What Is Ketamine

When ketamine is used, its normally used for surgery and to help with pain management. It is considered to be a very powerful dissociative anesthetic. Over the last few years ketamine has been used to help treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD) with acute suicidal thoughts or actions since it as rapid-acting effects. Ketamine is an FDA approved drug that is used in medical settings, but it could be used in emergencies and on battlefields since ketamine maintains normal breathing and airway reflexes.

When ketamine is used, it gives off a trance like state that provides pain relief, sedation and memory loss. It is also used for other things like chronic and severe pain, TRD and PTSD. Using it for TRD provides a much faster relief than other antidepressants. Ketamine can also be used as a nasal spray known as Spravato (esketamine) like injections, it should used under a doctor’s care. No matter how you receive the drug, you need to be supervised for at least 2 hours due to some of the risks and effects that come with being on the drug.

There are other names for ketamine when its being supplied outside of the medical community. “Special K” “K” “Kit Kat” and “Vitamin K” It can be snorted, injected, swallowed or smoked since it can be found as a white powder.

There are significant risks when it comes to abusing ketamine.

Physical and Mental Effects: It distorts perceptions, causes hallucinations, and can lead to feelings of detachment from one's body (sometimes described as a "K-hole").

Health Risks: Short-term effects can include increased heart rate and blood pressure, nausea, confusion, and difficulty breathing. Long-term, heavy use is associated with severe urinary and bladder problems (ketamine-induced cystitis), liver injury, memory loss, and cognitive difficulties.

Overdose: Large amounts can cause unconsciousness and dangerously slowed breathing, especially if mixed with other central nervous system depressants like alcohol or opioids.

Date Rape Drug: Because it is odourless, colorless, and can cause amnesia and incapacitation, it is sometimes used as a date rape drug. 

Ketamine can last up to a few hours depending on how it was administered and the dosage. It usually takes place under a doctor’s care in a medical environment, but it can remain in your system to 24 hours, sometimes up to 4 months depending on if you do a blood test or a hair test.

A single treatment session can provide mood improvement or pain relief for several days to one or two weeks. With a series of treatments (e.g., several infusions over a few weeks), benefits may be sustained for several weeks to months, with some patients requiring maintenance "booster" treatments every 2-6 weeks. 

Ketamine should never be used outside of a doctors office. Like any drug, if you get it from an unknown source, you don’t know if it’s been cut with something since it can come in powder form or if you administered it yourself, you risk giving yourself too much, which will cause you to overdose.

Not every treatment that is provided by a doctor is a good fit for everyone. No matter what you choose to use it for or how its provided via injection or nasal spray, use it at your own risk. Know yourself and trust your instinct when it comes to how it works. If it doesn’t work as well as you think it would, you can stop. You don’t need to be encouraged to do it. Don’t let anyone pressure you into doing it especially if you have a history of addiction. Ketamine can be dangerous if used incorrectly. Be careful.