Ketamine is a powerful dissociative anesthetic that is chemically similar to PCP and can lead to addiction. At our drug addiction treatment centers, we offer many treatment programs to help you heal from a ketamine addiction. Learn more about the long-term effects of ketamine by reaching out to Promises at 844.875.5609.
How Ketamine Functions and Why It’s Addictive
The dissociative qualities of this anesthetic distort perception and make you feel disconnected from your body and environment.
Like other drugs, ketamine affects your brain’s reward system. It causes a surge in the production of dopamine, which makes your brain register the experience as a pleasurable one that it wants to repeat.
Ketamine works quickly, which makes it more addictive. The faster and more powerful the effects of a drug, the easier it is for you to become dependent on it.
Your brain also becomes accustomed to the drug quickly, leading to tolerance. This tolerance means you don’t get the same effects from the drug as you once did, so you need to take more of it. Not only does this lead to addiction, but it also puts your health in danger.
Ketamine’s Long-Term Effects: Why Getting Help Is Vital
Ketamine can have long-term effects on all parts of your body, potentially leading to:
- Kidney damage
- Bladder damage
- Chronic abdominal pain
- Depression
- Cognitive decline
- High blood pressure
- Memory loss
- Mood instability
If you ingest the drug nasally, ketamine’s long-term effects also include damage to your nasal passages. It can even cause you to lose your sense of smell. If you inject it, you can experience damage to your veins and skin, potentially leading to infections.
The high blood pressure issues, which are long-term effects of ketamine use, can also put you at a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.
You should also remember that ketamine makes structural changes to your brain, affecting brain pathways. It not only affects mood regulation and impulse control, but it can also contribute to the development of cognitive issues.
What Treatment Options Are Available for Ketamine Addiction?
To treat ketamine addiction, you need to begin with the detox process. You have to remove all traces of ketamine from your body, but how do you do so without dealing with withdrawal symptoms?
You should never attempt to go through the detox process on your own. Instead, turn to medical detox services that provide the right 24/7 level of care and help you stabilize with medications that mimic the drug but don’t offer the “high” that leads to continued addiction.
Once you get past the detox process, you can begin residential treatment or outpatient treatment.
Residential treatment removes you from your usual environment, allowing you to set aside responsibilities and daily stressors to focus on recovery.
If it’s not possible to enter a facility for days at a time, you may want to consider outpatient services like a partial hospitalization program. It still offers many hours of therapy each day, but you can return home at night to keep up with work and family responsibilities.
Intensive outpatient programs are a step down from PHPs, offering more freedom, and standard outpatient services can help you get ready to enter daily life once again.
You Can Get Help for Ketamine Addiction at Promises Drug Addiction Treatment Centers
Promises offers many facilities, and each one has unique treatment programs that can help you manage a ketamine addiction and start understanding what caused it in the first place. With individual and group therapy sessions, we can help guide you back on the path to sobriety. Begin your recovery by calling Promises at 844.875.5609 right now.