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Ketamine psychedelic therapy for alcoholism

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nintey

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So I have read reports of successful use of IM ketamine in the treatment of alcoholism. My mother is a long time alcoholic and having used psychedelics in the past I understand how much a strong trip can bring to light everything that you have been doing wrong in your life.

I was wondering if some people might be able to offer some insight into this plan for me. I plan to use a single 100mg IM dose and hope for the best. I guess my question is does ketamine provide some of that interspective afterglow like lsd and mushrooms? WHile dealing drugs I took mushrooms once and when I came down I felt like quitting all drugs and giving up the lifestyle. I understand this type of therapy needs to be combined with other things like positive support and and some change in environment but I believe it could be a good jump start.

Honestly there is more literature and information that supports lsd for this type of treatment, but due to the shorter length of the experience and also the fact that ketamine has more of an incapasatating effect, I would prefer to use ketamine because there is less chance for a "freak out" experience with my 60 year old mother

Any and all constructive comments are welcome.
 
I find ketamine has zero introspection.
I use it to either feel good and wobble around my day or to completely escape reality down a hole.
It gives you euphoria for sure, but I find it clouds your brain and cognitive functions too much to provide any useful introspection

EDIT: also your mom is down to let you put a needle of ketamine in her?
Daaaaamn that's cool as shit

EDIT #2: As well it should be noted that she obviously has an addictive personality, so perhaps introducing her to illegal substances, let alone one which is notorious for causing renal damage isn't the best idea seeing as she already is an alcoholic, her kidneys are probably not working at their best
 
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Thanks for the reply and as far as ketamine addiction goes I am not so worried about that, I think she might have a pretty difficult time trying to source ketamine lol, but I do appreciate your concern.
 
Also my mom's willingness to let me use a psychedelic drug on her is not so much out of her being cool but rather of desperation from her years of alcoholism.
 
100 mg seems a little heavy for a psychedelic naive person. I think it might help for a little while, but to stay sober it helps to have a support system in place. Alcoholism isn't "cured" with a shot. Although lots of people have tried.
 
You can view my ketamine therapy experience here, along with some research discussion.

Alcohol has a deleterious effect on memory, which is thought to be linked to the NMDA system. I don't think ketamine can restore the GABA system, and it can't offset the effects of alcohol withdrawl, but it could help repair some synapse damage in the pre-frontal cortex.

100mg ketamine is way, way too much. To access the therapeutic qualities of ketamine, you would have to do an ultra-low dose regimen involving 12mg (max) of ketamine per dose. Since there is no official recommended dosing schedule out there for ketamine therapy, it has to be rather trial and error for each individual. However, my write up and jamshyd's should provide some insight.

And of course, mixing alcohol and ketamine is a no no. You can't mix the ketamine with ANYTHING else for this therapy either, otherwise it will change the nature of the drug's interaction, or potentiate it to non-therapeutic levels.
 
If your mother is an alcoholic she does not need Ketamine or other drugs since this will just be a substitute addiction. She also could have damage to her liver or other organs from alcohol so don't give her ANY Ketamine or other drugs, and if she's an alcoholic and actively drinking or drinking daily combining K and alcohol is dangerous.

If your mother is serious about getting sober have her go to a rehab/detox center that's run by medical professionals, and don't DIY with Ketamine or other drugs.
 
Since there seems to be alot of concern about my mother substituting addictions let me make it very clear that my mother has no access to any drugs at all let alone ketamine. The reason I initially thought of this was after reading this abstract which you all are most likely not familiar with.

