How Can I Take Ketamine

Wait a minute. Isn't ketamine just a party drug that you snort? Not no. Uh, welcome back to Ketamine Connections. Today's going to be a quickie episode to talk about how ketamine is administered.

And as you just heard, it Yes, party drug out in the wild in a recreational setting is definitely one of the ways to consume ketamine. I will address that later in the episode. And as you may already know from listening to previous episodes or maybe the trailer or reading the description, what we are discussing here at Ketamine Connections is is using ketamine with intention and using it for therapeutic benefits.

So while there are, in my opinion, therapeutic benefits to recreational, uh, substance use that is fun, I am not discussing that here in a specific way. So let's talk about how ketamine is administered in a clinical setting, which is the setting that. I work in as your ketamine coach. So let's talk about how you can encounter ketamine in a clinical controlled setting.

The setting that is I think most common is the at home ketamine treatments. Mindbloom is the leader of that movement with the ketamine program that they offer. However, there are many more now. That are offering at home ketamine, and so when we're talking about at home ketamine, how can ketamine be administered at home?

It is administered at home by shipping what are called sublingual ketamine tablets, also known as trochies. to the client's house. So the trochee is a little pill that is pre dosed. So it has the dosage that the client is going to use. And what happens is when they are getting ready to go into their journey, they put the trochee underneath the tongue.

So sublingual underneath the tongue, and they let it dissolve there. And then they are advised to to spit out any of the residue, to not swallow it because there is concern that it might cause nausea. Now I know that there are people that will swallow it, people that won't swallow the, the residue from the, the melting of the trochee.

And that's something that is entirely up to you. I know that Pretty much every recommendation that I've come across says to spit it out. And I also know that in my personal experience with trochies, I have never spit it, spat it out, uh, because I'm someone who wants as much of the dose as possible.

Because one of the things about trochie use is that it is the, one of the lowest doses of ketamine that is available in the clinical setting. Now let's talk about the benefits and the I don't know, not benefits of using the sublingual administration, the trokies, the lozenges, one of the positives I would say about this is that I do talk to clients who have fear of needles that don't like something that is invasive like that.

And so this is a great opportunity. No. Advantage? No. What's the word I'm looking for? Option. There we go. This is a great option for people that don't like needles, don't want to go through that. It's easy to use and it's fast, like it hits pretty fast. Uh, not as fast as some of the other methods that I'll talk about, but it does go on pretty fast.

Now, one of the cons to that is because you are taking it orally, it can have a better taste. It tastes like medicine, like it tastes like icky, nasty, gross medicine, in my opinion. Maybe they have flavored ones, I don't know. Someone let me know if they have flavored trochies out there for ketamine use. And the other thing is that this is one of the lower bioavailabilities of ketamine, so there's going to be a different dosage with every type of ketamine that is offered, every type of administration of ketamine that is offered, and then also with just the effects of it are going to be really different.

Let's talk about ketamine. What I think is the second up from there, which is intramuscular. So intramuscular injection of ketamine is, this is exactly what it sounds like. It is an injection into a muscle, usually the arm. That's what I've always experienced with intramuscular. And it comes on faster, a little bit faster than the sublingual because it goes right into the system.

And so it's quick administry. administration, it is, uh, it comes on quickly, right? And then it also, it creates what I like to call like a bell curve line. So it's like it is administered, you go up, um, in your journey, you go up in your, uh, experience, you peak and then you start coming down and then it wears off.

Now, one of the benefits of that, one of the pros of intramuscular is that yeah. It's less likely to take someone out for the whole day, meaning the comedown from an IM, uh, form of ketamine, it tends to be slightly lesser than IV because it's not, it's just a different experience and it's different the way that the body processes it.

I think that's a. benefit of intramuscular is that you can have more of your day after the experience than with IV. However, because of the way that it kind of goes up and then comes down, there's less control over the time. dosage of the IM, and it's kind of like the ride you're on is the ride you're on.

I know that there are clinics that are re upping. So there's clinics that are offering, you know, like you, you get your initial injection and then maybe you come up and then they know the timeframe and they're like, Hey, do you want to go deeper? Do you want to go? wherever, like go deeper into this experience and they'll maybe do another IM and that can be repeated as many times as whatever service is being provided, the facilitator, the administrator of the ketamine is the one that is in control of the journey here.

