From Wiki:
Ketamine, sold under the brand name Ketalar among others, is a medication mainly used for starting and maintaining anesthesia.[16] It induces a trance-like state while providing pain relief, sedation, and memory loss.[17] Also, ketamine is useful for chronic pain and for sedation in intensive care.[18][19] Heart function, breathing, and airway reflexes generally remain functional during its effects.[17] Effects typically begin within five minutes when given by injection with the main effects lasting up to 25 minutes.[20][16]
Common side effects include psychological reactions as the medication wears off.[21] These reactions may include agitation, confusion, or hallucinations.[16][21][22] Elevated blood pressure and muscle tremors are relatively common, while low blood pressure and a decrease in breathing are less so.[16][22] Spasms of the larynx may rarely occur.[16] Ketamine has been classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist but its mechanisms are not well understood as of 2017.[23]
Ketamine was discovered in 1962, first tested in humans in 1964, and was approved for use in the United States in 1970.[20][24] Shortly after its US approval it was extensively used for surgical anesthesia in the Vietnam War, due to its safety.[24] It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system.[25] It is available as a generic medication.[16] The wholesale cost in the developing world is between US$0.08 and US$0.32 per dose.[26] Ketamine is also used as a recreational drug.[27]
I had a little brush with PTSD that kind of just went away, although it will pop up every couple of years, generally when someone I knew from the Army visits.
I avoid all veterans’ events, Memorial Day, whatever, for this reason. I don’t even like when USAA “thanks me for my service.”
Very strange. Not like normal memories at all. All the details are there.
Not yet cynical, but VERY skeptical.
Cool. One of the CIA’s favorite drugs.
Sold on the street as Special K
We ought to be very cautious
Ketamine is shorter lasting PCP.
As a registered nurse, (though not a nurse anesthetist) you couldn’t pay me enough to administer ketamine in a specialized clinic setting, or a hospital setting, for that matter, for pain management, until far more research has been done. While I don’t doubt patients get a remarkable sense of well-being, it’s those “common side effects”, that worry me. Why don’t they just use LSD, instead? Makes about as much sense. Just the remotest chance that it could be psychologically harmful or dangerous, is enough for me to be leery, though Lord knows we need a substitute for opioids, ASAP, since the government (THANKS, Obama!) has now seen fit to take them away from chronic pain patients, who suffer excruciating pain, without adequate pain medication. I have a relative with chronic pain, and one pain specialist after another has informed her that their hands are tied; the government has threatened to take away their licenses, if they do not cut back opioid prescription dosages to next to nothing. (Our government’s way of “solving” the opioid “crisis”, since they can’t or won’t solve the REAL problem -— illegal opioid trafficking and use. Those “decrease in opioid use” figures are going to be impressive, yes?) Anyway, though I will be thrilled when an adequate, safe, inexpensive alternative to opioid pain medication is discovered (or doctors are again to prescribe for their patients as they see fit), ketamine clinics sound like a recipe for disaster. But I’d love to be proven wrong.
People pour the liquid on a plate, dry it with a hair dryer, and then scrape off the powder/flake.
I know someone who took too much, and slipped into a “K-hole”.
We were never allowed to use Ketamine in the USAF for pilots for fear it might lead to loss of their flying status (dysphoria, hallucinations etc). I never used it without a benzodiazepine given first. Its a great drug for field surgery since it protects the airway and increases respiration as opposed to most anesthetics and doesn’t require a lot of equipment to administer. Like all drugs you have to know what it does good as well as what it does bad. This application seems a bit dodgy but I would want to see some studies.
The zombiefication of America continues.
Yes they do put a band-aid on ‘supposed mental health, and put them on DSI.
My estranged DIL is hooked on XANAX and MMJ, and it only took her 8 months to get DSI. Panic attacks.
We have 24 Veterans committing Suicide daily, up to 300,000 homeless. Shulkin needs firing he is a FAILURE. Nothing has been done to fix the VA situation, you can’t fire those Union Gov workers.