First recreational ketamine experience - what did I do right/wrong?

[JohnBoy2000]

I had ketamine before for surgery - and when I woke up, I was "dissociated".

Then it wore off, and that was fine (they also shot me up with opioids regularly after - which was mighty fine).

Currently, I'm awaiting a surgical procedure, and am basically out of work and everything else, until it gets done.
That is to say, lots of free time.

I had intended to spend at least a few hours of every day getting baked on ketamine.

So I acquired a quantity of the drug, highly potent, highly reliable source.

Wanted to do it the right way, so I dissolved it in sterile water, loaded it up into a needle, and IM'd it.
It was about 40 mg - but reputed to be super pure.

5 minutes in, and I'm phasing out of reality.

I was a little freaked out, honestly, caused I suddenly realized how helpless I was.
Basically anesthetized.

If the fire alarm went off, if someone called to the door - hell, even if my phone rang - I was gonna have limited capacity to adequately respond.

And if I did respond?
Anyone would almost certainly perceive my subsequent behavior as highly undignified.


What I will say is - some nice introspection.
Depersonalization, I think might quantify the feeling.
Free from your normal emotional state - somewhat.

On the negative side - despite the anesthetic feeling, I felt really cold, and had to crawl under my bed sheets.

I also played some trance music in the background - which definitely eased the panic'y feeling of no control.
In fact, that music is so suitable for the feeling of being on ketamine that, I must suspect some of the musical artists actually compose the songs, whilst on ketamine - or some kind of drug, possibly?
It basically feels like a ketamine experience encapsulated in musical notes.

Anyways;

After an hour or so it wore off, and I felt basically fatigued for the rest of the day.


So - what's the consensus?

Did I do too much?

Is that experience par for the course?

And can someone please explain - how could this ever be used in a social environment?
It basically turns one into a zombie.
I can't imagine ever trying to dance in a crowd of people on this drug....

 

[JohnBoy2000]

Also - I could never imagine what it feels to do up two twice the amount I did.

Which I believe is known as the "k-hole" dose.

WTF?

K-hole?

Does that basically mean, brain dead?

 

[Hodor]

Ketamine is a *very* short-lasting drug. Which is actually a good thing for its intended medical purpose, as you can have someone completely knocked out during surgery, then have them fully conscious and mostly coherent just two hours later (as opposed to its predecessor, PCP, which was quickly abandoned by anaesthesiologists because patients would have to spend several hours in a state of heavy dissociation as they were recovering from their surgery).

In general, recreational ketamine use involves frequently re-dosing small amounts by insufflation, and it has been compared to cocaine in that regard.

K-hole?

Does that basically mean, brain dead?

The k-hole is reached at sub-anaesthetic dosages, where your thought processes are scrambled to the point where you are still conscious, but you are effectively unable to interact with your surroundings, which you're barely even able to perceive anyway because your sensory inputs are extremely distorted, and everything feels completely unreal. In this state, you might experience strange new thoughts and sensations, like hallucinations and out-of-body experiences, as well as general derealization/depersonalization.

Take the dose any higher, and you'll just lose consciousness and the ability to feel anything altogether - in other words, you've successfully achieved general anaesthesia (except without a major risk of respiratory depression like with other anaesthetics).

 

[Vastness]

Can't comment on dosage as IM isn't my thing but definitely ketamine is a drug that is gonna limit your capacity to respond to emergency situations as you described, so if this is a feeling that makes you uncomfortable then higher doses might not be for you. Although I'd say you could at least plan not to answer the door or answer the phone while dissociated, assuming you're not expecting anyone or anything important... personally I only really use in the late evening or on days where I know that it's very unlikely anything is going to happen that I'd need to deal with, otherwise I can imagine feeling a bit concerned by this also. But dissociation is definitely not a state that is desirable to everyone.

When using ketamine socially, people tend to use much lower doses than when trying to hole, or just seeking a heavier dissociation that is generally better experienced alone (or at least, in the company of others not expecting much interaction from you for the duration). In lower doses the effects are quite different, lightly stimulating even, and you should still be quite capable of normal functioning as long as you don't overshoot.

 

[Phobos]

Dude if you are naive to dissociative drugs and that Ket was legit, 40mg IM is a brutal dose!
And paradoxically a heavy dose that does not lead to a K-hole is potentially more scary than a K-hole as you can realize how incapacitated you are, and how almost all of the world around you seems almost impossible to understand, and you struggle with the most trivial and basic tasks such as focusing your eyes and reading or walking up to a door and opening it, let alone attempt to hide your intoxication while on the phone with someone you know.
In the hole instead, perceiving the outside world in any form is no more an option, and you will forget the notion that it exists around your body, in fact you will also forget you possess a body.
There is only you, with your imagination making up shit to provide sensorial stimuli to replace your senses that are now cut off from your conscience.

 

[JohnBoy2000]

Dude if you are naive to dissociative drugs and that Ket was legit, 40mg IM is a brutal dose!
And paradoxically a heavy dose that does not lead to a K-hole is potentially more scary than a K-hole as you can realize how incapacitated you are, and how almost all of the world around you seems almost impossible to understand, and you struggle with the most trivial and basic tasks such as focusing your eyes and reading or walking up to a door and opening it, let alone attempt to hide your intoxication while on the phone with someone you know.
In the hole instead, perceiving the outside world in any form is no more an option, and you will forget the notion that it exists around your body, in fact you will also forget you possess a body.
There is only you, with your imagination making up shit to provide sensorial stimuli to replace your senses that are now cut off from your conscience.

40 mg, yeah - I researched in erowid and it basically told me that was a low to medium dose but, apparently this ket is 99% pure, which sounded initially to me like some kind of a standard marketing tactic but, now I absolutely believe it.

