r/TherapeuticKetamine

My album Desire Path from my band Casts is out today. I wrote the album to guide my Spravato therapy with an upbeat entry point that dives into ambient and contemplative electronic songs. When writing it, I kept coming back to Reddit for opinions on what works for people. Everything flows into each other like one long song so there’s no abrupt transitions. I adjusted it so the cellos and clarinets come through to really feel the resonance during treatment. It’s been helpful for me and I hope it can play a part in your treatment, too.

In the past I listened to the ambient sound, often the sound of the fan in my room to help me relax and I almost always had an huge sound distortion or disconnect. The sound changing was usually my first sign things were kicking in since I either have on a mask or closed eyes. More recently I’ve tried listening to music links folks have posted as well as a friend’s music that is sans lyrics and seemed a bit similar to the playlist tunes - Hologram Teen. Whenever I listen to music I don’t hear the distortion as much, it feels like a very different experience. Is anyone else similar? I’m not sure what the music does to change my experience, but I think I prefer ambient room noise. I’m going to try next with familiar mellow music and see that experience . Music is extremely important to me in general so I’m shocked how I respond to it in this state.

Hey folks- long time member and (I think?) first time poster.

I’ll start with saying that ketamine has completely changed my life, and I’m so grateful.

That said, there are two things happening simultaneously and I’d love thoughts on both.

After 4-5 years of regular infusions, it feels like the relief I get from treatment is starting to plateau. My day to day baseline for depression and intrusive thoughts is MILES above where it used to be, but the relief I get from infusions seems to be less and less as time goes on (I go every 3 months or so now).

Also, while I’ve been an incredibly satisfied customer of NY Ketamine infusion for the past many years, it feels like the quality of care has gone down since Dr. Brooks retired and they moved offices. I used to always be able to speak with the nurse practitioner before my treatments, talk about my dose, and the care was kind, thorough, and attentive.

Before my most recent appointment at the new office, I tried to talk about how I was not feeling relief after infusions, the NP was barely paying attention to me and didn’t seem interested in answering my questions. I’m hesitant to switch providers but it feels like a huge bummer.

Would appreciate any feedback or thoughts on either issue. Thanks all. 🙏

Sorry ahead of time, I have a few questions. I am in process of getting started at a Spravato clinic ( waiting to see if I qualify for the free Spravato) but I am starting to think I might go Mindbloom instead.
But Mindblooms billing has me confused.

So if I buy the 18 sessions, I am clearly going to run out before 9 months and need more. It’s my understanding you do quite a few sessions in the beginning close to each other. So when I run out of those sessions and need more but have 6 months of payments left does it just stack another payment on top of that monthly payment, and when I run out again it just keeps compounding to make your monthly rate super high? Is this accurate? It seems like that would get extremely expensive.

Will Mindbloom start me using SC injections at a high dose if I ask, I don’t want to pay for a dose that is too little and wait for a few sessions for them to get me up to where I need to be. I am well versed in psychedelics/dissociatives.

Has anyone had remission and if so how long until you started feeling better and could space your doses out further?

I’ve head the s-ketamine in Spravato is not as efficient and fast acting as regular Ketamine. Does anyone have any experience with both and which worked better?

I’m in a bad place in life and need something to hopefully work quick and of course would hope for remission if not just maintenance doses spread apart so I don’t go super broke.

At the moment I am leaning towards mindbloom so I can be at home, don’t have to pay the office co-pay plus uber cost to go back and forth. But if the Mindbloom just keeps stacking that might be worse.

I wish you could speak with someone at Mindbloom before buying.

Any information would be helpful!! And appreciated. I need to decide what to do asap and don’t want to make the wrong decision
Thanks

Hope everyone having a good day so far, I just wanted to share recent experience with a provider and maybe help others in need.

Was trying to find a provider for at home nasal spray. Can't imagine going to a dr office for sessions (although iv k in a trap house basement years ago probably wasn't the best setting either)

Hadn't heard of company before but someone posted recently asking about them and I decided to check out. Their site is very health oriented, mainly skincare and anti aging / sexual health stuff that I can't vouch for.

Very easy experience, I filled out questionnaire and paid for the rx and thought it was too easy and a scam at that point. Friday morning I got an email that I needed to set up a telehealth before they'd fill it.

