Louisville mental health clinic using ketamine to treat patients

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Stress, anxiety and depression can be deadly if it's not treated, but a Louisville clinic is using a common drug to treat patients in a whole new way.

Reclaim Wellness Group at Dupont Professional Towers in Louisville is using Ketamine to help treat and manage various mental health conditions. Some patients said it has changed and saved their lives.

Brandon Shell is a mechanical engineer in Louisville. He has tried to cope with mental health issues for years.

"I started having issues with depression, didn't know what it was probably back in high school, and then the low-point seemed more than just teenage hormones, slow points stuck around," Shell said. "I went to University of Kentucky out of high school. I got pretty depressed there to the point where I ended up going to a hospital there for a week. Things snowballed to where I just didn't feel able to cope and the workload and everything else."

Shell is married with five children. On the outside, he has a normal-looking life. But he was dealing with an internal struggle.

"You get used to making people laugh and everything else that makes you feel good," Shell said. "But it still conceals the problem because it's what people don't see is what's in the mind."

Shell admitted to having suicidal thoughts.

"It got really dark," he said.

Several weeks ago, Shell started Ketamine treatments at Reclaim Wellness Group.

"It has been very, very effective," he said.

Dr. Street Russell is a licensed psychologist with Reclaim Wellness. He said Ketamine is effective for people with treatment-resistant depression.

"Folks with bipolar disorder, depression, treatment-resistant forms of those tend to have a good response from taking it," Russell said. "Take what the medication is already doing, and then hopefully, foster some sort of environment there where they can process some difficult emotions or confront some fears."

Ketamine is FDA approved as an anesthetic, but also an illegal street drug used for its psychedelic effects. That's why Reclaim Wellness provides the treatment under the care of a doctor.

"If you're going to get Ketamine there, there are treatment protocols that we follow here," Russell said.

Dr. Nathan Gonda is the medical director and said the treatment should always start with a consultation and never be used on the party scene.

"Definitely need a medical provider to monitor the patient to make sure they actually qualify for the medication," Gonda said. "It can be used in the street just like opioids are used in the street. And it can cause increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and the biggest case, heart arrhythmias."

Since starting the treatments, Shell said there are no more thoughts of suicide.

"That is one thing that's gone away," he said. "So I'm very grateful for that."

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