Ketamine psychedelic therapy (KPT): a review of the results of ten years of research.
Krupitsky EM, Grinenko AY.
Source
Research Laboratory, Leningrad Regional Center for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Therapy, Russia.
Abstract
Ketamine is a prescription drug used for general anesthesia. In subanesthetic doses, it induces profound psychedelic experiences and hallucinations. The subanesthetic effect of ketamine was the hypothesized therapeutic mechanism in the authors' use of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for alcoholism. The results of a controlled clinical trial demonstrated a considerable increase in efficacy of the authors' standard alcoholism treatment when supplemented by ketamine psychedelic therapy (KPT). Total abstinence for more than one year was observed in 73 out of 111 (65.8%) alcoholic patients in the KPT group, compared to 24% (24 out of 100 patients) of the conventional treatment control group (p < 0.01). The authors' studies of the underlying psychological mechanisms of KPT have indicated that ketamine-assisted psychedelic therapy of alcoholic patients induces a harmonization of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) personality profile, positive transformation of nonverbalized (mostly unconscious) self-concept and emotional attitudes to various aspects of self and other people, positive changes in life values and purposes, important insights into the meaning of life and an increase in the level of spiritual development. Most importantly, these psychological changes were shown to favor a sober lifestyle. The data from biochemical investigations showed that pharmacological action of KPT affects both monoaminergic and opioidergic neurotransmitter metabolism, i.e., those neurochemical systems which are involved in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence. The data from EEG computer-assisted analysis demonstrated that ketamine increases theta activity in cerebrocortical regions of alcoholic patients. This is evidence of the reinforcement of limbic cortex interaction during KPT session.
PMID: 9250944 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Also this link explains the methodology of the people who did the experiments ( www.heffter.org/docs/hrireview/01/chapter8.pdf‎ )

I am not saying that ketamine is the answer I was just asking what some peoples thoughts were on the subject. Saying that she is going to switch addictions is not helpful because that is not a realistic possibility. Also saying she needs real help like a rehab, while an obvious first choice does not really apply here because she has been to several and is getting old and losing her will to fight this. I am looking for something, a "magic spark" if you will, to help her gain the desire and momentum to start to pursue sobriety and once she has that help her with setting structure with things like A.A or other programs.

Psychedelics may not be the answer and they are certainly not the most conventional or easy to use, but if I though there was a chance that it could be the thing that might help her and give me a few more years of my mom being alive instead of watching her drink her self to death, than I feel that it somehow could be worth the possibility.

Also I will mention that I am not limiting my options to ketamine exclusively, although I liked the idea that the trip was short and less likely to produce a freak out. I am also considering mushrooms( 4-aco-dmt) to be exact and possibly something else.

While desperate times do call for desperate measures, I am not trying to throw any chemical at my mom and hope that it fixes her, nor am I thinking that the chemical alone will do all the work, I am just hoping that somehow it could be the catalyst for change. Thank you for your honest reply's and do let me know if you have any other thoughts
 
No, I do not think ketamine has any therapeutic potential in this area in the same way that classical psychedelics do. Ketamine is far more of a hedonistic drug than it is a learning experience.
 
Don't underestimate it, people have certainly had incredibly transforming experiences with ketamine. However a good question would be if this can be induced and if so, how.

I just came extremely close to moving this over to TDS for you because it obviously of a relevant nature but also because a lot of recreational ketamine users are bound to post here and the fact that they didn't necessarily use it one isolated time during a personal crisis matters a lot to how they see the drug and it's potential.
So I ask of everyone that you don't project your own experiences as something that is equal to the drug's potential. That serotonergic psychedelics seem to set in motion such a therapeutic process does not mean that ketamine cannot. At the same time it might be so that if ketamine fails to succeed you might have to resort to psychedelics after all. LSD, Ayahuasca and iboga are of course other substances associated with treatment of addiction. A case could be argued for mushrooms or 4-AcO-DMT but for some reason these would not be options I'd consider.

Normally cross-posting is not allowed let alone suggested, but I do think that you would be wise to create a thread in TDS to ask for support regarding this matter. However the approach there will be different so the OP should be different. We are bound to discuss the quality of a ketamine experience much more here while the focus in TDS ought to be the general fact that you are considering "psychedelic/dissociative therapy" for a person close to you who is in a crisis.

For everyone in doubt about ketamine, you should read "Ketamine: dreams and realities" by Dr Karl Jansen. I'm pretty sure it has a chapter about the transformational potential of ketamine.

You might also want to give "Spiritual Emergency" by S. Grof a read to prepare yourself for the typical stages of processing such a fundamental crisis regarding lifestyle or even existence.

Also are you aware that concurrent administration of ketamine with alcohol typically results in a pukefest? Try to have her cut back to a maintenance alcohol dose only.
I fear that dizziness and confusion might end up being too much to get anything else from the experience. :\

In any case good luck!
 
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