Was given appt for Monday. Super helpful and communicative, I needed to change appt time due to time zone difference and they immediately answered email and accommodated.

Telehealth video call was to the second on time, extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They shipped the following morning and I was given a ups tracking # and it arrived today, 2 days after telehealth appt.

Tldr - daytryp is a legit site, not a scam. They ship very fast after telehealth with dr so process is similar to most. I've had experience with innerwell also and they were absolutely night and day comparison. Hope this helps someone

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a specialized psychedelic-assisted playlist for deep-dive neuro-therapy and expanded-awareness sessions.

This arrangement is heavily inspired by the pioneering frameworks used at the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center. The goal was to create a "nonverbal support system"—something that provides a stabilizing structure without being intrusive.

**The Structure:**

**Stabilizing Entry:** Grounding frequencies to ease into the state.

**Nonverbal Support:** Carefully selected segments to maintain emotional safety.

**Somatic Integration:** Designed to support both dissociative states and deep somatic processing.

I’d love to hear from any practitioners or journeyers if this flow resonates with your experiences.

I do some guided therapy treatments but they start with me basically out of it at the beginning of the treatment. That being said, I focus a lot on a the music and it helps my trip but I’ve tried Jon Hopkins and multiple of the other playlists recommended on this thread but they’re all just too intense for me. The songs I have been able to have a better experience with are Caribbean Blue, Watermark, and Only Time by Enya
And Deep Blue Day by Brian Eno

I know that’s a lot of random information but any suggestions would be much appreciated!!

How much of a difference in either absorption or effects? I have been a little disappointed in the unpredictability of the troches.

Hiii🙂, i got my first ketamin via IV 2 days ago. I have depression, moderate ME/CFS, POTS, ADD, social anxiety and I am VERY analytical.

It was quite intense. I never have taken any drugs, other than alkohol and weed.

Dose was 0,3mg/kg, quite low for my understanding.

I was laying there, not knowing, if it already started. As doctor answered apparently yes.

Suddenly my head was spinning intensly.
"Had it already started", "is this normal".
My throat suddenly felt like I was unable to swallow and breath and if my throat was swelling. Also my left eye was having a glitch, and with some kind of periodically lightnings, it unintentionally blinked and squeezed together.

My body felt like it was in a big swirl and bent. I told myself, to let lose and surrender, like my doctor and reddit adviced. I wasn't able to flow with the swirl, but I wasn't outside of it either. It was like 50:50 dissociated:still in my body.

At some point i got a surge of panic: "is it supposed to be that way", "aaaahhh", "whohaaaa, that is very fast", "should i say the doctor to stop it?". I managed to open my eyes and wittnessed, that the doctor is in the room. "ah, i am still in the room". I think i have taken a few breaths which assured me, that I am somehow okay and will get through this somehow.

The hole time i was thinking, if the experience really has started, or if i making it up and exaggerating. And if it is a good or bad experience and what I will tell the doctor afterward (as i said, I am very analytical and very concerned, what people think of me).
I thought the experience is wild, but not good or bad ... again exactly 50:50. And this for itself is positive.

At some times i was asking myself, if I still have hands and a mouth (because of this post). I was able to try to smile, but was unsure, if it looked strange for my doctor. So i tried to squeeze my fingers together, which was hard, but possible. "ahh, i still am in the room and somehow okay"

This thoughts happened so fast, I almost can't follow and I was very unsure, if I can keep going at this tremendous speed, at it was soooooooooo fast and also like all this strands of thought felt almost simultaniously. It felt, like I almost pass out from the speed.

In the meantime i was very annoyed from the splashing water sounds and bird thirping, as they were distracting.

I kept saying "let lose", "just surrender", "melt away" to myself and tried to get in the swirl, my body was in, and get in this pleasant flowy state, everybody is talking about. But i was 50% in 50% out of it, just in the middle. Still thinking about, if this is a good experience. I was just thinking ... "This is W E E I I R D!!!". And "now i get, what feeling loopy means".

I think my dose was too low, as i was still feeling too much of my body. Although I think for the first session it was good, because i was able to ground myself, by blinking my eyes open and squeezing my fingers. I am not sure, if I wouldn't landed in bad khole land otherwise. But from what i have read, especially this 50:50 state can be unpleasant, as you feel too much of the body, but are not enough dissociated to let loose.

