At Innerwell, your safety is our top priority. We want to reassure all our patients that we take the utmost care in ensuring your safety. The principles of the Hippocratic Oath guide us: First, Do No Harm. We have an extensive number of safeguards in place with ketamine treatment at Innerwell to ensure your well-being throughout your journey with us.

Ketamine is a safe medication for patients who have undergone a thorough medical and psychiatric evaluation and do not have any contraindications to treatment. It is a remarkably effective medication for off-label treatment of several psychiatric conditions. In clinical practice, ketamine dependence and abuse are rare. Ketamine can be used safely for at-home treatment when the following guidelines are followed;

• All patients are screened for medical contraindications prior to initiating ketamine treatment. At the discretion of your prescriber, we may require specialist clearance from cardiologists, neurologists, and other physicians for patients who have any conditions that we determine can increase the risk of adverse events from ketamine (i.e., any history of significant heart, liver, lung, and kidney disease). Certain patients are not suitable for at-home ketamine treatment due to their medical or psychiatric history.
• We require that patients stop or hold sedating and/or stimulating medications on the day of their treatment sessions to reduce the risk of adverse interactions with ketamine.
• Ketamine can transiently increase blood pressure, usually in the range that can occur during exercise, and we therefore require patients to check their blood pressure before every treatment session to ensure that it’s in the lower range. Patients with a history of high blood pressure are required to be adherent to their antihypertensive medication regimen, and in certain cases, provide clearance from their PCP or cardiologist. 
• We only prescribe oral tablets of ketamine at doses significantly below the amount used in general anesthesia and the level found in Matthew Perry’s bloodstream. All patients are carefully assessed throughout their program whether increases in their dose are clinically indicated. 
• We require all patients to have a sitter (support person) physically onsite with them for every treatment session. As a reminder, our Sitter Guide can be found here. 
• Patients should only take ketamine in a safe and secure setting at home, typically while lying on the couch or in bed. Patients should never take ketamine in or near a body of water such as a pool, hot tub, lake, or the ocean. Patients should also never take ketamine outside their home, or while driving or operating heavy machinery. Patients and/or their sitters should not hesitate to call 911 if they ever have any safety concerns during a ketamine treatment session.

If you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts about your ketamine treatment at Innerwell, we encourage you to reach out to us via email at care@helloinnerwell.com.

We’re here to support you and continue providing this life-saving treatment in the safest manner possible.