What To Expect From A Doctor Administered Subcutaneous Ketamine Injection
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- Entry III
While dog sitting two Airedale Terriers, I go over my first three doctor administered subcutaneous ketamine injections in detail in an effort to shed some light on the process. I discuss some of the positives and negatives of the experience.
Feeling like you're out of options? Call someone now. Please.
suicidepreventi...
I first started IV K treatment at my local Veterans Hospital late 2020, and it changed my life. the first few sessions (3/week the 1st 2 weeks) i felt right away a difference. Like the fog on my brain had been lifted. That lasts few hrs for some, but each session i felt like that all day after i got up to i think the highest dosage, after like my first 3 or 4 treatments, i really noticed the lasting effects last a few days. then i think like week 3 & 4 we went down to 2 sessions a week since the effects started lasting a few days. some people only have to do one session a week. But I stayed at 2. The effects really are like that dark fog thats covered your brain for however long completely went away. Somehow it made me stop stressing about anything & everything. Especially the small things. i actually felt happy again. like literally not depressed. unfortunately my house burnt down. Total loss, cars & all. my 2nd session after the fire, which was the next week, i had a negative experience. Nothing bad, it was just really emotional & after it worn off that session, i was bawling my eyes out. my 12yr old son and I got trapped in the fire and the only way out was though my bedroom window.
Thank you for the great info and taking the time to respond...
I look forward to your continued insight. So very much appreciated. Since I posted, I scheduled my first ketamine treatment for this Monday morning. Extremely excited, but fearful at the same time, which leads to mini panic attack.
Excellent information. Thank you for your videos.
I love Airedales
Thank you. I lost my voice-box to a rare cancer. Then, just my luck... Due to abnormal scarring, my throat and esophagaus are completely closed, so I will never be able to even swallow, or use a prosthetic voice to talk. So it's hard to deal with the fact that I'll never be able to eat anything, drink anything, smell anything and most importantly: talk or socialize. My doctor prescribed me Ketamine 50mg/mL (60mL) Injection Solution. Since I can't swallow, he has me pull the Ketamine into the syringe and then shoot it in my mouth. I am then supposed to hold the liquid ketamine under my tongue for a few minutes so it can soak into my tongue I guess? Anyways, he didn't say what to do with it after that, so I just spit it in my feeding tube. Of course, I didn't feel anything. However, I have been studying Subcutaneous injections and nurses demonstrating it. So write before this comment, I gave myself my first Subcutaneous injection into the fat of my outer left thigh. I feel something. My fingers feel 10 years younger... Maybe because I have been dealing with neuropathy from chemo and radiation. I'm listening to you in the background as I type this. I am kinda following but I couldn't tell you what you said if you asked. I'm a 35 year old single male. I live alone with my 2 dogs who I love more than myself. My depression stems from me feeling like I am not giving my dogs the best life because I'm always sore and unmotivated. But they a fed good and I cuddle with them every night in bed. I am going to watch your video after I send this comment, because I am sure it's gonna be useful. This is probably the weirdest comment you have ever got... But I am proudly the weirdest person that you'll never know (in a good\happy way). If anyone else is curious about me or what I am going through or how I feeel if you read this comment years from now, then email me at ketamine@dgenz.com
How are you doing today? Thanks for these videos!
Great Video thanks!
thank you so much for sharing!
I'm loving these entries, thanks so much for taking the time to keep us updated. I've got my first set of IV treatments scheduled for the beginning of June and I'm nervous, I really don't know what to expect. I hope it helps my bipolar depression and anxiety, but I'm also really really hoping it helps my back pain at least a bit.
Did you find any relief from physical pains you maybe had beforehand?
Also, how have you felt the slope of effect is going 2-3 months before treatments? I'm likely to do this as the cost is a lot to handle for a college student, and I'm hoping I can build some behaviors to help make my life easier so eventually I won't need an IV very often or at all.
Hi Hunter, so sorry for the late response. I'm glad you've decided to pursue treatment and I really hope you find the success you're looking for. The odds are absolutely in your favor.
I know these treatments can seem a bit intimidating. I was definitely apprehensive and extremely anxious before my first one. I think that preparing yourself as you are, by listening to others recount their experiences and their take on the associated dissociative effect can really help smooth out your own experience.
