Depression and Aging: How Are They Linked?

Getting older brings about a lot of physical, mental, and emotional changes. Aging can increase your risk for a variety of chronic health conditions, including depression.

At Klarity Clinic, our skilled medical team offers innovative treatment options for depression, especially when other treatments aren’t working well for you. We specialize in ketamine infusions to help you achieve fast symptom relief while enhancing the health of your brain.

What depression is all about

Depression is a mood disorder that makes you feel persistent sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness. These feelings aren’t something you can just shake off, and without treatment, these symptoms can worsen and interfere with the quality of your life.

Along with sadness, depression can cause:

• Guilt
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Chronic fatigue
• Memory issues
• Difficulties concentrating
• Loss of interest in activities
• Insomnia or sleeping too much

In some cases, people with untreated depression self-medicate with drugs and alcohol or develop thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

How aging contributes to depression

Though the root cause of depression still isn’t well-understood, the condition may result from imbalances in the neurotransmitters of your brain. Hormone imbalances can also negatively affect your mood and increase your risk for depression.

When it comes to aging, changes in the folate levels in your blood and your nervous system may increase your risk for depression. Elderly people who are isolated, lonely, or battling chronic diseases may also be vulnerable to depressive episodes.

Those who become depressed may find their physical and mental health is further impacted by the side effects of depression, such as sleep disruptions and memory issues.

Even though depression is a common disorder that affects over 264 million people around the world, the condition isn’t something you should ignore. With the right treatment plan, you can learn to better manage your symptoms and avoid the pitfalls of addiction and self-harm.

When to consider ketamine for depression

Many people are able to manage their depression with a combination of medications and psychotherapy (talk therapy). However, some people won’t find relief with these conventional therapies and worry they have no alternatives left.  At Klarity Clinic, we offer ketamine infusion therapy to address treatment-resistant depression.

Ketamine is a medication frequently used as an anesthetic in surgery. In lower doses, ketamine can increase the levels of glutamate, the largest neurotransmitter in your brain, to rapidly reduce the severity of your symptoms. Ketamine may also be beneficial for repairing or growing new neural connections, so your brain can heal naturally.

If your current treatment for depression isn’t working well, we can perform a comprehensive health evaluation to determine if you’re a candidate for ketamine therapy. Treatment involves low-dose ketamine infusions in-office over a two-week period. 

We can also add nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) to your infusion to maximize the benefits of your therapy and restore your energy levels. People receiving ketamine infusions often experience symptom relief during their first infusions, and their results continue to improve over time.

You don’t have to cope with symptoms of depression all alone. Call the Klarity Clinic office nearest you to schedule a consultation for ketamine infusion therapy, or book an appointment online today.