"I am still in it?", "is it over?", "is the doctor still in the room"? I blinked and I saw my doctor is not here, and i could relax a bit and take the eye mask down. That was W E E I I R D! I was glad it was over. My thoughts were still shooting at me, but my body was more calm. I tried to sit up, but failed.

I was very hooked, on the tought, that is was a neutral experience. Not good, not bad. And everything is not good, not bad, but in a good, calm way. It seemed my inner alarm, I have from POTS and anxiety was turned of.

My doctor seemed a little bit stunned, that this dose had this much effect on me. Beforehand he was stating, that it probably will be like a slight rush (i guess alcohol rush).

I was going into the nearby park, and it seemed the "what others think of me"-thoughts also lost there alarmingness. I was still thinking "can i make a selfie", "do they think i am strange or a drug addict, when i put on the hood from my hoody" but the attached feeling of fear wasn't active. Also my higher heart rate from POTS happend without the inner panic.
This missing inner alarm felt MASSIVE for me. Sadly it lasted only a few hours.

Hope this is interesting to anybody.

Was it pleasant? -> no
Was it okay? yes
Was it scary? Somehow, not more than a bad, bad nightmare.
Was ist worth it? I am pretty sure.
But it was VERY intense.

Is it "normal" or just happens sometimes, that everything is happening soooo fast?
It was like sitting in a skyrocket and the exeleration of the start never ended, tied do the feeling, of not even knowing, if the skyrocket even started for real or how long, it will keep going.

edit: in the title "thought speed skyrocketed" would be more suitable

I had one infusion last March, and in combination with the at home nasal spray I have been able to manage CPTSD symptoms better than I ever had. I wish I had the finances to do the full 6, feeling what I felt after 1 I can only imagine the relief 6 would give me.

Ive had the kitchen sink thrown at me the past 6 months, genuinely couldn’t have handled it without the improvements I’ve made but it’s definitely worn me down and feel like a reset is in order.

In about to head into the city for my second ever infusion and am definitely nervous, it’s such an intense experience. but I also have a sense of confidence, knowing I’m way more familiar with the medicine. I also feel like I’m way ahead of where I was to start, last year I was in a dark pit of despair. im very excited to see how it effects me now that my baseline has drastically improved.

i want to thank this community, as it’s been a great resource for me. it’s been therapeutic to see others speak on their journey.

wish me luck, I’ll see you guys on the other side

I came home for 2 weeks to try ketamine treatment. I have put a lot of expectation and hope onto this treatment, as for the last several years whenever I was feeling hopeless about my anxiety or depression I would think of ketamine as my savior. Now I have finished my second infusion, and I feel like such a mess. I have put huge amounts of pressure to maximize the neuroplastic window, and find myself more frustrated and hopeless and down on myself than before. The doctor has recommended that I lower the regularity to one treatment per week to take off the pressure of getting immediate results. Has anyone done this? Any reassuring words would be great. Thank you.

I’ve been in a 3-week acute anxiety episode with somatic anxiety, adrenaline/hyperarousal, insomnia, and catastrophic looping thoughts. My baseline is usually calm, but after certain triggers my nervous system can get stuck in fight-or-flight.

I had a very low-dose ketamine infusion at a pain clinic because proper ketamine mental health clinics were not available where I am. The dose was 50 mcg. During the infusion, the looping thoughts felt even more real: “my life is over,” “I’ll never recover,” “I’ll lose everything,” etc. Anxiety increased, and near the end they gave me a sedative/benzodiazepine.

But afterward something shifted. Later that day and the next morning, I felt almost back to baseline mentally. I still had some somatic anxiety, but it was much more manageable. My mind felt “rebooted,” the loops stopped, and I had insight into how those catastrophic beliefs were feeding the alarm.

The relief lasted about 24 hours, then anxiety started creeping back.

Etifoxine/Stresam isn’t helping much. Propranolol only slightly helps the body symptoms. Nothing has worked like the window after ketamine.

I’m now wondering whether it makes sense to go back to Europe for a proper ketamine clinic/protocol, with my mother there for support, instead of doing random low-dose infusions in a pain clinic.

Has anyone had a difficult first session but strong afterglow/clarity afterward? Did a full course make the relief last longer or help you return to baseline?

I had gone through an in-clinic IV ketamine therapy program that was in the middle of a complete staff and management turnover several months after I started. I was never informed about the changes — I just walked in one day and everything and everyone was different.