As far as pain goes, I'm pretty sure it will have a positive impact on your pain in the interim, but I haven't really read much on it's long term effects on pain. I can tell you it is used by some pain management clinics for chronic pain. I myself have sporadic hand and back pain. Hand pain is probably the beginning of arthritis and the back pain has been there since middle school. So far though, I haven't experienced these pains on treatment days. I do have a friend with a shoulder injury who said post treatment the pain was gone and he had his first restful sleep in quite a while. I don't really know how long the pain relieving effects last. I'll have to do some reading on the topic.
As to the slope of effect, in the beginning I found the first two or three days to be virtually free from depression. Over the next couple weeks it would creep back in. So I would say for me the first two weeks are great and then around week three I would be ready for another round. With that said I waited a month between in the beginning, which felt a little too long at times. Cost is an issue for me as well. I have to pay out of pocket. It seems to have a stacking effect, but from what I've gathered this is highly subjective. Lately 2 months between has been almost perfect. The series of events remains roughly the same. The few days immediately following treatment are still the best. Then I can feel depression tugging at the edges of my mind, but it's highly manageable and this phase lasts for a couple months give or take. There are still better days than others throughout, but none of it comes close to the depression I lived with before my first treatment. Take all this with a grain of salt of course. You could be like me and have a life altering experience on the first try or it could take a couple visits before it really takes hold. There are some who don't experience the benefits until their third or fourth treatment. And yes, modifying behavior through additional therapies can absolutely bolster and extend the duration of effect. This is something I need to work on myself. Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I missed something.
Very informative video! I am looking into ketamine injections along with my spinal steroid injections to treat back and bone pain caused from a bone disease I was born with called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. I have had to take narcotics every day for ten years and I'm only 33. I'm sick of the side effects of pain meds and especially the damage it's done to my stomach. Hoping ketamine injections will be an option for me. Thank you for sharing your experience! 💜
Are you okay bro? I am worried b/c you vanished from your channel....
Thank you for the video and the very helpful info. A few questions if you don't mind answering:
- how much anxiety did you have prior to your treatments? Not apprehension relating to the treatments, but in general. While I'm depressed, I suffer from extreme anxiety. Agoraphopic. How have the ketamine treatments help with your anxiety? Hope this makes sense. I'm convinced the ketamine treatment will not work for me. Like I'm the outlier.
- have you done ECTs? I've done 19 total with limited results.
- were you feeling desperate before seeking the ketamine treatment? Do anti depressants / anti
Psychotics work for you? Do you still take them?
- I am very restless and suffer from insomnia.
- how have you been feeling since your last treatment? Do you receive maintenance treatments?
Do you have any concerns relating to addiction to ketamine? I recently tapered off a year long, doc prescribed, use of benzos so I'm nervous.
I will watch all your vids...apologize if you've answered my questions already.
+Dave Blasko Hi Dave,
Sorry for the late response. Things have been a little hectic. I'm actually sitting in the waiting room at the moment, about to receive my seventh (sixth maybe?) treatment.
My anxiety before receiving ketamine was off the charts. Mainly agoraphobic in nature. Panic attacks were fairly frequent. I have missed work often because of it. I have gone without food because the idea of shopping or interacting with strangers was too much. Once I was driving to a place I'd never been for job training and had to pull over on the side of the freeway because yet another panic attack was taking over. Couldn't breathe, thought I was going to pass out. It got so bad I threw up and called In sick.
With all that said, he anxiety is pretty much limited to going out in public. At home alone with my depression, anxiety was rare. Regret, sadness, despair and the like were abundant. The only time I would get anxious at home would be when I knew I had to go somewhere I didn't want to go. Which was everywhere really.
I definitely understand that fear of being an outlier. I haven't done ECT, but that is exactly what my next course of action was to be before stumbling upon ketamine. For treatment resistant depression, as I'm sure you know ECT has roughly a 50% remission rate for six months if I remember right. Ketamine is somewhere around 75%, but with a much shorter duration of remission.
Desperation was the central theme of my existence. Except for a few brief points in my life, I always at my core just wanted out. A couple times I took action in seeking an end, but mostly I would just agonize over not having the strength to end the pain. Most of my adult life I just tried to drown out the pain with distraction in the form of games and movies. It worked sporadically. Mostly the effort it took to distract myself just ensured that I remained stagnant in both career and relationships.
