Hi. I have had ketamine treatments at a few different types of clinics. My state does not require Dr. referral currently. I have had one clinic require referral as part of their best practices, and one clinic not.
I have suffered from major depressive disorder since adolescence (I'm 40+ now) I've taken every med remotely used to treat depression under the sun and have been deemed "treatment resistant" I have been admitted 3 times to psych in the last 15 yrs. Guess what? It sucks. I've had ECT and didn't like the large chunk of memory I lost as a side effect. My last episode resulted in effected speech (it sounded like I had a stroke) and ultra slow moments. This really gave me cause for alarm! I thought I would never talk normally again! So I decided to try ketamine.
1. All my Drs said not to do it, but had no good reason. 2. My therapist was like meh whatever. I researched it quite a bit. Like you, the cost really made me pause. I was desperate so I actually asked my parents for the money. (very hard for adult me to do) there were 2 clinics in my area. One was $600+ per treatment, with 6 sessions recommended. They did have a mental health care professional with you before during after. They required a physician referral.
The clinic I ended up going to was half the price. It was a med-spa. It was clean and basic. They asked me if I knew anything about ketamine and I said I researched it. The anesthesiologists was like, cool! And that was it! Um. OK.
So, in all it really worked for me. I would say it was super successful. My family was amazed by the change. I'm still on my regular anti depressants, but I actually had to learn how to live with this weird new sensation called happiness or something?
But! I could see this going south for someone who didn't know what to expect. I had some experience with lsd, mushrooms etc years ago so I didn't freak out, but woah I was not expecting how nuts my visuals were. The Dr at this clinic was no help there and had zero interest other did I feel OK after! This was fine with me since I've been poked and prodded my whole life, but man it would not be great for many people. I can definitely see the value in paying extra for the psych element.
On the other hand, like you, I'm like shit! I could get this Illegally for pennies on the dollar?!!? Wtf am I feeling low borrowing money so I can line the pockets of this rando anesthesiologists? Someone on this thread said dark web. Lol I'm almost 50 mentally ill and can barely figure out snapchat. I doubt I'll be getting my own ketamine from the dark web! Get real.
One other note. I call bull on the nasal spray. 1. They can't control the dose every well. 2. If you're having a tough time they can cut the drip off! The nasal spray is all at once. You have to wait if out. 3. I hate liquid up my nose! I'd choose IV drip every time