After that experience, I spent hours researching at-home ketamine treatment and finally found a clinic that felt like exactly what I had been looking for. For the first time in a long time, I started to feel hopeful again. My depression was improving, I felt genuinely happy and excited to begin treatment. After years of emotional blunting from trying antidepressants for nearly 30 years, those feelings meant everything to me.

Somehow, during the process, I missed the requirement that you must have a sitter present during sessions. I’m single, extremely private, independent, don’t have family nearby, and honestly don’t socialize much outside of work.

Has anyone else run into this situation? If so, how did you handle it? Are there other options around needed sitters?

When I found out, I immediately felt discouraged. It honestly hit me like a ton of bricks emotionally. After the conversation with the clinic, I just felt defeated and wanted to give up entirely.

Trying to advocate for yourself, coordinate treatment, research options, and constantly fight for your own mental health is emotionally and physically exhausting. I’m just plain tired.

Hello! I’m going to preface this with saying I apologize if this comes off as insensitive in any way at all, I’m asking out of genuine curiosity and slight concern. My boyfriend is starting ketamine therapy next week for treatment resistant depression and anxiety. The thing is, I just found out a few days ago that I am pregnant. We haven’t told anyone yet and don’t plan to for a little while. I won’t be able to be present at any appointment but the first one. His mom will be there for the others. How likely is it that he could spill the beans about it to his mom during his treatment or on the way home? I don’t know how it works completely, and I can’t get a straightforward answer by googling it. I figured I’d ask you all who have a lot of experience and could tell me about your mental state during/after and if it’s possible to let a secret out. Thanks for any insight!

hey all.
Just curious as my saliva amount has changed recently with meds for other health issues.
how long does it take for your troches to fully dissolve?

So I recently signed up with joyous. A little background, I don’t have depression, but I have adhd (inattentive) and panic disorder. I can’t even smoke weed without having a panic attack. Any time I feel strange, I instantly release adrenaline and freak out. There was one time someone gave me a gummy that was supposedly an edible and I had an attack. Once I realized it was just a plain candy it subsided.

What I want to get out of microdosing is to quiet my mind. I have a narration running in my brain 24/7. Especially at night. It never quiets and I can’t focus. But I’m afraid that if I feel any type of disassociation I’ll freak. Idk if it’s is relevant but my sister passed away from an OD just a few years ago so drugs scare me.

Can anyone with a similar disorder tell me how it made you feel? Any tips for going into it with a clear mind? I’ve heard many ppl feel nothing at first so that’s reassuring. Also, is it best to take at day or night?

This is really more of a participant question than a provider question.

I have a 30s male relative who likely has PTSD from childhood malnutrition and orphanage trauma, now has anger management issues. I have heard K can often immediately relieve PTSD symptoms, and think he should try it.

Looking for someone, ideally in the LA area, who could potentially "testify" - tell him how dramatically K helped you, and answer his questions so he could potentially decide to do it.

Thank you!

I’ve been seeing a pain doctor for a few years who does a unique treatment in office. During a session you have an injection of ketamine, versed and in my case benadryl due to nausea and are sedated for a few minutes while he works his magic. On occasion I have apparently screamed out and said things and the doctor has asked me if I have a therapist a few times. I occasionally remember screaming, but usually when the dosage is off for a larger muscle or it just didn’t hit me the right way, but have no idea what I could possible be saying that has made him ask about therapy. I have asked but he hasn’t shared. I’ve thought about starting to audio record sessions to hear what I’m experiencing.

Due to this I’m going to try KAP with troches. Is it likely I will reach this same place that I have when I’m completely under? What kind of dosage would I need (I’m female 135lbs)? I appreciate that there will be someone in the room with me who can share what I’m saying and experiencing and hopefully help me make a breakthrough, though I’m anxious that this wouldn’t lead me to the same place that I apparently need to connect with and heal.

Good idea or no?

Also what do you guys do in the 48 hours after? Thank you!

Hi, my clinic is offering 9 sessions for my extreme anxiety (can barely leave the house). After session 5 I had a complete remission. I’ve never felt better. After 2 days I fell right back to where I was. Session 6 was really dark and kept me an anxious wreck. I think I need more than 9 sessions but that’s the most they offer. How many have you had? Should I look to continue at another clinic?