Anyone try Ketamine assisted therapy with PTSD & ADHD?

[Rose White]

Thank you @PlainJane very helpful knowledge.

 

[thetattoolady]

Yes. I have cptsd, Asperger’s, and adhd. It has been helpful. Your state of mind when you go into your treatments and what you listen to while you’re there is really what drives the experience. But it’s the experience you have while you’re there that is supposed to benefit you (although it does, but that’s secondary). The real benefit is the after effects; it helps to restore neuroplasticity which will enable you to be more more and receptive to therapeutic suggestions and what not.

For example, if you ever feel like your brain gets ‘stuck’ (like you can’t see past a certain thing or your brain locks up when it comes to certain things), ketamine treatments might help your brain get unstuck and allow you to start seeing things differently. You do need to do while you’re in regular therapy to process your ptsd though. The experience of actually being under the influence of it was beneficial as well (just because it’s like a forced brain break), uninterrupted deep rest), but won’t do much in terms of healing/processing trauma on its own.

 

[Ecdysis]

I second all of that @thetattoolady . There's another thread about Ketamine treatment here too, where I've added all my experiences with it and described the whole journey in as much detail as possible... Apart from meds like benzos for panic attacks or sleep meds, it's the only psych med that I've ever found even vaguely helpful.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

I am starting a 6 session ketamine treatment tomorrow. I am excited about it. Reports on it for PTSD are all over the place but I figured it couldn’t hurt. I have been fascinated with the therapeutic use of non ordinary states of consciousness since I was a 12 year old runaway in the Haight Asbury during the so called Summer of Love. I use to take acid with my high school teachers, we called those field trips. Anyway, I see no harm and the potential for some good growth. I haven’t done anything like this in decades. I do remember doing ketamine recreationally back in the day, it felt clean, didn’t last as long as many other things I took and I felt fine afterwards. At least it won’t be boring.

 

[Ecdysis]

That's so cool @Lost in the Woods

I hope it goes well!

Are you doing the IV or the nasal spray version?

In a professional setting, they ease you in gently starting with a low dose, so it should be fine.

As @thetattoolady wrote, your state of mind going in is quite important... Always make time for it, avoid unnecessary stress, work out where you are emotionally, view it as a special/ spiritual/ healing experience...

Good luck and will be interested to hear your report...!

 

[thetattoolady]

I second all of that @thetattoolady . There's another thread about Ketamine treatment here too, where I've added all my experiences with it and described the whole journey in as much detail as possible... Apart from meds like benzos for panic attacks or sleep meds, it's the only psych med that I've ever found even vaguely helpful.

I guess I should mention that the benefits for me were subtle. It wasn’t like I’ve read in other places where people magically feel happy after one session of Spravsto. *I didn’t do Spravato, I did sublingual troches (waxy squares that melt). It helped with my compulsive behavior (not being so obsessed with latest special interest), was able to last longer doing productive things like cleaning up, was able to stop living in a constant state of stress thinking I didn’t have enough money. And last but not least, I had my first pleasant dream. EVER. Like I never even realized it, but I had never had a pleasant dream before! So after that, I knew the ketamine had to be changing my brain. *the dream was at home on regular night, not during the session.

 

[thetattoolady]

I am starting a 6 session ketamine treatment tomorrow. I am excited about it. Reports on it for PTSD are all over the place but I figured it couldn’t hurt. I have been fascinated with the therapeutic use of non ordinary states of consciousness since I was a 12 year old runaway in the Haight Asbury during the so called Summer of Love. I use to take acid with my high school teachers, we called those field trips. Anyway, I see no harm and the potential for some good growth. I haven’t done anything like this in decades. I do remember doing ketamine recreationally back in the day, it felt clean, didn’t last as long as many other things I took and I felt fine afterwards. At least it won’t be boring.

Hope all goes and that you see some benefits . Will be looking out for updates .

 

[Lost in the Woods]

That's so cool @Lost in the Woods

I hope it goes well!

Are you doing the IV or the nasal spray version?

In a professional setting, they ease you in gently starting with a low dose, so it should be fine.

As @thetattoolady wrote, your state of mind going in is quite important... Always make time for it, avoid unnecessary stress, work out where you are emotionally, view it as a special/ spiritual/ healing experience...

Good luck and will be interested to hear your report...!

