Postpartum Depression

What is Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression is a serious psychiatric disorder that has negative effects on the health of pregnant women. The onset of depressive symptoms can begin during pregnancy and or one year after giving birth. Women who are diagnosed with depression, anxiety before becoming pregnant or during pregnancy are at more risk of developing postpartum depression after childbirth. On average, postpartum depression effects approximately 18% of women worldwide. Postpartum depression can be easily misdiagnosed with postpartum blues however, the intensity of symptoms in postpartum depression is greater.

Common signs and symptoms of Postpartum depression include depression, severe mood swings, excessive crying, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, insomnia, and difficulty in bonding with neonate. These factors can cause debilitating effects on new mothers leaving them lacking self-confidence and feeling inadequate to care for their newborn babies. Mother and baby bonding may be halted causing a disruption in breastfeeding. Studies show children with mothers who experience antenatal or postnatal depression may suffer from developmental delays in childhood.

Traditional Treatments for Postpartum Depression

Oral Medications such as Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

• Advantages: Low cost with insurance coverage, first choice therapy, easy to use
• Limitations: Response onset 2-6 weeks minimum and it can negative impact the mother-baby wellbeing, Response rate usually less than 50%, unfavorable side effect profile.

Adjuvant therapies such as psychotherapy, Exercises, Meditation

• Advantages: Low/no cost, no side effects
• Limitations: Variable response rate and compliance, time consuming, only adjuvant use

Newer Modality

Zulresso:

• Advantages: FDA approved, and insurance covered
• Limitations: Unknown safety profile with breastfeeding, very expensive, needs hospital stay

Ketamine Infusion Therapy:

• Advantages: Response onset 1-2 weeks (sometimes even less than 24-48 hours), response rate with recommended protocol 60-70%, favorable side effect profile, rapid suicidal risk reduction, physician supervised and easy to titrate dosing
• Limitations: Expensive (not covered by most insurances), requires booster infusions during maintenance phase

Why Choose Ketamine Wellness Medical Practice?

• Each infusion is administered and supervised by our highly experienced ketamine specialists. Our practice follows NIMH protocol but as one size does not fit all, each patient receives the safest and most effective personalized ketamine infusion protocol. 
• We do understand that most patients and their family members likely have a busy schedule. To make sure ketamine sessions don't interfere with their work schedule, our practice does offer sessions in the evening and over the weekends.
• We focus on our patients to get better without worrying about committing to six sessions. Patient only pay for the session they receive.
• Provider signed documentation is available on the day of infusion if patient prefers to file the insurance claim for each ketamine session individually.
• Once our ketamine specialist approves the ketamine therapy, every effort is made to schedule new patients within a week.
• We are proud to say that we have not seen any major adverse reactions in any of our patients. 
• Recently, we have seen uptrend in partial insurance reimbursements to our patients. Our superbill provides all the necessary information that most insurances require to process the claims.

If you or someone you know is struggling with postpartum depression, consider intravenous ketamine infusion therapy for depression as an option. Ketamine Wellness Medical Practice in NY hopes to hear from you on depression ketamine treatment. But if we don’t, we wish you happy days ahead, free from the crippling effects of depression.