A recent opinion piece in the New York Times recounts the story of Zoe Boyer, a patient who received ketamine infusions that greatly helped with her debilitating depression. While the previous reputation of ketamine is as a “party” drug, it was originally developed for anesthetic purposes and, when properly used, can help provide patients relief from severe depression. Boyer recalls in the piece that “when (her) brother got his first pair of glasses, he marveled that he could see individual leaves on trees. Ketamine felt a lot like that. As she mentions in the conclusion of her piece, this infusion treatment is “financially prohibitive,” but there are alternatives to the $500 per dose treatment Boyer received.

Dr. Mintz offers Spravato, a ketamine-based nose spray as opposed to an infusion. The spray is approved by the FDA  for treatment of depression and is therefore covered by most insurances, providing a more cost-effective ketamine treatment plan for those suffering from depression. For more information and answers to frequently asked questions about Spravato, visit Dr. Mintz’s specific treatment page here.

Author Matthew L. Mintz, MD, FACP