alcoholism.

For the past 20 years, annual deaths related to alcohol remained consistent, at about 2.2% each year. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, this rate skyrocketed over 25%. Clearly, this demonstrates the need for new treatments for alcohol addiction.

A study published in early 2022 shows promise for low-dose ketamine as an effective new therapy for alcoholism, both on its own and in combination with psychotherapy. When it comes to low-dose infusion therapy, the team at Keta Medical Center are ready to help. Providing intravenous (IV) infusions, we can help you with a custom treatment plan to reduce the urges to drink.

The history of ketamine

First studied in the 1960s as an anesthetic, ketamine came to prominence in the early 1970s as a safe and reliable field anesthetic during the Vietnam War. It’s since moved into operating rooms as a surgical anesthetic with few drawbacks. Depending on its dose, ketamine can be used as a pain reliever, sedative, or general anesthetic.

It’s not fully understood how ketamine works, and it’s only been recently that researchers began to study its abilities beyond pain management. Ketamine shows promise as an alternative for treatment-resistant depression, and now it’s emerging as a safe and effective therapy to ease the effects of alcohol addiction.

The challenges of alcoholism

Alcohol addiction has both physical and behavioral effects on a patient’s body. Those with severe alcohol use disorder develop dependence on the presence of alcohol in their systems and experience the effects of withdrawal when they try to stop drinking. Once they start, they often lose control over their ability to stop.

These effects produce an escalating cycle that’s difficult to break. Continued abuse of alcohol then has a free rein to harm the patient’s health, leading to heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke, as well as neurological disorders like dementia and depression.

How ketamine treatment can help

Ketamine causes a state sometimes called dissociative anesthesia. It’s thought that this dissociative state provides an addiction “reset” for the body and mind.

The University of Exeter study from 2022 revealed that participants receiving ketamine infusion in conjunction with psychotherapy had a dramatically easier time avoiding alcohol over a six-month period, remaining abstinent for 162 of 180 days.

In addition, low-dose IV ketamine infusions had no negative effect on liver function. While this was the first study of its kind, ketamine’s long history of use as an anesthetic proves that there are few negative side effects when delivered in clinical settings. The potential for relapse prevention is another promising benefit offered by ketamine therapy, since this is often an issue for patients after other types of treatment for alcohol abuse.

Learn more about treating alcoholism with ketamine infusions by contacting our Oradell, New Jersey, office. You can schedule an appointment over the phone or using the online tool on this page. Ketamine may be the cycle breaker you need to get past alcohol dependence, so book your consultation now.