It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my ketamine infusions. My dose of ketamine is high enough now that, combined with the rather sedating anti-nausea medications, I don’t tend to remember much. I have still been getting infusions, though, and I hope that despite the lack of fantastical details, my experience can still be informative.

A Recent Ketamine Infusion

My most recent ketamine infusion was a slightly lower dose than it has been lately. I requested it because the upper limit of what we’ve tried makes me feel like my insides are getting too big for my skin. It creates an unpleasant feeling of high pressure that suggests an impending explosion. We’ll all just be sitting there, listening to the beeps and whirring sounds of the equipment around us, and then BAM – insides suddenly outside. I don’t think there’s a pre-infusion form for that.

The slightly lower dose, while still intense, was much more comfortable. I’ve noticed that, for me, the most prominent experience with higher doses tends to be the physical disorientation. I’m very preoccupied with whether I’m upside down or right side up, whether my eyes are open or closed, or whether I’m still in possession of any of my limbs. The about-to-explode sensation starts out something like how having restless legs feels, which is interesting because sometimes it’s difficult to sleep when I go home. I lie down and feel like I have restless… body. It’s like my muscles are on an automatic movement setting, and holding them still is deeply uncomfortable.

Ketamine’s Dissociative Qualities

In general, at higher doses of ketamine it feels like I leave my body behind but am periodically compelled to figure out where it is. I find myself much less aware of what’s happening, and because it’s hard for me to just let go, that confusion is somewhat uncomfortable. I’ll get all immersed in some spinning whirlpool in my mind and then realize that I have no idea what’s going on, what time it is, or where I am. I used to be able to move in and out of my ketamine dreams and the real world with relative ease. I could pull myself out of it and remember in an instant what was happening. At higher doses, the information is there, but it’s slow to come to me and I have to sort of fight my way over to it in order to remember where I am.

This is where the preoccupation with my physical location comes in. When I’m unsure of what’s happening, it seems prudent to first sort out whether I’m as backwards and upside down as I feel. There is, however, no way to verify that when you’re still under the influence of ketamine. So I just keep trying to reality test my experience with no satisfying answer. “I think my eyes are open. They feel open, but something tells me they’re not. Wait. What am I looking at? Is this what I would be seeing if my eyes were open? I don’t remember. Where am I?” It’s like I know where I am and that there’s nothing to worry about, but the answer is just barely out of reach and I’m slogging through knee-deep molasses to get there. It’s also interesting to note that my ability to think in words in my mind is significantly reduced at higher doses of ketamine. I might think the words, “Where am I?” in my head, but the rest of it is more a kind of conceptual thought that is hard to explain.

In comparison, lower doses were more visually trippy. I used to watch entire scenes play out like dreams – sometimes nonsensical, sometimes a little disturbing in hindsight, but often beautiful and occasionally profound. Things feel much more disconnected at higher doses. There are images, but I don’t remember much of it being distinct, fully-formed scenes or plots. Some of that seems to be connected to the type of music I listen to; I used to choose slow, gentle, classical music, something with a beginning, middle, and end that lends itself to creating cohesive images. But even that has become too intense with higher doses, so I tend to go with something even more chill, now – meditation music, usually. As far as I can tell, my visual experience these days is more about slowly shifting, spinning, zooming shapes and colors punctuated by bizarrely realistic images of mundane life.

Ketamine Feels Less Novel with More Experience

I suspect that although part of why I don’t remember as much of my ketamine infusions these days is the higher dose, part of it is that I’m more comfortable with it and am paying less attention to my experience. I used to have moments of clarity in my earlier infusions when I’d think to myself, “That was SO weird. I have to remember to tell someone about that.” And then I’d come up with a couple of words to describe the scene (which often became the titles of blog posts in The Ketamine Chronicles) and repeat them a few times in my mind so that I would remember whatever it was whenever I regained sensible thought.

Now, I find myself so apathetic that although I might notice when something really bizarre happens in my mind, exerting the effort to remember it just seems impossible. Instead, I just float along through my ketamine infusions, seemingly going both forwards and backwards in time, and arriving back in the room with half-materialized body parts and very little recollection of what I saw. I’m also less “with it” when we leave the office, which makes it challenging to hold the fading memories of what I saw during the ketamine infusion while also trying to walk to the car.

Is It Still Working?

All in all, ketamine infusions still help my depression, even if I don’t remember as much of them. The value comes from the alterations that ketamine facilitates in the brain. I haven’t been experiencing the sudden improvement on the second day after an infusion that I used to, but I do feel a decline in my mood in the same time frame as always. I’m slightly uneasy about the possibility that that might be the power of suggestion; do I start to feel worse because I’m expecting to? It definitely feels different when it seems like the ketamine is wearing off. Like something changes in my brain and I’m less able to pull myself out of those negative mood states we all have, I lose motivation, and I start sleeping more. I’m still wary of my interpretation of that, but I’m really not sure how to determine what the real cause is. It seems like the improvement from a ketamine infusion is more subtle than it used to be. I’m not sure why that is, although it could be because some of my current problems are less biochemical and more unavoidable life stressors. With the addition of Emsam, I do think that my mood has been more stable, which makes the wearing off of ketamine feel a little less abrupt.

So, that’s everything I can think of to share in this post. Sometimes, it seems less entertaining to write about when I don’t have bizarre tales of fish weddings and oceans of corn to share. Nevertheless, it’s always interesting to compare infusions and ponder the factors that make each one different. As always, if you have any questions about what it’s like to get a ketamine infusion, want to share your own experience, or anything else, feel free to leave a comment!