The tragedy of teen suicide - can outpatient ketamine infusion help prevent disaster?

The death of a child is harrowing. Death by their own hand is unconscionable. One in ten teen-deaths in South Africa is due to suicide yet 75% give some warning. The suicide rate amongst children has escalated during COVID lockdowns. At KCSA we treat patients as young as 13-years-old and reversal of suicidal ideation is achieved in 70-80% after a single infusion.

Find out how ketamine changed the life of a little girl who tried to hang herself.

Read the letter from Belinda's mother

The Ketamine Safety-Net

Ketamine infusion buys time for suicidal patients - suicide rates may actually spike soon after starting a traditional antidepressant.

Scientific American - The ketamine breakthrough for suicidal children

"I guess that for a suicidally depressed patient, ketamine is that drug that 'talks them off the ledge'. There is still work to do, but much safer doing it at ground level as soon a possible!" (Dr Alan Howard, KCSA National Medical Director)

Introducing our Umhlanga Clinic doctors!

Dr PJ Allen - a specialist anaesthetist with many years' experience in both the public and private sectors.
Dr Rosanne Symons - postgraduate qualifications in anaesthesiology and mental health.
Dr Stewart Boyd - postgraduate qualification in anaesthesiology and a fellowship in Emergency Medicine.
Dr Andy Geard - a well respected emergency physician, private practitioner and member of the KZN ATLS faculty.

All of our doctors are members of the Society of Sedation Practitioners of South Africa (SOSPOSA)

KCSA currently offers outpatient ketamine infusions at the following locations:

BEDFORDVIEW (GP)

CONSTANTIA (WP)

UMHLANGA (KZN)

HILTON (KZN)

Contact a KCSA branch

Carissa Fortino - a woman on a mission.

Executive director of KCSA's new Cape Town branch, and ably assisted by Dr Doug Stevens, Carissa's personal mental health journey has fueled her passion to help others through outpatient ketamine infusion. After a jet-set lifestyle as a fashion executive and with an economics degree from Indiana, KCSA Cape Town is in excellent business hands. Still traveling between Europe, the USA and Cape Town, Carissa also heads up KCSA's international health-tourism initiative.

Can ketamine infusions help patients with Multiple Sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases?

A small pilot study out of Johns Hopkins MS Center in 2019 demonstrated a reduction in Fatigue Severity Scale a week post infusion and a statistically significant reduction in Modified Fatigue Impact Scale at 28-days. At KCSA we note reductions in DVPRS scores (including pain rating) in our MS patients.

Watch a short interview with an MS patient who tried ketamine

A double-blind RCT demonstrates remission from suicidal ideation in 80% of patients four-hours after intranasal ketamine.

Published in the Archives of Suicide Research in February 2021, this proof-of-concept trial enrolled 30 suicidal subjects presenting to an Emergency Department. At KCSA we see similar outcomes using intravenous ketamine, generally accepted to be even more efficacious than intranasal esketamine.

Rands and Sense Ketamine vs Admission

Without detracting from the possible benefit (in selected cases) of weeks of costly inpatient care, this scenario can frequently be avoided in patients with resistant mood disorders and suicidality by providing a 'rescue' outpatient ketamine infusion at a fraction of the cost.

When followed up with adjustment of medication, outpatient psychotherapy and, in most cases, completion of a series of ketamine infusions, suicidally depressed patients can often remain at home and productive.

"I felt much better soon after my 40-minute infusion than I did after 3-weeks at *****. How can this treatment be withheld from anyone?"
(KCSA patient, Hilton 2020)

How did KCSA start in South Africa?

Ketamine Clinics of South Africa (KCSA) was founded by Dr Alan Howard, a Consultant in Emergency Medicine who returned home permanently to his native South Africa from Ireland in 2019.

To read more about Dr Howard and KCSA's flagship clinic in the Natal Midlands in two informative articles published in South African Psychiatry click on the link below.

Read about the start of KCSA

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