What are the Options for Remedying Treatment-Resistant Postpartum Depression?

Depression is difficult to deal with at any time in your life, but it can be particularly painful during the postpartum time period. There’s a lot of joy that comes with a successful pregnancy and delivery. But there’s a tremendous amount of stress and responsibility too. Your hormones are in flux, you’re sleep deprived, and your new name is “mom.” When you have postpartum depression, these stressors can leave you deeply depressed and feeling incapable of accomplishing even minor tasks.

Any woman can experience postpartum depression. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) note that as many as 1 in 9 moms develop this concerning condition. Fortunately, many effective treatments are available to help you overcome postpartum depression and its effects on your life.

And if you’re one of the women who is resistant to traditional therapy, intravenous (IV) ketamine therapy can help.

Palo Alto Mind Body is located in Palo Alto, California, and serves patients throughout the Silicon Valley and greater San Francisco Bay Area. Led by dual board-certified psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist, Dr. M Rameen Ghorieshi, the team at Palo Alto provides leading-edge medical, functional medicine, and psychotherapy solutions for a wide-range of mental and physical health issues, including IV ketamine therapy for treatment-resistant postpartum depression.

What are the symptoms of postpartum depression?

Postpartum depression goes much deeper than the typical worry over being a new mom or the “baby blues” your friends or family members may have experienced.

Symptoms of postpartum depression can occur shortly after birth or at any time during the 12 months following delivery and may include:

• Persistent sadness or anxiety
• Feelings of hopelessness or despair about the future
• Feeling distant from your baby
• Ongoing feelings of anger
• Withdrawal from friends and family
• Crying more often than usual
• Doubting your ability to care for your baby
• Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Generalized aches or pains that do not improve with treatment

Not every woman experiences the same number or intensity of symptoms with postpartum depression. If you’re having difficulty with your emotions or think you might be depressed, seek professional medical care sooner rather than later.

How can ketamine IV therapy help with postpartum depression?

Effective treatment for postpartum depression often includes a variety of therapies, including psychotherapy, antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications, and stress-reduction training.

Unfortunately, many of these therapies take time to show results. Traditional antidepressants, which are often prescribed for postpartum depression, can take six weeks or more to deliver results. And about a third of women who are treated with traditional antidepressant medication don’t notice any improvement in their symptoms at all.       

Ketamine is used as an anesthetic for surgeries. But low doses delivered through medically supervised IV infusion also have a powerful antidepressant effect that can very quickly lift your mood -- within just a couple of hours in most cases.

The effects of just one treatment can last for up to 10 days. We generally recommend, however, that you undergo several treatments over a couple of weeks for optimal, long-lasting results. The treatments take about 90 minutes, are provided here at our office in Palo Alto, and are medically supervised and safe.

Our team at Palo Alto Mind Body is here to help. We provide expert, state-of-the-art IV ketamine infusion therapy for treatment-resistant depression, addiction, PTSD, and chronic pain. Our uniquely skilled team includes Dr. Ghorieshi, a psychopharmacologist, acupuncturist, and functional medicine researcher. For a consultation, call us at 650-681-2900.