Help Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

[HighFlight]

My therapist has recommended using Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy to help break through my treatment-resistant depression. I'm actually excited to try, although I still need the official prescription and a sign-off from my cardiologist (minor heart condition). If all goes well, I should get that later this week. However, as things get closer, I have become scared that I might say something while under the influence of the Ketamine that I would prefer not to tell my therapist yet.

Is this a real concern, or am I able to maintain some level of control?

 

[trustissues]

ketamine assisted psychotherapy is a procedure controlled and supervised by medical professions! the ketamine they administer will definitely make you high lol but the high is more like relaxation and euphoric. you might feel a little dissociative and disconnect with your emotions but you will still most definitely have full control over your words and actions :) don't stress yourself too much over it

 

[HighFlight]

don't stress yourself too much over it

Thank you!

 

[nerve]

i did it for about a year. wasn't effective for me, but since then we've been looking into other diagnoses and medications under the reasoning that depression might not actually be my "core" neurological issue.

i was specifically taking spravato/esketamine, which is a slightly altered version of regular ketamine and has most of the same effects. i felt loopy for a little while but by the time the session was over (they were 2 hours), it had mostly/entirely worn off. there was some nausea and if i ate beforehand, id throw up, but that only happened like 3 times. i had some short-term memory issues too that faded a few months after i stopped the treatments.

i hung out in a quiet room listening to music and writing most of the time. someone would come in half way through to check my blood pressure, but outside of that I was left alone with the number to the front desk in case i needed help.

if your therapy session isn't the same time as or right after your ketamine session, you won't really be under the influence while meeting with them.

almost anything is worth a shot when things get treatment-resistant. best of luck out there

 

[suicidalloser]

Do they pay me for my time?

 

[HighFlight]

From what my therapist tells me, I will pick up a ketamine sublingual tablet (?) from the pharmacy and bring it to the session. I'll take the ketamine in her presence, and then have a therapy session. She describes it as "10-years of therapy in one session." She plans on the whole thing taking about 3 hours, including time for the Ketamine to wear off, and she'll be in the room with me the whole time. What she explained is different than what I've read online about IV-treatment centers, where you are given the ketamine and the pretty much left alone for a couple hours, aside from the medical check-ups.

The potential for increased blood pressure is the one potential blocker. Even though the cardiologist says that it's not a problem, what he wrote in his notes is that it should be fine "provided blood pressure is monitored throughout the session". The therapist will take my BP at the beginning, but has no intention of monitoring it during the session. So the prescribing doctor needs to determine if the benefits outweigh the risks, and none of them seem to care what I think about it.

But having a therapy session while under the influence is what has me a little nervous.