Ketamine treatment for depression, PTSD, and chronic pain is built on one well understood molecule, and yet results vary widely from clinic to clinic. Dr. James Leathem, a board-certified anesthesiologist who has overseen more than 15,000 ketamine infusions, makes the case that the drug itself is almost never the variable. This conversation is for anyone who has tried ketamine, been told it did not work, and quietly concluded the problem was them.
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? UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds
For everyone medicine has let down ? https://UnCurableBook.com
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Dr. Leathem walks through how ketamine works in the brain, why the 24 to 72 hour window after an infusion may matter more than the infusion itself, and how decisions like route of administration, pre-infusion medication, and dose ceilings can quietly determine whether a patient responds. He also explains where he believes ketamine is genuinely strong, where its reputation runs ahead of what it does well, and why he pairs it with stellate ganglion blocks for patients whose nervous systems will not settle. If you are working through depression, PTSD, chronic pain, or a nervous system that has stayed stuck after years of treatment, this conversation gives you the questions to ask before you start.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — The question: relief in hours, not weeks
02:23 — A drowning, a ruptured appendix, and a decision at 21
10:13 — Why route and pre-infusion drugs change the outcome
15:30 — The 24 to 72 hour window that does the real work
17:24 — Putting out the fire versus rebuilding the house
19:11 — How safe is ketamine, actually
23:32 — Precision dosing and the arbitrary ceiling
25:00 — NMDA, glutamate, BDNF, and the limits of the monoamine model
35:21 — The fastest anti-suicidal agent in medicine
37:48 — Stalled progress, and the hardware reset
40:48 — Traumatic brain injury, and what may work better
48:51 — You are the medicine
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ABOUT AARON HARTMAN, MD
Aaron Hartman, MD is a triple-board-certified physician, bestselling author of UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds, and founder of Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine. Dr. Hartman is known as the champion of the medically abandoned—helping people once labeled “uncurable” find REAL health and hope through the body’s natural abilities to heal and repair.
https://AaronHartmanMD.com
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FURTHER RESOURCES
All of the following were named by Dr. Leathem in the episode.
* Advanced Wellness and Pain Institute, Gilbert and Scottsdale, Arizona: advancedwellnessandpain.com
* Being True to You, the integration coaching partner referenced in the episode
* American Society of Ketamine Physicians (ASKP3)
* How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan, book and four-part Netflix docuseries
* Fantastic Fungi, documentary
* Dr. Leathem on Instagram: psychedelic_Drs
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After 15,000 Ketamine Infusions, an Anesthesiologist Says the Drug Was Never the Variable