three people behind

This is what it feels like to do ketamine

hand in loveable hand

@lexxxxicon asked how ketamine treatment works, so this post will explain it very basically from what I understand.

According to Yale Medicine, esketamine, which is the form of ketamine used in therapy, "triggers glutamate production, which, in a complex, cascading series of events, prompts the brain to form new neural connections".

So basically, the thought is that ketamine therapy triggers your brain to create new neural pathways. If you guide this pathway production in more positive directions, the thought is that you will be able to form more positive outlooks. This is something that more traditional antidepressants have not been shown to do.

You can do ketamine therapy by yourself or with a therapist present. I have done both and both have been helpful. With a therapist present, we set an intention before the session to guide the pathway formation in a positive direction. I now also do this when I do the therapy alone as well.

The Yale page also mentioned that "In several studies, more than half of participants show a significant decrease in depression symptoms after just 24 hours. These are patients who felt no meaningful improvement on other antidepressant medications," so that's encouraging.

Hope this helped! Let me know if any of you have any more questions.

I do ketamine infusion therapy for depression, and this playlist consists of tracks I listen to during my infusion sessions. Each track is under 4 minutes (longer than that and I get antsy for some reason), no overly dramatic or surprising sounds, with a variety of moods from bittersweet to uplifting, all from both classic and contemporary composers. Check it out, for infusions, studing, just relaxing, whatever. Hope you enjoy!

Me (with DID/OSDD): I mean, I know that therapies like EMDR and hypnotherapy can be really effective for treating emotional flashbacks, but I’m scared of like... getting stuck in a session, you know? How do you know when you go into a session like that it won’t go terribly wrong and the patient could go catatonic or something? I worry my alters wouldn’t let it happen because of the stress and risk.

My 31-year-old therapist: You know, I have a line on some Ketamine specialists.

Me: Come again?

My 31-year-old therapist: You’re very right in having the reservations you have about therapies like guided hypnosis and EMDR! You’re not just doing it for you, and your alters always want to help keep you safe, right? They want a say, too?

Me: Yeah. They’re really nervous about me being retraumatized... Which is exactly why I’m not sure if it would even work right. I don’t think they’d let me go through that kind of stress without having some kind of control or ability to help me.

My 31-year-old therapist: So, how about I get in touch with some specialists I know and we can talk about potentially micro-dosing you on ketamine so you can go through the therapy with your alters as real to you as the flashback is?

Me: Are you seriously a doctor that is talking to me right now? You’re okay with involving my alters with it? You’re not at all nervous from the idea? You do realize you’re recommending Actual Goddamned Ketamine to a patient, right? I don’t have a problem with it, I’m just kind of... Surprised?

My therapist: Considering I’ve talked to most of your active alters already, I can tell that they very obviously love you and want nothing else than to be part of your life like other people can be. Leaving them out of any therapeutic approaches, including our session right here, would be leaving a big part of you out, too. I’d be a bad therapist if I tried to disregard or ignore all of you! Just because research and data suggests what your alters are and how they’re formed doesn’t mean that they’re not valid, that they don’t have feelings or even their own traumas and anxieties, and especially that you shouldn’t reciprocate the love they have for you! You shouldn’t be ashamed or nervous to say you love them, especially in-session with me where you can tell me anything you want to in total privacy! I’m just as happy with coordinating therapeutic approaches based upon what they feel is right as well as you. It’s really cool strategizing with them, and they’re very devoted to making sure therapy stays therapeutic for you.

Me (trying not to cry): You believe that they love me?

My therapist: From what I’ve come to observe in the short time we’ve spent working together, I’m a little envious.

Mindbloom

Hey, it me!! ✨Featuring my little futon. Wall Street Journal interviewed me about what the at-home experience is like. Only a little of our long talk made it in but I‘m happy to have been able to share my story with them. They had to pick just one pronoun to represent me but as a reminder: I am genderfluid so he/she/they are all good. Just be warned, the transphobes are raging about me in the comments 😂

sorry I was suicidal on main last night friends. thankfully today was my first ketamine treatment for my depression and it was a huge success. that dark feeling is gone. the hopelessness is gone. I don’t know how long it’ll last but I’m hopeful it’s a pivotal step towards my recovery

