Understanding Ketamine Infusion Therapy
Ketamine infusion therapy is used to treat depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, OCD, chronic neuropathic pain, and migraines. At the Midwest Institute for Hearts and Minds, every infusion is physician-administered using evidence-based protocols and individualized dosing.
Whether a healthcare professional referred you or you are exploring ketamine treatment on your own, the MIHAM team guides you through each step. We answer your questions, help you prepare, closely monitor every infusion, and remain involved during follow-up.
Learn More About Ketamine Infusion Therapy
To discuss whether ketamine infusion therapy is an appropriate next step for you, book an in-person consultation or call (314) 270-4248.
What Is Ketamine Infusion Therapy?
Ketamine has long been used as an anesthetic, and physicians also use lower, subanesthetic doses to treat certain mental health and chronic neuropathic pain conditions. Ketamine infusion therapy delivers a carefully controlled dose of ketamine through an IV in a clinical setting.
Why Consider Ketamine Infusion Therapy?
Ketamine infusion therapy offers a different treatment path from daily medications and other forms of care. Depending on your condition, treatment history, and current care plan, ketamine may complement existing treatment or provide another option when previous approaches have not provided enough relief.
Ketamine also works differently from many commonly used medications and may provide relief more quickly for some patients.
Common reasons people explore ketamine treatment include:
- Depression: Ketamine may reduce depressive symptoms for people who have not improved enough with medication, therapy, or other established care.
- Neuropathic Pain: Ketamine may reduce chronic neuropathic pain associated with damaged or overactive nerves when other treatments have not provided enough relief.
- Bipolar Depression: Ketamine may reduce depressive symptoms more quickly for some carefully screened patients with bipolar disorder.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Ketamine may reduce the intensity of intrusive thoughts and other severe OCD symptoms when standard treatments have not worked well enough.
- Migraines: Ketamine may reduce the intensity or frequency of chronic migraines and severe headaches that remain difficult to manage.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Ketamine may reduce depression, anxiety, and other PTSD symptoms as part of a broader treatment plan.
Why Choose MIHAM for Ketamine Infusion Therapy?
Choosing a ketamine clinic means choosing who will evaluate you, administer your treatment, monitor each infusion, and remain involved afterward. MIHAM provides physician-led care throughout that process.
Physician-administered treatment: Patients meet face-to-face with a physician before treatment, and every ketamine infusion is physician-administered.
Extensive ketamine experience: Our physicians have administered more than 10,000 ketamine infusions at the region’s longest-running ketamine infusion clinic.
Evidence-based, individualized dosing: Our physicians use response-guided dosing and adjust treatment based on each patient’s health, medications, condition, and response.
Private, closely monitored treatment: Infusions take place in private rooms with operating room-level monitoring equipment and trained clinical staff.
Care beyond the infusion series: We track patient progress, schedule follow-up, and remain available when booster infusions or additional support are appropriate.
The Ketamine Infusion Process
Our ketamine infusion process begins with an in-person physician consultation. If treatment is appropriate, our team helps you prepare, schedules your infusion series, closely monitors every appointment, and stays connected with you after treatment.
Step 1: Consultation and Screening
Your first visit to MIHAM is an in-person consultation with one of our physicians.
This appointment is an opportunity to discuss:
- Your general medical history
- Your history and experiences with your mental health or pain condition
- Your symptoms and any current or previous diagnoses
- Any treatments you have received and whether they helped
- Your current medications and how they may affect treatment
You will also learn more about our clinic, discuss how ketamine may help you, ask questions, and tour our facility.
At the end of the appointment, our physician will give you a recommendation about how to proceed. You will receive an informed consent document to review and take home. You will not be asked to schedule or pay for any treatments at the time of your consultation.
Step 2: Preparing for Treatment
If a physician recommends ketamine infusions, our patient care coordinator will contact you to schedule the six-infusion induction series and explain the timing for your condition.
We will arrange payment and provide all pre-treatment and day-of instructions. Our patient care coordinator will also be available to answer questions before your first infusion.
MIHAM uses an electronic medical record and scientifically validated questionnaires to track mood or pain symptoms before, during, and after the infusion series. This information helps the physician evaluate your response to treatment.