So that's a way to kind of keep it going. Um, But IM is one of the more popular in clinic settings for ketamine use. And then the other one that I will talk about is IV and ketamine IV infusion. And so that is what. What happens with the ketamine IV infusion is that the ketamine is, so you're, you're hooked up, you have an IV usually like in your hand, in your arm somewhere, if you're familiar with an IV drip, so you get, you get hooked up to a machine and that machine doses out the The ketamine over the duration of the infusion and usually infusions are anywhere from like 30 to 60 minutes depending on the clinic, the onset of the effects of ketamine are definitely faster than sublingual definitely faster than I am.

And the. Dosage tends to be more precise. So instead of like with I am you're like I'm up and now I'm down with IV It's more like it's like almost getting to like a plateau or what is it called in the desert? A mesa, climbing up to a mesa where you like climb up and then you're like here and then you start to come down.

And that is because the IV machine, the infusion machine is dosing out the ketamine over time. Now, some of the pros of this is that it does tend to lead to deeper journeys. You know, the onset effects are really quick and the efficacy of it tends to be like, these are like the higher, what is it called?

Like intensity journeys. And because of all of that, some of the cons with this form with the IV method is, you know, you do require a lot of a little bit more supervision. Sometimes a lot of clinics will check in on patients throughout the IV process at least once or twice to make sure that everything is going accordingly.

And then there's also, from what I mentioned earlier, when I was talking about sublinguals, this is the more invasive method. And so some people that are not into needles don't want that invasive. setting that's going to be a deterrent for them. And okay, I'll give you one more bonus of how ketamine can be administered.

And that is nasal spray. Uh, there is a nasal spray that is federally approved. It's called Spravato and it's, it's, Yeah, I don't know how to explain it. It's like the little, little plastic thing and it's got the, the little like tapered tip and you stick it in your nose and you go and you just take anywhere from two to four sprays and it is a way of consuming ketamine that is at home ketamine, kind of like the sublinguals, even though those are more monitored than the spravato.

And it's a low dose. This is the lowest dose of what I've been talking about here between sublinguals, intramuscular, and intravenous. The nasal spray is the lowest dosage of ketamine. And that could be a pro or a con. I know that I have personally used bravado as sort of like a microdose of ketamine. I have been using it to work and to get deeper into meditations.

And so those are settings where I actually want a lower dose of ketamine. And that's it. The other pro to that is that it's completely non invasive, it's relatively easy to use, the onset is really quick, and then it's just kind of like it wears off really quickly and doesn't take you out for your whole day like you like could happen with an IV.

So, As I mentioned in the intro, ketamine is, can be, a party drug. You know, you might see it out at a rave or a festival or things like that. That is definitely a setting where ketamine is present and that is, again, not what I'm covering on this podcast. Podcast, I would say with everything happening in the world, you want to know that your ketamine is safe.

You want to know that there's no fillers or mixers or anything in there. And that is why I will always advocate for, uh, using ketamine in a clinical supervised setting because that is the way to make sure that the ketamine really has the best effects when you're using it for therapeutics. And that is all that I have for you today.

I just wanted to kind of jump in and let you know how ketamine is administered. Again, this is a podcast to answer all of the common questions. This is a question that I've a lot. As far as how to To choose the method that is right for you, that is going to depend on a lot of factors. Uh, so one of the factors is, again, if you are anti needles like F, no.

No way, Jose, not doing it, then you're not going to want an IM or an IV ketamine experience. You'll go for sublingual or the nasal spray, right? If you are someone that is, I don't know, experienced with psychedelics and like, put me in coach, like I want to go on a journey, uh, IV is probably going to be the option for you because that does tend to lead to the more intense journeys.

So it depends on your. goals. It depends on your preferences and it depends on availability, right? Not all forms are available everywhere in the country. So you want to check in with what are the clinics in your area offering? Is at home ketamine just more convenient for your lifestyle? Also more cost effective, I would say cost is definitely something else to consider when you're going into.

Considering which ketamine therapy is right for you. And if you have any questions or anything like that, as far as which one to go with, I'm happy to answer questions. I'm never going to tell you which one to do. I ask clients all the time of like, well, which one do you feel called to? Which one is speaking to you?

Which one feels like the right choice for you? That's always going to be my answer. If you're looking for. for me to tell you which one to do, but hopefully this podcast episode has provided a little bit of insight. So you have a little bit more considerations when you are to take into your decision making process.

And if you If there are further questions, you are so welcome to reach out to me on Instagram, just shoot me a DM. Let me know that you listened to this episode. Let me know what your questions are, whether it's something from this episode or other questions that you want answered. I love answering questions.

I'm so grateful for your attention and your curiosity, and I'm so excited that you're here on this channel. journey to bring the common questions that people have about ketamine out into the wild, into the world. And that is all. I have for you today. See you next time.