Ketamine Effects

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic developed in 1963 to replace PCP and is currently used in human anesthesia and veterinary medicine. Much of the ketamine sold on the street has been diverted from veterinarians' offices. Ketamine effects, chemical structure and mechanism of action are similar to those of PCP.

In clinical medicine, ketamine is administered either intravenously or intramuscularly. For illicit uses, ketamine is prepared by evaporating the liquid from the legitimate pharmaceutical product and pulverizing the residue into a powder. All of the ketamine abused has been obtained from legal sources. Theft of veterinary/pharmacy clinics is the most frequently reported source of illicit ketamine. Ketamine is commonly snorted by abusers. Intra-muscular injection is also a widely used method for abuse.

Ketamine effects vary on how the drug is taken. Intra-muscular injection ketamine often takes 1-5 minutes to take effect. Inhaled ketamine takes a little longer at 5-15 minutes. Based on how much and how recently one has eaten, oral ketamine effects can take between 5 and 30 minutes to set in. The primary effects of ketamine last approximately a 30-45 minutes if injected, 45-60 minutes when snorted, and 1-2 hours if used orally. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that the drug can still affect the body for up to 24 hours.

Ketamine effects blocks chemical messengers in the brain that carry sensory input; the brain fills the resulting void with visions, dreams, or memories. Ketamine effects include visual distortions, lost sense of time, senses, and identity, euphoria, confusion, smells and tastes seem muted, visual perception and sense of touch are amplified, may feel 'floaty' - slightly or far away from your body; numbness in your extremities and k hole (comparatively similar to a near death experience, with the sensation of rising above one's body, inner peace, and radiant light).

The use of ketamine can result in profound physical and mental problems including delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function and potentially fatal respiratory problems. Panic, rage and paranoia may also occur. Some people feel paralyzed by the drug, unable to speak without slurring, while others either feel sick or actually throw up. While using ketamine one is less likely to feel pain and in turn could end up inflicting injury or harm to themselves without even knowing it. In addition, one can be submerged in their hallucinations without realizing that they are hallucinating. Eating or drinking before taking the drug can cause vomiting.

Information regarding long-term ketamine effects is mainly anecdotal. Flashbacks of experiences and hallucinations while under the influence of the drug have been reported. There have also been suggestions that long-term use of ketamine can damage the memory and eyesight of the user, as well as reducing attention span. Frequent use can cause disruptions in consciousness and lead to neuroses or other mental disorders.

A BBC report in May 2000 claimed that medical research had shown that controlled tests on ketamine users had revealed impaired memory and mild schizophrenia several days after taking the drug. Two psychological difficulties which seem to come up for those who use ketamine regularly are paranoia and egocentrism.

There are many reports of regular users starting to see patterns and coincidences (synchronicities) in the world around them which seem to indicate that they are somehow more important or integral to the world than others. This same sense of the world focusing on the user can also feed into a sense of paranoia.

A main characteristic of ketamine effects is a stupor similar to extreme drunkenness. This is commonly known as �??being in the K-hole.�??� This includes increased heart rate, slurred speech, paralyzed feeling, nausea, unable to move, hallucination, numbness, impaired attention, memory and learning ability and delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure, depression and potentially fatal respiratory problems at higher doses.

An overdose of ketamine will knock you out as if in an operating room. If repeatedly taken in large doses, ketamine can induce unconsciousness and failure of the cardiovascular system, leading to death. There are at least seven ketamine related deaths known nationally.