JB is a 27 yr old male patient of mine who had a deep and insightful experience with ketamine. I invited him to share this with our readers
My First Ketamine Experience
I’m writing this excerpt on my experience with my first ketamine infusion therapy treatment in hopes of helping someone else out there that may find my background to resonate with them. For those of you that are reading this, you likely share some similar life challenges that I’ve endured. To give you a brief summary, I was diagnosed with a very misunderstood “autoimmune disease” before my Sophomore year of college which likely triggered my diagnosed adult ADD, depression, anxiety, and poor coping mechanisms by using narcotics to escape. Treatment lasted a year and a half for this autoimmune disease but it changed my personality, cognitive function, and overall homeostasis completely. It’s been almost 10 years since then and I can happily say I’ve been a patient of Dr. Starr’s for about a year and a half. I trust him, his staff, and I’ve always felt he has had my best interest in mind. I have been on antidepressants for 9 years and my body has been flooded with a cocktail of prescribed (and eventually non-prescribed) anti-anxiety meds and narcotic painkillers. Over the last two years, I had decided to pursue my dream of having a career in healthcare. Being the science nerd that I am, it was only natural that I asked Dr. Starr about this new ketamine infusion therapy when I first heard he had been offering it. I even wrote an extensive research paper on Ketamine HCL as my topic for my pharmacology course (which I got a 100% on) so it’s safe to say that I did my fair share of research on this drug. In the last few months, I’ve done well in all areas of my life except for the constant background noise of anxiety and depression that rarely leave me alone. The stress from this often goes to my stomach, causing unbearable pains. I isolate when I’m in pain and my life is put on halt. Overall, I’m a young person living a healthy lifestyle, has had success in going back to school while running a business, and done well with managing my medications from my doctors so why was I still finding myself not leaving my bed due to depression for days at a time? I wish I had the answer for you but I can tell you that I am 100% confident that those days will be over if I continue with ketamine infusion therapy.
I have not had any aches or pains in my body since my treatment, experienced very little to no anxiety, and am sleeping better at night. I’ve continued my regimen of lowering my doses of medications that I’d like to get off of with ease and am actually hopeful for the future. The most important thing I got out of my experience was a true love for myself. This treatment varies for everyone and is a tool that I chose to use to look introspectively. I feel there’s a common theme with others who have had this treatment done and that it can be self-guided. I chose to ask whatever Higher Power there is questions during the treatment and I found answers. It’s also pretty dang cool that this drug actually creates a something called “synaptic plasticity” in your brain. This basically means that it helps regenerate neurons that have the potential to release the chemicals that a depressed person may be lacking. Goodbye antidepressants! No…it’s important that I work with my team of physicians and slowly taper but yes, that is my goal and I have faith with the right amount of ketamine infusion treatments, I can be med free and HAPPY. The true value in this treatment is that it’s experiential. I suggest that if you decide to do it, get your money’s worth and look deep inside to find where the pain (physical, emotional, or traumatic) lies to address it. There is no negative experience with this drug (from what I’ve found) and simply an overall sense of acceptance, positivity, and serenity. It’s been 5 days since my infusion and while I do feel that the level of happiness I had the first few days after has dwindled, I find happiness knowing that I can constantly remind myself of my experience with my journal and this blog entry. I sincerely hope that this blog entry gives at least one person hope, courage, and desire to make a change and take the chance I had. It was the best experience in my life and pray that it continued to researched, recognized and ultimately approved by the FDA so the millions of Americans out there suffering can have access to alternative treatment with ketamine.
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