Alleviant’s new model of psychiatric care includes holistic treatments that rapidly heal pain, anxiety and depression

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The treatments for depression and chronic pain available at Alleviant Health Centers do not exist anywhere else in the Midwest. Dramatic change is possible, even if you’ve been treatment resistant in the past. (L-R): Owner Nick Angelis is pictured here with APRN Christopher McCourt and Clinic Manager Sam Rutchick. (Photography: Benjamin Margalit)

By Laura Briedis

For those suffering from mood disorders or chronic pain, Alleviant Health Centers offers innovative treatments that can offer immediate relief—even for those who have been treatment-resistant in the past.

“We use cutting-edge technology like Ketamine Infusion Therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to offer a different approach that gets real results,” says Nick Angelis, a certified registered nurse anesthetist who opened Alleviant Health Centers in Akron last spring.

“The combination of what we do here does not exist anywhere else in the Midwest.”

Both of these treatments are fast acting, as patients report feeling relief immediately.

“After a ketamine treatment, patients say that within hours they feel less anxious and less depressed,” says Nick. “And after Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, patients start feeling better within days. The effects are usually immediate, not like when you take medicine and wait a month to see if it helps.”

In addition to Ketamine Infusion Therapy, Alleviant Health Centers specializes in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. This FDA-approved noninvasive procedure delivers magnetic impulses through an electromagnetic coil to reinforce positive nerve pathways.

Ketamine—which can be infused in an IV or taken as a nasal spray—works by increasing neuroplasticity, which is the ability of the brain to form and reorganize connections. And it regulates glutamate, which is a primary fuel source for the central nervous system.

For Alyssa B., ketamine rid her of chronic migraines.

“Before receiving ketamine at the clinic, I was on 13 medications for pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression,” says Alyssa. “Now I’m on only one.”

In addition to Ketamine Infusion Therapy, Alleviant Health Centers specializes in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. This FDA-approved noninvasive procedure delivers magnetic impulses through an electromagnetic coil to the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain associated with mood control, to reinforce positive nerve pathways. TMS helps nerves begin to communicate again.

“This proven treatment is covered by insurance,” says Nick. “The fact that insurance companies believe enough in the results that they are willing to pay for it says a lot.”

The Truth About Ketamine
One of only a handful of health care providers in Ohio that does Ketamine Infusion Therapy, Alleviant Health Centers offers patients this innovative treatment to jump-start healing from mood disorders and chronic pain.

This fast-acting anesthetic stimulates neurogenesis, which helps your nerves create new connections. Research has shown that pain, depression and anxiety is caused when you lose some connections in your brain and have trouble processing, and ketamine helps to regrow neurons.

“More than 90 percent of patients experience a significant reduction in symptoms— some during the first infusion,” says Nick. “This is great news for people suffering from anxiety or depression since a lot of medications can take up to 30 days for the full effects—all the while your life is still falling apart. Ketamine helps you in the moment.”

In addition to infusion therapy, in which the ketamine is administered through an IV, there now is a nasal spray called Spravato.

Though Alleviant Health Centers has a staff consisting of a psychiatrist, family and psychiatric nurse practitioner, trauma certified clinician, licensed professional clinical counselor, licensed chemical dependency counselor and anesthetist, it works collaboratively to integrate care.

“Patients can keep their own provider and just come here for some of our novel treatments, or book an appointment with us within a week for therapy or medication management,” says Dr. Carlos Molina, medical director. “We collaborate with other psychiatrists and counselors, primary care physicians and addiction recovery centers. We all work together with one common goal: to heal pain and restore hope.”

Whether suffering from depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis or other chronic pain, Alleviant takes a holistic approach and helps find the root cause and treat the whole person.

“After years and years of trying everything for depression, Spravato and ketamine infusions have changed my life,” says Lauren F. “My therapist and psychiatrist are so happy that they could send me to Alleviant Health Centers and that they work closely with my existing mental health team.”

Alleviant Health Centers of Akron is located at 1000 S. Cleveland Massillon Road, Suite 1, in Fairlawn. Call 330-754-4484 for an appointment or visit Alleviant.com/Akron for more information.