Ketamine's safety profile is well-established in clinical settings like ours, making it a vital tool in medical practice. Its unique characteristic of not impairing the respiratory system contributes to its broad application and acceptability.
Administered by our trained medical professionals in controlled doses, it's considered a safe anesthetic option for a wide range of patients. In fact, its safety is such that it's even used in surgeries with children. By adhering to stringent guidelines and protocols, we ensure that potential risks are minimized, reinforcing ketamine's position as a dependable choice within our healthcare environment.
After about 15 minutes of taking your dose you may begin to feel a subtle calming and possible lightheadedness.
Most people report having a positive experience with little-to-no side effects. However, you may feel a little tipsy and a bit “out of it” for 30-40 minutes.
Many patients find the immediate effects to be very pleasant and a great time to reflect on their own thoughts, but if it doesn’t feel good for you then lowering the dose, or splitting your dose throughout the day, seems to reduce these side effects. You will begin to learn how ketamine affects you almost immediately.
Over the first few weeks, we will track and adjust your dose based on how you feel. While you are learning, you may experience some side effects, for example lightheadedness or even nausea. All of these feelings are normal, and can be reduced through simple adjustments to the protocol.
Many medications are compatible with low-dose ketamine, including SSRIs and benzodiazepines. The list of contraindicated medications is short, but your Joyous medical provider will review your current medications and help you decide if our medication is a good fit for you.
Many of our patients continue to take their antidepressant and anxiety medications throughout treatment without any issues. Be sure to bring your current list of medications to your consultation to review with your provider.
Our patients have reported experiencing an immediate sense of calm, with consistent and gradual improvements over time. Low-dose ketamine treatment can also produce a heightened receptivity to therapy, allowing patients to practice therapy or self-care exercises to optimize treatment during the session.
Over 89% of Joyous patients report improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms in the first month of treatment. However, all bodies are different, and some patients experience improvements in month 2 or 3 of treatment once they find the right dosage and start to see the impact of the treatment courses on their daily lives.
Joyous treatment is completely personalized to each patient. Once you receive your medication, we'll text you daily check-ins to monitor your progress and understand how you're responding to treatment. This will help us adjust your dosage specifically for you.
Joyous treatment combines very low-dose ketamine medication with curated psychology-based treatment courses and content to help your brain build new neural connections and make gradual, consistent mental health improvements, far beyond treatment.
The Joyous program is designed for patients to "graduate" from treatment. The medication and treatment courses are meant to enhance patient receptivity to therapy, process underlying emotions, heal old thought patterns, and build valuable skills to handle life's ups and downs.
There is no set timeline, you can participate in our low-dose ketamine treatment long term if you feel it is benefitting you, or you can come off it at any time.
Many of our patients have been on the Joyous treatment for years and still have mental health benefits, while others stop when they feel that is right for them. There have been no reported complications or problems with taking our ketamine treatment for extended periods of time when taken as prescribed.
When/if you decide to come off of the medication, withdrawal symptoms are rare in a clinical setting, and we will provide you with our medical recommendations to ensure that you can stop treatment safely. The length of treatment is personal to every patient, and you have complete say over how long you take ketamine.
When you're ready to stop treatment, our team will create a plan to help you stop treatment safely. Withdrawal symptoms are rare in our clinical setting. As time passes and the ketamine is out of your system, the neuroplasticity benefits may begin to dull, but can be reactivated by starting treatment again.
Good candidates for the Joyous treatment are people who have tried therapy and/or traditional medications in the past and didn't feel like that was enough or the right kind of treatment for them. People who suffer from depression and anxiety commonly experience relief from our treatment even when other treatments failed.
Joyous treatment has no monthly commitment and can be canceled anytime as long as you cancel before your refill has been sent out. Please contact the Care Team via text or email to request cancelation; you will be prompted to answer a few simple questions about why you are leaving so we can understand your unique situation and can improve our service. Once the form has been submitted, we will review and We will also provide you with some recommendations on what to do post-treatment to ensure you remain happy and healthy.
Currently, insurance companies do not cover our ketamine treatments or consultations. We do accept HSA and FSA funds if you utilize those accounts in your health care. Some insurance plans cover different forms of ketamine treatment, however these options are normally difficult to find and expensive. At Joyous, we do everything we can to keep our service and treatment plan as affordable as possible, because we believe that mental health care is a priority and not a privilege.
Your Joyous medical provider will send a prescription to the pharmacy after your free consultation, and we will ship your medication in 2-3 business days. Prepare to make the most of your treatment by starting the treatment courses in the Be Joyous patient portal!
The medication is a microdose, a very low dose that may produce an immediate sense of calm or "tipsiness". It should not be overwhelming or intense, but provides a moment to be reflective, breathe, and do something enjoyable like dance or listen to music.
You will receive daily texts to monitor how you're feeling and dosage recommendations until you find the dose that feels right for you. You can text or email our Care Team and providers if you have any questions or need assistance.
Other ketamine treatments can range between $500-$3000/month for high doses of ketamine. Higher doses create more of a "psychedelic" experience which can be overwhelming for some patients and benefit from integration coaching after the experience. Joyous uses microdoses, small doses where our patients remain fully coherent and oriented, able to engage with therapy and therapeutic exercises from the comfort of their home. All for just $129/month, no monthly commitment, making us the most affordable at-home ketamine treatment option.
Our ketamine medication comes in the form of "troches," small waxy squares that you place between your cheek and lip for about 15 minutes. Let the troche melt and once finished, you can spit the remaining wax out. Do not eat or drink while the troche is in to optimize absorption.
Joyous uses a proprietary low dose ketamine protocol that is highly effective without the psychedelic experience. Our treatment uses a psycholytic dose that allows you to move beyond the superficial layers of your day-to-day mind, can help heal unhealthy neural pathways, and help you achieve the clarity you need to live the life you deserve. Our treatment requires no down time, special conditions, or "trip sitters," because our doses are low enough to not cause a psychedelic experience, and our providers monitor patient side effects and progress virtually. You can safely take our medication from the comfort of your home and continue to live your life.
Our low dose ketamine protocol can be taken orally from the comfort of your home and does not require you to stop or pause your daily tasks. Low dose ketamine is considered a psycholytic dose, not a psychedelic dose. This means that our patients experience the positive benefits of improved mood, new perspective, and improved neural connectivity without the psychedelic experience.
Low-dose ketamine medication is compatible with other antidepressants. Many of our patients continue to take their antidepressants while on our treatment and have not had any issues. Your Joyous medical provider will review your medical history and current list of medications to ensure that Joyous is a good fit for you and there aren't any interactions.
Ketamine was FDA approved in 1970 as a dissociative analgesic and has since been used in clinics and hospitals globally. In recent decades, ketamine has been used off-label, to help treat mental health conditions including treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Joyous uses compounded very low-dose ketamine lozenges as part of the treatment program, which are prescribed off-label.
You can cancel your prescription at any time by reaching out to our Care Team via text (
844-774-0909
) or email (care@joyous.team). They will send a short survey to help us improve our service and provide recommendations for stopping treatment. Once submitted, they will cancel your subscription. If you ever want to restart treatment in the future, we're always here to help!
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