In the thick of it.

[[zu...]]

Hi Everyone,

I just quit after a week long taper from 1.5 mg alprazolam to 0mg.  Today is day three.  Caramaba.  It feels like a spiritual battle.

I was wondering if anyone has tried IV ketamine for withdrawals - I found this article nature article and it seems very compelling.  

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-023-01689-y

I tried to go cold turkey two weeks ago and then reset and decided to taper.    The impending doom is ... *chef's kiss*.   Exquisite!  

I did this once before in 2016 and forgot how intense the psychological discomfort is. 

Never again, friends. Never again.

[[Nu...]]

I remember Dr. Josef mentioning ketamine in a video but don't recall him publishing a video specifically on this. Accompanied with a patient-led taper, there may be value here. It's an interesting thought.

[[Re...]]

7 hours ago, [[z...] said:

Hi Everyone,

I just quit after a week long taper from 1.5 mg alprazolam to 0mg.  Today is day three.  Caramaba.  It feels like a spiritual battle.

I was wondering if anyone has tried IV ketamine for withdrawals - I found this article nature article and it seems very compelling.  

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-023-01689-y

I tried to go cold turkey two weeks ago and then reset and decided to taper.    The impending doom is ... *chef's kiss*.   Exquisite!  

I did this once before in 2016 and forgot how intense the psychological discomfort is. 

Never again, friends. Never again.

A week-long taper is extremely fast off of 1.5mg. Ketamine could be extremely harmful and make things worse. I have heard many stories of this happening along with people seeking TMS in withdrawal and developing worse symptoms.

Ketamine was one of the unnecessary treatments I was prescribed and they give people benzos to deal with the stress of the hallucinations you have.

There is no cure for withdrawal, only time, and the best thing for many people is to stay away from doctors and other drugs. You might want to consult a coach like Angela Peacock or attend one of her withdrawal groups for more factual educational information.

[[zu...]]

@[Re...] Thank you for your insights. I think staying off all medications is sound advice.  I appreciate it. 

[[PE...]]

19 hours ago, [[z...] said:

Hi Everyone,

I just quit after a week long taper from 1.5 mg alprazolam to 0mg.  Today is day three.  Caramaba.  It feels like a spiritual battle.

I was wondering if anyone has tried IV ketamine for withdrawals - I found this article nature article and it seems very compelling.  

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-023-01689-y

I tried to go cold turkey two weeks ago and then reset and decided to taper.    The impending doom is ... *chef's kiss*.   Exquisite!  

I did this once before in 2016 and forgot how intense the psychological discomfort is. 

Never again, friends. Never again.

Oh ketamine. I also read about the positive aspects (?) about ketamine so I bought some around 3 years ago when I was in wd from Phenibut, a strong GABA drug.

Ketamine is a quick fix kinda drug. Without knowing exactly, not really known, anxiety and bad feelings flew out the window. Together with the rest of my brain. I took it for a week or so until it was finished. It suppose to rebuild damaged property's of gaba receptors but there are no absolute facts about it.

I felt great while on it. Kinda like LSD but Without the hallucinations. When they did EEG pictures of a brain on Ketamine parts of it looked like a dead brain(!?)

I had trouble talking and walking when on it so I had to lay down.

Of course this shouldn't been taking without medical expertise but over here we have no Ketamine centers like you have.

I liked the weird-near death experience high' it gave me because I'm weird that way. But don't know the long term effects it might have. It didn't made me worse that I can say.

Hope I contributed with something.

 

 

[[zu...]]

@[ne...] Thank you for sharing this.  I think I'm going to avoid it and just suffer through this phase.  I have read that ketamine isn't habit-forming, but I know myself well enough to know that I can find a way . 

 

[[PE...]]

5 minutes ago, [[z...] said:

@[ne...] Thank you for sharing this.  I think I'm going to avoid it and just suffer through this phase.  I have read that ketamine isn't habit-forming, but I know myself well enough to know that I can find a way . 

Hehe.. yeah that sounds like a wise decision. There are enough ketamine freaks already 

[[La...]]

Hi, I have complex PTSD (childhood trauma) and also went through trauma as an adult. I had psychosomatic pain in my lower abdominal region, along with flashbacks and intense anxiety, and so, started intensive psychotherapy treatment with a psychiatrist. I was prescribed Zoloft and klonopin. That was back in 2006. I was reprocessing all of the trauma with the psychiatrist and continued with a psychologist trained in EMDR (trauma processing therapy). It took lots of years. I was taking 3 mg of klonopin every day for many years and had to increase it to 4 mg when my sister was dying from cancer, and I was her caregiver in another state. Fast forward to last year when I reduced my klonopin usage to 3 mg per day and started the process of titrating my benzo usage. I am now down to 1.375 mg. I was having a very hard time reducing my dosage from 1.75, and I asked my psychiatrist about the use of sublingual ketamine. I had taken it previously for intense depression, but only for a couple months. So my psychiatrist was in favor of trying prescription ketamine to see if it would help me with the uneasiness and anxiety. I have been using 100 mg sublingual ketamine (a "troche" or lozenge you put under your tongue until it melts) right before going to bed, about 2-3X per week.  I was able to titrate successfully from 1.75 to 1.375 mg using ketamine. I no longer feel the uneasiness when I titrate down. I am following the Ashton Manual and titrating slowly, especially as I get down to lower doses. I keep my doctor updated on everything. I would never take ketamine during the day and definitely take it at the end of the day. I am able to read my Bible and actually understand what I am reading after taking a dose of ketamine. I can tell you that I am in bed and not planning on going anywhere! Not safe! FYI, my ketamine was prescribed and mailed to me from a pharmacy in another city. And the dosage is based on a formula based on your weight. Only 30% of what you take is actually absorbed by the body. So it is critical to have a doctor that has experience with ketamine. My doctor treats veterans with PTSD, depression, anxiety, etc. as well as civilians with the same using both ketamine through an IV as well as the sublingual troches. Not for everybody, but for me, it has really helped me in reducing my klonopin usage. I hope to be benzo-free in 2024 and will only take ketamine as long as it is helping me titrate. 

[[PE...]]

Hmm interesting. 

It's a schedule class drug here in Europe but I have tried it. 100mg is not a small dose. 

You know it's very habit forming right? It just take a few weeks to make you feeling uncomfortable when stopping.

Your doctor should know this.

Yes it makes anxiety and depression vanish in half an hour.

 

[[La...]]

New Peppe, thanks for your post as well as your concerns on ketamine being addictive. You are right, it is be addictive for some.  In terms of addiction, heroin is at the top- at 10- and aspirin is at the bottom- a 0. Ketamine is in the middle at about 5. Some people do become addicted to it, while others want nothing to do with it after treatment and are not interested in it. Because it is used in a risky way in the world, addiction is a reality one needs to think through before taking. And if you have a personality with a substance use disorder, you don't want to get near it. It has been used to treat addiction successfully in research models (interesting?), so there is an absolute need for more research on ketamine as well as other psychedelics. Thanks to your post, I am in conversation with my doctor and will be making a decision whether to continue or not. I took it 2X/week for a couple months a few years ago and never thought about taking it once the dose was not needed. Thanks again for bringing up this discussion; you made me pause to research/process and am reviewing my decision!