*The FDA has not approved intravenous ketamine or NAD+ for the treatment of any psychiatric or pain condition. These articles reference off-label use. Like all medical treatments, the discussed therapies carry risks and benefits. Speak with a doctor at Clarus Health to learn if these therapies may be right for you.

Ketamine Therapy
Dec 11, 2024

Ketamine, Stellate Ganglion Block, and Iron Deficiency

Learn how important iron levels are to giving you the best healing from IV Ketamine, Stellate Ganglion Block, or NAD+

Ketamine, Stellate Ganglion Block, and Iron Deficiency

Iron deficiency is surprisingly common, affecting up to 30% of the population.  While often associated with physical symptoms like fatigue and weakness, iron deficiency can also significantly impact mental well-being. Research increasingly points to its role in conditions like depression, anxiety, and even more severe mental illnesses. Learn more about how optimizing iron levels can improve results from IV Ketamine and the Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB).

What is Iron Deficiency?

Iron isn't just for building strong muscles. Iron is an essential mineral that plays a crucial role in energy and metabolism, especially for the most energetically active organ: your central nervous system (including your brain). Iron is needed for neurotransmitter synthesis, peak cognitive performance, DNA synthesis, immune functioning, and optimal mental health.

When deficient in iron, your body can become inefficient in converting food into energy and subsequently using that energy effectively. Unsurprisingly, iron deficiency can lead to fatigue, weakness, depression, anxiety, dysregulated sleep, and decreased cognitive function. These effects are often overlooked if the patient does not have anemia.

Iron is Crucial for Brain Health

Iron is essential for brain health, especially in children. The limbic regions of the brain, responsible for much of our mood and behavior regulation, are particularly sensitive to iron deficiency. For example, infants deficient in iron have an impaired ability to detect their mothers. Furthermore, levels of critical neurotransmitters, including serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine are impacted by iron deficiency. In the developing brain, iron deficiency can lead to cognitive impairment, emotional dysregulation, and social difficulties persisting into adulthood.

Because iron status is so important to brain health, optimal iron levels are key to comprehensive ketamine therapy and Stellate Ganglion Block therapies.

What Causes Iron Deficiency?

The most common causes of iron deficiency include:

  • Inadequate dietary intake: vegetarians and vegans are most susceptible
  • Blood loss: such as heavy menstrual bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding, or frequent blood donations
  • Malabsorption: can be caused by certain infections (H. pylori), a history of gastric bypass, inflammatory bowel disease, and other conditions
  • Medications: including steroids, proton pump inhibitors, and NSAIDs (like ibuprofen)
  • Chronic inflammation: including infections, kidney disease, cancer, obesity
  • Stress: observed in athletes and mothers with high stress levels
From Al-Naseem, et al. 2021

How to Optimize Iron for Ketamine and the Stellate Ganglion Block

Optimizing our health is important for optimal IV Ketamine and SGB results. We observe this in patients who may have less-than-optimal results because their body is excessively fatigued or under considerable physiologic stress. Treating iron deficiency, even in the absence of anemia, has been demonstrated to improve fatigue with IV iron infusions.

Diagnosing iron deficiency is done with several blood tests, including iron level, ferritin, TIBC, B12, hemoglobin, copper, folate, and other tests, depending on your condition.

IV iron supplementation has several key advantages to oral supplementation:

  • Fewer side effects than oral iron supplementation (oral iron side effects affect up to 70% of patients)
  • Fewer treatments (usually 1) compared to months of oral supplementation
  • Faster symptom relief, especially with extreme fatigue
  • More effective when chronic inflammation is present (and elevated hepcidin)
  • Greater absorption (oral iron maximal absorption is estimated at 25mg/day)
  • Most effective in patients with significant menses blood loss
  • Most effective in patients unable to absorb iron orally (such as a history of gastric bypass, bowel disease, infections)

It is important for your doctor to follow safety guidelines when supplementing iron, either orally or with IV.

IV Ketamine and SGB are most effective when the body is primed with adequate neurotransmitter and DNA synthesis capacity. This is an important view towards holistic healing from depression and anxiety.

Optimize Your Health to Relieve Pain Today

Knowing your iron levels is important to relieving the root cause of your pain. To find the greatest healing benefits, preparing your body prior to starting IV Ketamine, Stellate Ganglion Block, or NAD+ therapy is key to providing lasting relief. It is important to speak with your doctor about the benefits and risks of IV Ketamine and SGB. Schedule a free consultation with Clarus Health to learn if IV Ketamine, SGB, or NAD+ may be effective in reducing your depression, anxiety, PTSD, or chronic pain.

Anthony Kaveh MD

Anthony Kaveh MD

Dr. Kaveh is a Stanford and Harvard-trained anesthesiologist and integrative medicine specialist. He has over 800,000 followers on social media and has guided hundreds of patients throughout transformative healing experiences. He is an authority on Ketamine, NAD, and SGB therapies. He is a registered continuing education lecturer in the Bay Area.