Frequently Asked Questions

Our infusions are provided in a state-of-the-art setting. We advise no eating or drinking anything for 8 hours prior to your scheduled appointment to minimize your chances of any nausea, you may have a small amount of liquid 2 hours prior to your appointment.

The infusion begins with you relaxing in our comfortable infusion chairs in a private setting where we connect you to a blood pressure cuff, oxygen, pulse oximeter, EKG, and other monitors. Ketamine is a very safe drug when administered in a clinical setting. We take all the precautions to ensure your comfort and safety. Out nursing staff will then find a vein on your arm, wrist, or hand and insert your IV. Most patients are very surprised at how painless this process is. Our staff is among the most rigorously trained medical team and most IVs are started on the very first attempt.

After the IV is in place we remove the needle and the only thing that remains is a small soft tube in the skin so there is no discomfort. We then connect the tube to the syringe with your specific dose of Ketamine and place it on a special infusion pump. Unlike most clinics, we administer the infusion in a syringe pump to assure the exact dosing and timing for your infusion at a find-tuned rate.

We start each infusion at a target dose to ensure patients get the exact amount of medication over the course of the infusion. Each infusion is about 50-55 minutes and you will be laying down the entire infusion. Once the infusion is completed and you are stable, we will recover you in your setting. The benefit of this process is that after your treatment is completed we are able to provide clients with extra IV hydration or Vitamin therapy to have a relaxing and supportive recovery process.

During an infusion, many patients will “tune-out”, listen to the relaxing music, and use the comfort of the eye mask provided. IV ketamine reaches the brain within seconds and its effects are felt rather rapidly in about 7-10 minutes. Ketamine induces a dissociative state in which some people report “out of body feelings” and while it may be startling to some, many patients find it to be enjoyable, relaxing and an interesting experience.

Most patients feel relatively normal shortly after the treatment is complete, usually within 20-30 minutes. Most lingering side effects tend to dissipate within a few hours.

Mild side effects are Fatigue, Blurred or double vision, Dizziness, Nausea, and Headache

Fatigue tends to be the most common and longest-lasting side effect, but still short lived as it generally goes away after eating and full night of rest. We do require an adult to drive you home after you infusions. You will not be able to drive for the remainder of the day, resume work, operate heavy machinery, or sign legally binding agreements. 

Our physician and nurses will monitor you and your comfort throughout the entire course of the treatment to see how you respond to the therapy. In some cases, feelings of nausea occur, particularly in people who are predisposed to motion sickness or generally experience nausea frequently. This is almost always managed quickly with an antiemetic given before, during, and or after your infusion.

Capital Ketamine offers Ketamine Infusion Therapy. This means we administer a low dose of Ketamine via IV directly into a patient’s bloodstream. Esketamine is self-administered as a nasal spray under medical supervision, with treatment typically lasting for several hours. IV delivery of the Ketamine dose allows us to maintain better control of the infusion rate as well as over the start, stop, and duration of a patient’s experience, typically lasting around 40 minutes per session. IV administration also provides steadier dosage control, affording our patients a deeper and more immersive experience. Additionally, with IV, we can provide supplemental medications, as necessary, to assist in managing comfort without additional patient effort.

Capital Ketamine does not require patients to provide a psychological or psychiatric referral in order to receive Ketamine Infusion Therapy. We do recommend that our patients continue to receive counseling from a professional mental health provider while they receive their Ketamine therapy so that they’re able to receive the best possible support in processing their experiences.