As far as medications go, the first medication I was prescribed (remeron) worked well enough insofar as making the desperation seem lighter that I never tried anything else as a solo treatment. It made things bearable and that was something. The doctor would tack on adjunct meds, but they all either were completely ineffective or would actually made things worse. So I've tried 4 or five of these add-ons. The only antipsychotic I've been on was an atypical called Seroquel. It was supposed to help with the depression while offering me the ability to sleep. Sleep I did, but the rest of the day I was so groggy and I found my wit dulled to a point where it was simply intolerable. Basic conversation was impossible. I stayed on it for a few months before discontinuing. All this is highly subjective of course. I know people who have found life changing stability on seroquel. I've taken a bunch of meds for my lifelong (as an adult anyway) insomnia, but similar to seroquel the only ones that worked left me too groggy to make it worth while. Actually Ambien worked great. No grogginess, but I wound up doing laundry I. My sleep. Ruined a bunch of clothes and scared the heck of me when I realized what had happened.
Multiple times I would go off all meds altogether and stop seeing doctors. Things would eventually get so dark that I would be back at the doctor's or wind up hospitalized and would then go back on remeron because I knew it would do something and with the loading phase involved with most antidepressants being 4 to 6 weeks, I didn't want to risk trying a new med only to find out it didn't work.
It almost time to go in so I'll wrap this up for now. Everything has changed since ketamine. My sleep improved dramatically after and keeps getting better. In the first couple weeks after treatment my anxiety is more or less gone. The difference is profound. It creeps back In. In fact about a week ago I had a mild panic attack. I received treatments once a month in the beginning and am currently at two months in between. I have found no addictive qualities to ketamine. Benzos are difficult to come off of I know. Can be dangerous if not done right. I don't have an addictive nature to begin with, so take that for what it's worth. I do however have a friend who is easily hooked and he also hasn't found any cravings for ketamine between treatments.
I apologize for ending his abruptly and if I didn't answer all your questions. More to come...
Depression Recovery I am scheduled for my first ketamine treatment at 11am this Monday. I'm terrified...about addiction possibility....that it won't work (would be devastated)....if it works, it will be short-lived...getting to Monday (feeling suicidal, but will go to hospital if it gets really bad)...my other meds (coming off Cymbalta and prazosin this week). I am couch- bound right now, trying to stay positive. I continue to look for ketamine testimonials sharing the positive results. Of course, happen upon some that declare it didn't work. My mind isn't in a good place...and we're hosting a birthday party (big stressor) for my son and I don't want to be the focal point, take away from his big day.
Jonathan - are there any other articles/links/videos you suggest i check out ahead of my first treatment on Monday?
Dave! I'm so sorry I wasn't around! Are you alright? How are you??
I had a less than ideal treatment and got stuck in my own head. The theme that pervaded my experience was a sad one and left me more depressed than before the session. It's the first time I had felt this way. There was a reason for this and it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but could be revealing as to the inner workings of my mind and in the long run should be beneficial. I plan on making a video about it soon.
I can't believe I missed your comment and again I'm so very sorry. Couch bound, coming off meds and suicidal and I'm busy wallowing. I've really let you down. It's disappointing to know it's still possible to be such a slave to my depression. Why were you titrating off your meds? Or were you transitioning from one set to another? My brother, who lives with me is currently coming off one of his medications and is miserable. He can't sleep more than a couple hours and is left drained throughout the day. I've been there as well, but it's been a while.
I hope your son's birthday party went well. I cannot even imagine the difficulty you must have living with this depression and at the same time being responsible for a child. Carrying on under the weight of depression and suicidal ideation is in and of itself no small feat and to do that while raising a child is beyond my comprehension. It's all too easy to succumb to the idea that we are weak and this is why we suffer; I know it's hard to see, but it takes strength to endure under these circumstances and it's important to acknowledge this. That you are still here is a testament to the strength you possess.
You had your first treatment today. How did it go?? Was it an IV infusion or an injection? If you are receiving infusions it's important to remember that you may not experience significant improvement after only one session. While I've definitely heard some say they experienced a meaningful perspective shift right away, more seem to have this moment after their second or third treatment. I know one person who said they thought it was a complete failure until his fourth session out of six, and it was only then that he found a new outlook and much hope for the future.
I was derelict in my duties and again I am so very sorry. Please please please let me know how you are doing! I would encourage you to continue this conversation here in the comments section as this kind of discussion can benefit so many, but no worries if you are not comfortable with this. You can reach me through the contact page at depressionrecovery.org or email me at jonathan@depressionrecovery.org
How did he administer it subcutaneously? With additional fluids? Seems like it would be better intramuscular.
Just take you klopomin why ketamin your weak