Step 3: On the Day of Your Infusion
Follow the preparation instructions provided by your clinical team before each appointment. MIHAM generally recommends taking the following steps:
- Avoid eating or drinking anything during the four hours before your scheduled infusion, including water, ice chips, and gum.
- Avoid using smoking or vaping products during the four hours before your appointment.
- Avoid consuming alcohol, cannabis products, or other recreational drugs the night before your infusion or for the remainder of the day after treatment.
- Arrange for an adult to drive you home after the infusion. Ketamine may cause blurred vision, dissociation, and other temporary changes that make driving unsafe after treatment.
Before treatment begins, you will meet with the physician administering your infusion to review the process. We invite your support person, such as a family member or friend, to join you for this conversation. We take extra time to listen, explain what the infusion entails, and address your concerns before treatment begins.
Step 4: During Your Ketamine Infusion
Each ketamine infusion is physician-administered in a private treatment room and closely monitored from start to finish.
- Private treatment room: Your infusion takes place in a private room with a comfortable recliner. Blankets, eye masks, noise-canceling headphones, and relaxing music are available for your comfort.
- IV administration: An IV catheter is inserted into your arm and connected to an infusion pump. The pump delivers ketamine over approximately 40 minutes for mental health treatment or 90 minutes for chronic neuropathic pain treatment.
- Continuous monitoring: Our treatment rooms have operating room-level monitoring equipment. Staff monitor your blood pressure, breathing, oxygen level, and heart rate throughout the infusion.
- Individualized, response-guided dosing: MIHAM does not assign every patient the same dose. Your physician selects and adjusts the dose according to your condition, health, medications, and response throughout the treatment series.
- Evidence-based treatment for depressive disorders: The 2026 ASKP3 consensus guidelines recommend using the minimum effective dose, beginning treatment at 0.5 mg/kg, and titrating according to clinical response. The guidelines also note that published evidence for doses above 1.0 mg/kg remains limited.
- Clinical support: Additional medications are available to address side effects such as nausea or anxiety. Our clinic also has the equipment and trained staff needed to respond if a medical issue occurs.
Step 5: After Your Infusion
Following your infusion, the clinical team generally monitors you for another 15 to 30 minutes. You will remain at the clinic until your vital signs are stable and the physician determines that you are ready to leave.
After removing your IV, the clinical team will ask questions using a standard scale to document your dissociative experience during treatment.
Temporary side effects may include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, headache, tiredness, or changes in perception. These effects often improve as the medication wears off.
For the remainder of the day:
- Do not drive or operate heavy machinery.
- Do not drink alcohol or use other recreational drugs or substances.
- Do not make important personal, financial, or legal decisions.
- Eat a light meal or drink non-alcoholic liquids when you feel ready.
- Leave the clinic with the adult who is driving you home.
Before you leave, we will confirm your next ketamine treatment appointment. Our monitoring system will continue sending check-ins so you can report changes in your mood or pain symptoms throughout the treatment series.
Step 6: Follow-Up Monitoring and Booster Infusions
After your initial six-infusion series, MIHAM continues monitoring your mood or pain symptoms and evaluates how long your response lasts.
- Booster infusions: Patients who respond well to ketamine may receive occasional booster infusions to maintain improvement. The timing of booster treatment depends on your symptoms, response to the initial series, and the physician’s recommendation.
- Four-week booster appointment: MIHAM schedules a placeholder booster-infusion appointment approximately four weeks after the initial series. This reserves treatment time, but the appointment may be adjusted based on your response and follow-up needs.
- Continued symptom monitoring: MIHAM sends surveys every two weeks after the initial series to track changes in mood or pain symptoms.
- Continued support: Our team remains available between treatments to answer questions and discuss changes in your condition or response.
How Long Do Ketamine Treatments Take?
If a physician recommends ketamine infusions, our patient care coordinator will contact you to schedule your treatment series and explain the timing for your condition.
- Mental health conditions: Two 40-minute infusions per week for three weeks, for a total of six infusions
- Chronic neuropathic pain: Three 90-minute infusions per week for two weeks, for a total of six infusions
Each appointment also includes time before the infusion for preparation and questions, followed by post-infusion monitoring. The physician confirms your treatment schedule after the in-person consultation.