Hi! I came across one of your posts from like 2 years ago about ketamine treatments for treatment resistant depression and it seemed positive, but I couldn’t find an update on your page afterwards. I’m looking into solutions for my own treatment resistant depression so I wanted to ask if you continued to see positive change afterwards and if you think it’s worth it? Feel free to disregard this ask if you’re not comfortable answering! Well wishes 💕

hi i’m sorry i’m answering this so late!! i actually still have some and this ask reminded me i have it — i had done a few ‘treatments’ and personally noticed a positive difference — nothing will truly (for me, at least) ever fully get rid of my depression but again, personally, ketamine really really helped. of course i still have bad bad days but the treatments and experiences i had really made me more loving and understanding towards myself if that makes sense? i’d tried so many other anti depressants that just never fully worked or stopped working but for me, ketamine helped me understand more about myself and how i view things, and i did absolutely notice a positive change. however meditation and therapy are and were helpful as well, and i view ketamine therapy more as a really beneficial tool rather than a full 100% fix — i am in a way better mental place than i was 2 years ago, but i’m still very much depressed if that makes sense? but it’s more of something i can deal with for the most part rather than the all consuming dread i was feeling years ago. and again that’s not to say i don’t have horrible days, the depression i have is very much intertwined in every facet of my being, but i truly believe i have developed ways to manage it better due to the ketamine experiences. the last time i did it about a year ago i cried happy tears because of the realizations i was coming to — i found it a wholly beneficial process especially since a lot of those memories stuck with me and im able to use them moving forward. to give a concrete example, one of my experiences i just felt the most at ease about myself and existence as a whole that i “saw” myself as someone to stop fighting with and stop fighting the bad as much. it’s like i realized i’ll always have bad days, bad weeks even, but the burden will (and always has) lifted (even if it comes back). i don’t even know if half of this makes sense but for me it was a net positive and well worth trying if you were in the same boat as me - just completely a wreck, unable to see much to continue living for. some days i’m struck by the beauty of the world and how i WANT to live and i very much attribute ketamine to that shift in my perception. i hope this answers your question but feel free to ask anything else if i havent or if you have any follow up questions as well!

best of luck to you my sweet anon friend, it may not get better overnight but small steps towards the good every day will add up, i promise you. and maybe someday you’ll realize that it’s gotten 1% easier or 2% easier and that all adds up.

be safe and remember you always have value and are loved even if you don’t feel like it. i’m here for you should you need anything else from me! 🫶🏼

I listened to The Colour and the Shape every time I underwent ketamine therapy so now whenever I hear Monkey Wrench sober I almost lapse into a sort of trance because that’s roughly when the ketamine would hit

hi! I have a question about how ketamine treatment impacts your experience with DID. i’m interested in just the general experience, but i also was wondering if ketamine made it easier/more likely for you to switch? bad depressive episodes usually leave me front-stuck and it’s not my favorite thing to experience lmao

Actually, yeah. For us the ketamine makes it easier to switch, at least during the treatment itself. One of us was frontstuck when we started the ketamine again this time and it did help him get unstuck, though I can't say if that will happen for you or not.

Generally, ketamine makes us dissociate heavily for about 20-30 mins, then feel a little woozy for another hour or so, then I don't experience any side effects after the hour and a half or so.

It works by encouraging neural plasticity, or the ability of your brain to create new pathways. It helps if you set an intention beforehand so you can sort of direct the new neural pathways.

Let me know if you have any other questions about Ketamine/DID.

Had to stop the ketamine treatments after the first session. My bladder started burning that same day even though it was such a low dose and now three days later it still feels like someone filled it with acid and stripped the lining away.

I feel so stupid because I knew in the back of my head that something like this would probably happen to my chronic pain riddled ass due to my pre-existing interstitial cystitis, but I wanted so badly to be optimistic that I let myself be swayed anyway by the professionals minimizing the likelihood of that side effect even though it's a well documented risk.

Tbh I want to fucking scream and cry right now because feels like every time I try to get help for any of my laundry list of medical problems I just end up getting hurt even worse with nothing to show for it. I'm just so sick of being in pain...

i never really post anything original on here but i've been drawing a lot recently. here's a drawing of rick and morty i did after my first ketamine therapy infusion last week. :)

mostly just posting to have a digital archive to access my art lol. if you want me to draw something from rick and morty send me an ask and i can try to draw it lol.

Ketamine is a drug that has been used as an anesthetic for decades. In recent years, it has been shown to be effective in treating depression. Ketamine can provide rapid relief of depression symptoms, and the effects are sustained with repeated doses.

Explore the world of ketamine treatment for depression with this comprehensive guide. Discover the cost, potential side effects, and what to expect during the treatment process. Ketamine has emerged as a promising alternative for individuals struggling with treatment-resistant depression. Uncover the facts, benefits, and considerations surrounding this innovative therapy.

Gain insights into the effectiveness of ketamine, its potential risks, and how it may provide relief for those seeking an alternative approach to manage their depression. Check out → Ketamine Treatment for Depression: Cost, Side Effects, and What to Expect