I have had a fair amount of experience with psychedelics and in the late 80s and early 90s I actually worked putting on conferences of psychedelic researchers in various places around the world like Prague, Manaus and several less exotic places. Some of the more famous people involved were Ram Dass, Ralph Metzner, Stan Grof and all the usual suspects. It is a subject that has fascinated me since middle school when I started my own explorations. Anyone who has been around these things understands the enormous possibilities. Since the very early days of psychedelics “Set and Setting” have been understood to be extremely important. Set is the state of the person. I have a pretty good idea what I am getting into, I have experience. I have seen things happen that can’t be explained by our current understanding of reality and I am up for adventure. So I think I am good there. I toured the facility and I found it a bit clinical but acceptable. To me, psychedelics are a sacrament. I have avoided them for decades because it just didn’t seem like things were aligned right. I feel ready now. In my early teens I took acid at some inappropriate settings like the Stones Altamont concert, a Black Sabbath concert (I am not sure why I was even there) and several times at the Filmore one of which I was hospitalized along with 40 other people because a jug of wine was passed around laced with acid that was cut with strychnine. I even have a friend who took acid and went to the dentist, he was kind of strange anyway. My preference is to be in nature.

The drug will be IV in two doses separated by a period of time. The protocol is very similar to the Grof method. When I went for the two initial intake appointments they were very familiar with Stan’s work so I feel very comfortable. A typical Grof session uses 500 mcg dose of LSD, a typical street dose is 100 mcg, the subject is blindfolded the entire time and evocative music carefully selected is played the entire session. The music is selected for each phase of the session, which is remarkably like the birth process, something Stan has written about extensively. The entire time a sitter is present to tend to the needs of the subject. I sat in on a week of sessions conducted in this manner in Ireland back in the 90s.

I think I am ready. I had a boarding school roommate who flipped out on acid and went through a sliding glass door and then was beat up by the ambulance drivers on the way to the hospital (1969 in Reno, they didn’t like hippies). I asked him what went wrong and he told me he no longer knew he took something to be that way. After that conversation, when things got intense, I always reminded myself I took something to be that way and that got me through some strange stuff.

Helen Keller said something like life is an adventure or it is nothing at all. That is how I view these things.

 

[Ecdysis]

Wow, you're a pro

Still go easy tho... Emotions are strange, sometimes we're more vulnerable than we realise... And the subconscious is a very strange beast... When things get personal and get to our core issues, we're all in "beginners mind"

 

[Freemartin]

IV ketamine was a total game changer for me. At last something that helped with the infernal depression I had had every winter for ages. It was like a miracle, really. I know it doesn’t work for all people, but for me? Probs saved my life.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Wow, you're a pro

Still go easy tho... Emotions are strange, sometimes we're more vulnerable than we realise... And the subconscious is a very strange beast... When things get personal and get to our core issues, we're all in "beginners mind"

Thank you, These type of things must always be approached with respect.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Ok, I just got home from the ketamine session. The first shot was to my shoulder. They said they were giving me a larger than normal starting dose since I have experience with non ordinary states of consciousness. The dose was 40 whatever units they use. I believe because it was injected into the muscle as opposed to a vein there was no “am I going to piss my pants” rush like shooting other drugs. It was more of a rising tide. There was an all consuming feeling of pure love. It was all that mattered, the one universal truth. Words seemed like imperfect crystals that could never convey the truth of anything, they never get to the essence of the matter and with their flawed nature only distract from the essence.

There were thoughts about knowing something as being a cheap substitute for being it. This is particularly true when it comes to healing. We all know a lot about the PTSD journey but actually incorporating that into our being is a lot different. If it wasn’t none of us would be talking about shame, guilt, etc. It appears that the task at hand is to incorporate that knowledge, in a non knowledgey way, into our being, to the very core, so that shame, guilt and all that other garbage doesn’t come up. This would be several steps beyond just telling ourselves those feeling are not appropriate given the circumstances. It appears we all do that a lot. What I am talking about is not masking those feelings with booze, drugs, sex, food, little dogs or whatever. I am talking about altering our being so those things don’t come up, getting in front of them. Yes, easier said than done.

As I came down some they came in and gave me a stronger shot, 45 whatevers. The second sent me further out or in, depending on how you look at it. I had no agenda or expectation, just a sense of adventure. I was blindfolded and had headphones on the whole time and the room was dark. Very Grof like approach. For me, the music was like road signs as to where I was at in the journey. I wish it wasn’t like that but I did feel like OK it is time to come down now based upon the musical cues. I did not recognize any of the music which is important but it was all western instruments. The people I know who use the Grof method are really careful about the music. They trade session mixes and a mix is never listened to before a session and it is never used twice on the same subject. It is much more evocative and is generally culturally unfamiliar. I never got that road sign feel cue from music like I did today. I would come to the awareness I was coming down and the music would be appropriate to that state, not telling me I was in that state.

After the session I felt like a perfectly imperfect being. Just like anyone else but comfortable in my own skin. This was the first of six sessions. I suppose they will trust me with a higher dose next time. My gut tells me this is going to be a valuable process and that the repetition will allow lessons to sink into my being. Next session is Friday afternoon.