People who use ketamine experience intense highs and dissociative feelings that make users feel detached from their bodies, and can even cause hallucinations. It can induce euphoria, but in some cases, the hallucinations it causes can become extremely frightening. Mixing the drug with other depressants like alcohol and heroin intensifies the dangers of respiratory depression, which can be deadly. If you or someone you care about is struggling with a ketamine addiction, there is support available. Although these withdrawal symptoms can be uncomfortable, most doctors don’t recommend a taper-down method. Most detox programs use a cold turkey approach, but this is recommended in a medically supervised setting due to the unpredictable nature of the withdrawal symptoms.

• Ketamine should only be used in a controlled medical setting where doctors can supervise use and lower the risk of abuse, dependence, and complications like choking and stopped breathing.
• If you suspect that someone is experiencing ketamine toxicity or overdose, call 911 right away.
• Growing up in Louisiana with addiction running rampant on both sides of my family.

Research Funded by NIMH

Talking to a loved one about suspected ketamine abuse can feel scary and daunting, but approaching them with care and without judgment can go a long way. They may be defensive when discussing the addiction, but explaining your concern and being knowledgeable about options for help can be beneficial. Keep in mind that those struggling with their addiction often go to great lengths to hide it, and being faced with it can be extremely difficult. As a dissociative drug, ketamine can warp reality, causing people to feel cut off from both their environment and themselves. Along with lingering feelings of panic and anxiety, Sober living house this can also result in dissociative episodes stretching from weeks to months or even years after using ketamine. Long-term ketamine use can also impair your memory and cause depressive or delusional thinking.

Signs and Symptoms of Addiction

Ketamine’s popularity comes with its ability to put users into a trance-like state, changing the way their environment looks and altering their mood. While hallucinogenic drugs like LSD can induce highs that last for several hours, a ketamine high is relatively short, with its effects only persisting for around ketamine addiction thirty minutes to an hour. It seems that ketamine abuse is becoming more common, with findings revealing that, compared with a decade ago, more and more people are abusing the substance. However, while many individuals might consider that using ketamine is harmless, it has both habit-forming and addictive qualities that can lead to dangerous consequences if not appropriately managed.

Application Process

An intervention is a highly charged, emotional, and unpredictable event which should be managed by a professional interventionist. The interventionist will do pre-intervention research and interviews with the family to determine any deeply entrenched enabling behaviors and other specifics related to the person suffering from addiction. During the intervention, the family and friends not only confront their loved one, stating they will not enable the addiction, but offer their love and support for the addict’s treatment and recovery.

Urinating becomes painful, and incontinence, or difficulty holding in urine, is common. Bladder issues may also lead to renal (kidney) damage, which makes your body dependent on dialysis. Similar effects have been seen in the bile ducts causing chronic liver injury. When used recreationally, ketamine can produce delirium and altered states of consciousness that put users at risk. Used outside approved limits, it can produce hazardous mental and physical health effects. Chronic and prolonged use of ketamine can damage numerous organs and lead to tolerance and psychological addiction.

Types of Dissociatives, Addiction & Treatment

• Recognizing these risk factors and early signs of addiction, such as persistent use despite negative consequences, is essential for timely intervention.
• The other names of ketamine are K, Vitamin K, Special K, and cat tranquilizer.
• Whereas most antidepressants take weeks or months to work, ketamine works within hours to strongly reduce depression symptoms in people for whom other treatments have not worked.
• Frequent use also may eventually cause ketamine-induced ulcerative cystitis and contracted bladder, dubbed ketamine bladder syndrome.
• Bill Zimmerman is a Greater Cincinnati Area native who has worked in substance use disorder/co-occurring mental health disorder treatment since 2018.

It can be overwhelming to choose to make such a significant life change, but this could make all the difference in seeing the other side of your addiction and regaining control over your life. While one individual might take the substance and feel relaxed, another may find their motor functions severely impacted, leaving them rigid and unable to move. Some individuals also use ketamine to self-medicate, finding that this detachment from reality provides an escape from psychological symptoms that are having a negative impact on their daily lives. However, the relief that comes from this substance is very short-lived, which can often propel users to take more ketamine in shorter intervals.