Blog Archive

When you stub your toe, sensory nerves register the hit and send a message to your brain, which responds with a pain signal — ouch, there’s a problem.  When the pain comes directly from nerve damage, called neuropathy, these damaged nerves fire off signals to your brain, and your brain...

For the millions of Americans who struggle with major depressive disorder, including 21 million adults, hope can become overshadowed by sadness and despair. If your depression turns out to be treatment-resistant, whatever glimmer of hope you might’ve had can quickly burn out. Unfortunately, that’s the case for at least 30%...

You wake each day wondering whether head pain is going to be a factor — a factor that can pretty much ruin your entire day. You’re certainly not alone — 37 million Americans of all ages are affected by migraines, and 2%-4% of the global population experiences daily, or near...

Ketamine might not be a new drug — it’s been used as an analgesic for decades — but we’re discovering it can have a profound impact on many common mental health conditions.  From severe depression to anxiety, ketamine provides much-needed relief for some challenging issues that can hijack the lives...

It’s no exaggeration to say that we’re a nation in pain — nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States struggle with chronic pain and 8.5% of adults report high-impact pain that limits their lives and activities. If you're reading this, we don’t need to tell you about the sizable...

Everywhere you go, you’re surrounded by reminders that the holiday season is in full swing, yet you feel anything but joyous. In fact, quite the opposite thanks to severe depression that has taken hold and shows no signs of releasing its grip on your mental health. We assure you that...

 For the more than 38 million Americans who have diabetes, life has its challenges. This disease can cast a wide net over your health and wellness. From vision issues to slow-healing foot wounds, the complications from diabetes stretch from head to toe. Since November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, Dr....

Trauma isn’t just found on battlefields and in combat, not by a long shot. Unfortunately, trauma is everywhere in our world, which explains why 70% of adults in the United States have experienced or witnessed trauma, to say nothing of the millions of kids. From domestic violence to natural disasters,...

In the late 1950s, antidepressants were introduced, and they’ve been the go-to treatment for many mental health issues ever since. There haven’t been any other meaningful and accessible advances in treatment options until recently, when ketamine came on the scene. The timing couldn’t be better as mental health issues continue...

When you’re struggling with a mental health issue, you can feel awfully alone, even though you’re anything but alone. Consider this — 1 in 4 adults in the United States has a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year. For decades, treatment options for the more common mental health...

Pain of any kind has a way of commanding all of your attention, and that’s certainly true of migraine, which the 1 billion people around the world who report migraines can confirm. Closer to home, 3%-5% of the US population suffers from chronic migraines, which we define as having 15...

You’re worried about a health issue, you’re stressed about a new project, or fear prevents you from doing anything where heights are involved. These are all perfectly normal manifestations of stress and anxiety and usually not cause for concern. Unfortunately, for millions of Americans (40 million 18 and older, to...

You cut your finger and experience sharp pain that turns into a dull ache as the wound heals. But heal it does, and the pain goes away. With peripheral neuropathy, the path to relief isn’t as simple because you're not dealing with an injury that can heal but with nerves...

Major depression affects 10-15% of women, men, and kids in the United States each year. About 10-30% of them don’t get relief from traditional antidepressant therapy.  Although ketamine and antidepressants each target brain chemicals that regulate mood, that's where their similarities end. Ketamine works differently from the way antidepressants do....

Is Spravato More Effective than Ketamine? To much fanfare, Johnson & Johnson’s drug company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., has been testing a new drug for treatment-resistant depression, Spravato – also known as esketamine. Chemically, the generic ketamine and Jonson & Johnson’s patented Spravato are very similar. Spravato will undoubtedly be much...

Esketamine Does Not Live Up to Hopes for a More Convenient Ketamine Eskatmine (brand name Spravato) is a new nasal spray that works like ketamine. To treat depression, ketamine has been delivered through an IV or breathed in as a nebulizer treatment. The idea of a nasal spray has been...

How Much Does Spravato Cost? Spravato (generic name esketamine) is the newly patented and newly FDA approved modification of ketamine. It’s been released by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. with much fanfare. They claim it’s a new kind of drug for treatment-resistant depression. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find any...

Is Spravato Nasal Spray for Depression Really New? In March 2019, the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s new depression drug. Company spokespeople have said it uses the “first new mechanism of action in decades.” That means it should work on the body in a new way. But wait . ....