Ketamine therapy to treat depression and anxiety

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They're definitely, unfortunately, not for everyone.

Last edited by GadgetGuru on 16 Sep 2023, 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Are you in the USA?

Rather than addressing your concerns here, I'll try to more completely define what it feels like, and the benefits, in a later generally-addressed post in this thread. It's such a vastly different experience and state of mind that it is incredibly difficult to put into words.

I may be doing my next K treatment (here in my sh***y old RV in the desert) later today, and with having the experience fresh in my mind, and with the sometimes deep insight that I gain during the neuroplasticity phase after the treatment, I may be able to make some sort of better sense out of it for others.

I will note that Ketamine and other psychedelics have proven to be very useful to treat PTSD, though I haven't delved deep into that, and you'd be able to learn what's up in that realm on your own much better than hearing what little I know about it.

I've not yet done a K session while in conversation with a therapist, as I'm not yet convinced that a detached, clinical conversation while in such an altered state will be of interest to me. I did want to do K while visiting an ex in New York in January, and have a talk with her while I was "in it", but our plans to do so that evening were thwarted by her telling me that as far as she could tell, her ex that lived on the property was likely to do something rash, destructive and maybe even violent if I stayed another night, so I skedaddled, post-haste. Very much looking forward to doing this with her when I'm back there in a month or so, assuming her ex is no longer there, or is no longer a threat, and she's still willing. She has almost no personal drug experience at all, but is interested in learning more.


Ketamine can be administered sublingually, as I've mostly done, for cost reasons, and even via a patch, I think?

Outcomes of these alternate administration methods have not proven as effective as IV or IM injections, but are better than nothing for some.

I finally have an appointment at a clinic in Reno, Nevada on September 24th to try the Spravato nasal spray means of K therapy (coupled with a Ketamine IM "booster" injection).
Assuming I can find a way to make the 380-mile round trip, I will get to see what it's like. If the results are close enough to the very expensive but magnificent IV infusions I underwent when I first started K therapy, perhaps continued treatments will be worth the logistical hassle.

The dissociative aspect may not be like you imagine, assuming you've never experienced it.

I'll try to describe it, along with other aspects of the experience, in a later long post...
The short version is that disassociation was not at all a scary thing to me, and I could "reconnect" enough to be sure my body was still there, and that I was alive, at any time, and with the most superficial effort, even at the quite high 1mg per Kg per hour feed rate that I was at when in the IV infusion sessions.

If you have an affordable, safe opportunity to do so, I'd highly recommend it. If it doesn't help you, little is lost.
If it does help you, you may find yourself in my current mindset, which is that at least for some people, dying without having experienced a very altered state of mind means that they did not live a full life.

I know that sounds harsh or judgemental, but it really does feel that profound to me...

BE SAFE!

I highly recommend watching Shane Mauss's "Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration of Psychedelics" (2018).

There's a whole section in it about Ketamine, where Shane tries it for the first time. He has since become a very big fan of K.

You can find a list of streaming and purchase sources here, including some free (ad-supported) streams.

If you're both unable to pay for it and as intensely ad-averse as I am, I can provide a link to a downloadable file of this film for you, via PM. I won't debate the ethics of this, as I still have not settled on a solid opinion after decades of intermittent indulgence in ignoring the Intellectual Property Rights of others...

Isn't Ketamine sometimes used as a horse tranquilizer?

I have heard about the promising effects it is supposed to have on the depressed mind. I would try it myself if it was available in my country for a reasonable price. But I don't think it is.

Never tried it.

I probably would have done it when I was younger if it had been available to me because I was into all that back then but I've heard that it can shrink your bladder to the size of a pea and make you incontinent so it's a no go area for me.

I also have a dissociative disorder and if it is a dissociative drug then I can't see as it would be helpful.

Indeed it is!

And that leads to many fun memes about the subject...

What country, if I may ask?

As far as I know, the bladder risks are mainly to those who heavily abuse it, for many years. And when early signs of bladder issues are detected, cessation can allow the bladder to heal. It's mainly bloody-minded abuse that can lead to possibility of bladder removal, or maybe even death.

The mechanism of damage, to my limited understanding, is that the lining of the bladder that normally prevents urine from reaching the muscles surrounding the bladder can be damaged by large quantities of Ketamine over time, allowing the urine to damage the muscles, and create issues from that damage.


How those living with a dissociative disorder would be affected by a dissociative drug is unknown to me.

Strictly speaking, it's a disassociative, not a hallucinogen.

Interesting, there's only two responses to the poll indicating familiarity.

I've heard of Ketamine but I have no experience with it nor other psychedelics. I would be interested in trying it but my combo of psych meds is working well for me. My girlfriend might would be interested in Ketamine since she's tried a lot of psych meds & is still trying to get things right. I'm not sure how people go about getting that therapy & if it would be covered by insurance like Medicaid.