What you describe, struggling to focusing the eyes - it kind of felt like I was in the twilight zone, the door to my bedroom being some paradoxical distant imagining.

I did manage to put some music on to sooth the mild panic thankfully.

This one time before I accidentally ate about half a block of hashish boiled down in oil, and went into psychosis - I had to call a doctor - I was just thankful I managed to remain calm enough on my recent ket experience, such as not to repeat this.


Anyways - I think the point here is, in some ways, introspection wise etc - it was pleasant, and I would like to take advantage of what dissociation can potentially offer; that experience makes me want to never try it again but - I mean, I'm open to suggestion.

IM'ing or not IM'ing?
What a reasonable dose would be?
And correct ROA?
Perhaps what typical club go'ers would use?

K-hole sounds interesting - but I'm guessing I probably need to work up to that.

I keep thinking it must be something like what this video conveys - seems as apparently, that actual song was written about k-holing;




Just out of curiosity - I've had some pleasant feeling taking pharmaceutical ritalin previously; I'm curious as to how Speed would compare to Ketamine, for recreational purposes, in a nightclub environment by example?
Apples and Oranges?

 

[JohnBoy2000]

Take the dose any higher, and you'll just lose consciousness and the ability to feel anything altogether - in other words, you've successfully achieved general anaesthesia (except without a major risk of respiratory depression like with other anaesthetics).

Just on this also - don't they use other drugs in GA, in addition to ketamine?

Surely it's not ketamine by itself?

 

[Xorkoth]

Sometimes they do, it depends on the situation. Sometimes there's no ketamine at all. Propofol is used a lot of the time, or a combination of propofol and ketamine. But pure ketamine can and is used, too. The dose for anesthesia is much higher than it is for recreational use, in the hundreds of milligrams (like 400 maybe? I can't remember exactly) and it puts you out like a light and disconnects you from your body and the sensations of your body completely. Ketamine is very safe and effective as an agent of anesthesia, with overdose not being possible for many, many times the medical dosage. It's the safest known anesthesia agent, I believe, for example, propofol can easily kill you if it's dosed much higher over the anesthesia dosage. Ketamine can get pretty weird for a minute on re-entry but it's used IV in anesthesia so it hits you basically all at once like a train, and also wears off very quickly when it's over. I had ketamine for anesthesia at age 15 before I tried any other drugs, they told me to count backwards from 100 and I made it to 98. Then after a while I thought I was in a gray vortex and doctors were passing me down the vortex, one by one, rhythmically. I could feel my body sliding. Then I opened my eyes and was nauseous for a while but didn't have any more crazy sensations.

 

[nznity]

I had ketamine before for surgery - and when I woke up, I was "dissociated".

Then it wore off, and that was fine (they also shot me up with opioids regularly after - which was mighty fine).

Currently, I'm awaiting a surgical procedure, and am basically out of work and everything else, until it gets done.
That is to say, lots of free time.

I had intended to spend at least a few hours of every day getting baked on ketamine.

So I acquired a quantity of the drug, highly potent, highly reliable source.

Wanted to do it the right way, so I dissolved it in sterile water, loaded it up into a needle, and IM'd it.
It was about 40 mg - but reputed to be super pure.

5 minutes in, and I'm phasing out of reality.

I was a little freaked out, honestly, caused I suddenly realized how helpless I was.
Basically anesthetized.

If the fire alarm went off, if someone called to the door - hell, even if my phone rang - I was gonna have limited capacity to adequately respond.

And if I did respond?
Anyone would almost certainly perceive my subsequent behavior as highly undignified.


What I will say is - some nice introspection.
Depersonalization, I think might quantify the feeling.
Free from your normal emotional state - somewhat.

On the negative side - despite the anesthetic feeling, I felt really cold, and had to crawl under my bed sheets.

I also played some trance music in the background - which definitely eased the panic'y feeling of no control.
In fact, that music is so suitable for the feeling of being on ketamine that, I must suspect some of the musical artists actually compose the songs, whilst on ketamine - or some kind of drug, possibly?
It basically feels like a ketamine experience encapsulated in musical notes.

Anyways;

After an hour or so it wore off, and I felt basically fatigued for the rest of the day.


So - what's the consensus?

Did I do too much?

Is that experience par for the course?

And can someone please explain - how could this ever be used in a social environment?
It basically turns one into a zombie.
I can't imagine ever trying to dance in a crowd of people on this drug....

To be honest man, ketamine is a highly overrated drug for me. I don't think it is euphoric at all, it feels weird, tastes weird and it just knocks the fuck out of you. And that dose around 50mg is just standard dose, I've met ppl who like it but idk I tried it so many times, pure pharma vials, IM, IV and it is always the same every time I dose, I regret taking it. Another thing Is that in excess ketamine is nephrotoxic so its a nono for me. the kidneys are very important organs and I don't wanna fuck em up for an stupid high. Stay safe NZN

 

[Hodor]

Just on this also - don't they use other drugs in GA, in addition to ketamine?

Surely it's not ketamine by itself?

No, you can absolutely use ketamine by itself to induce GA, although it is sometimes combined with other pharmaceuticals, depending on the situation.

As I said, the main advantage of ketamine is that it doesn't depress breathing (or circulation in general), which makes it an ideal choice in situations where reliable mechanical ventilation may not be available (ex.: military field hospitals or 3rd world countries), or the patient has trouble breathing to begin with (ex.: obstructive airway conditions or asthma).

In most cases, doctors will still prefer to use more sedating anaesthetics (e.g. propofol, halogenated ethers or fentanyl and its analogues) over ketamine though, due to the (relatively minor) risk of having the patient freak out from the drug's psychotropic effect while regaining consciousness.