What to Expect After Ketamine Infusion Therapy
After each infusion, the clinical team monitors your immediate recovery. MIHAM also tracks changes in your mood or pain symptoms throughout the initial series and after it ends.
- Post-infusion monitoring: After your infusion is over, the clinical team will continue to monitor your vital signs for another 15 to 30 minutes while you recover. When the physician determines that you are ready to leave, your IV will be disconnected and you will be walked out to your ride.
- Temporary side effects: Nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, headache, tiredness, or changes in perception may continue for a short time as the medication wears off.
- Downtime for the rest of the day: Do not drive, operate heavy machinery, drink alcohol, use cannabis or other recreational drugs, or make important decisions after your infusion.
- Transportation home: A familiar adult must drive you home after every infusion.
- Continued symptom tracking: Check-ins before each subsequent infusion document your response during the treatment series. After the initial series, MIHAM sends surveys every two weeks to track mood or pain symptoms.
- Booster treatment: Patients who respond may receive booster infusions based on how long improvement lasts. MIHAM schedules a placeholder booster-infusion appointment approximately four weeks after the initial series.
FAQs About Ketamine Infusion Therapy
Do I need a referral for ketamine infusion therapy in St. Louis?
No. A referral is not required to schedule a consultation at MIHAM in St. Louis. Many patients come through psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, pain-management specialists, and other healthcare professionals, but patients may also contact our St. Louis clinic directly.
Is ketamine infusion therapy FDA-approved?
Ketamine is FDA-approved as an anesthetic. Its use for certain mental health conditions and chronic neuropathic pain is considered off-label because those conditions fall outside the medication’s original FDA-approved indication. Physicians may recommend an approved medication for another condition based on clinical evidence, medical judgment, and the needs of the patient.
Does every patient receive the same ketamine dose?
Ketamine dosing is individualized rather than assigned as one standard amount for every patient. The physician considers factors such as:
- The condition being treated
- The patient’s health, weight, and medication history
- The treatment protocol and therapeutic goals
- The patient’s response during the infusion series
MIHAM uses individualized, response-guided dosing. The physician selects and adjusts the dose throughout the series based on your condition, health, medications, and response.
How quickly will I know if ketamine treatment is working?
Response time varies by patient, condition, and treatment history. MIHAM tracks symptoms before, during, and after the initial series through patient check-ins and scientifically validated questionnaires. After the series, surveys sent every two weeks help document changes in mood or pain symptoms. The physician reviews that information alongside your experience when evaluating progress and discussing booster treatment.
Does insurance cover ketamine infusion therapy?
Ketamine infusions, like other off-label treatments, are generally not covered by insurance in an outpatient clinic setting. MIHAM does not bill insurance directly, but we can provide a superbill for patients to submit to their insurance companies for reimbursement consideration.
Patients may use HSA or FSA funds to pay for ketamine infusions. MIHAM also accepts cash, checks, credit or debit cards, and CareCredit.
How much does ketamine infusion therapy cost in St. Louis?
The cost of ketamine infusion therapy depends on the condition being treated, the infusion protocol, and whether you are beginning an initial six-infusion series or returning for a booster infusion. MIHAM reviews current treatment costs and payment arrangements before an infusion series is scheduled.
Schedule a Ketamine Consultation in St. Louis
Ketamine infusion therapy is not the right next step for every patient. MIHAM begins with an in-person physician consultation so you can receive a medical recommendation before making any commitment to treatment.
“I am very thankful that I decided to go through with the infusions because my mood and anxiety were much improved after just 1 visit...
They also do not put any pressure on you to decide whether you want to try their services or not.”
— Jason B. | Read the full testimonial
Individual experiences and results vary.
During the appointment, you will discuss your symptoms, medical history, current medications, previous treatments, and questions directly with a physician. You will also learn about the infusion process and the treatment protocol for your condition. A referral is not required.
At the end of the consultation, the physician will recommend how to proceed. You will receive an informed consent document to review at home and will not be asked to schedule or pay for an infusion series during the appointment.
Contact us online or call (314) 270-4248 to schedule your consultation and speak with our team about ketamine infusions in St. Louis.