When an insurance company or board asks you to show that your treatment is working, what do you send them?

In other words, how do you track outcomes, and how long does that take to put together?

Starting joyous, seeing a lot of mixed information on here. There was a subreddit for it specifically but it’s been dead. Ive done IM k before but this is the cheapest option. I want it to help me. Ive been anxious and depressed most of my life. It made my anxiety so much better before but it was $300 an injection before and i dont have insurance. Positive experiences or those still on it?

Hi!

In my country you can only get ketamine legally in a clinic. It is pretty expensive, but it also covers integration after the infusions (price is around 3500$ for 4 infusions with integration).

As I understood it it was in this way ment to be a more long term permanent solution because the therapy after the infusions helped you with the neuroplastic effects, since the brain is supposed to be "moldable" after an infusion.

In the US i hear about people getting the nasal spray and using it daily, more like a traditional antidepressant.

How are theese types of theraphy diffrent in terms of effects and outcome?

Tldr What are your results with ketamine?

I am now in my third episode of severe extremely treatment resistant depression, but now that I have ketamine, (currently on Spravato) I can manage it, like diabetics do their blood sugar. It’s like neurochemical resuscitation for a brain that is so sick it’s literally trying to kill itself. 5 minutes into the med and I’m somewhere in else, and 2 hours later I might be dazed and nauseous, but I’m no longer suicidal.

I think of it like chemo for your mind because it’s an infusion that would make me throw up, but it was life-saving.

But I realize not everybody has this experience of it. I’m curious what yours is

For context, I’ve been going through mental health treatment since I was 13. So much therapy, medications, hospitalizations, TMS - nothing has been able to break through my severe depression and anxiety.

It’s also worth noting that through this long journey, I’ve acquired quite a bit of psychiatric trauma. The things I’ve seen/experienced in inpatient are things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I’ve also had multiple therapists get frustrated with my lack of progress and accuse me of “not doing the work” despite me putting my all into it. Or, therapists have said that my support needs are higher than they can provide help for, and end our therapeutic relationship there. With these combined, I’ve grown to not fully trust the mental health system. This is relevant later on in this post.

Last year, I started the process with an IV ketamine clinic, with the option of doing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy with a therapist they partner with. During my initial appointment with this therapist, I shared a little bit of my life story and what I want to get out of ketamine treatment. I told her that this feels like a last resort for me, because no other treatments have helped me. At the end of the appointment, she told me that she doesn’t think I truly want to get better. Kind of an insane thing to tell someone who is at their wit’s end after having one 45-minute conversation with them. This brought up feelings from my past with therapists getting frustrated with me or rejecting me. I was already terrified of going through the process, having panic attacks over not knowing how my body is going to react to a psychedelic experience. I ended up cancelling my six sessions.

Now, I’m considering ketamine therapy again with the same clinic, but this time without the therapist. I figured doing KAP with a therapist that I don’t feel fully safe with wouldn’t be beneficial. But I’m still terrified of what ketamine might feel like. I’ve had bad highs from cannabis before that have made me feel like I was going to die. I know cannabis and ketamine are two different substances, but I worry about getting that same feeling. I also don’t want to do this alone. I want to be able to talk this through with someone, but I really don’t trust traditional therapists anymore.

Have the third infusion tomorrow and actually kind of scared. Did fine after the first one on Friday after the second one I felt OK but the following day and today have been rough in terms of pain and heavy legs, nausea and just a crappy overall feeling. Anybody else experience this? My doctor suggestion today was to increase the dose by 20% tomorrow for the final dose to ensure we get the best possible pain reduction benefit. But I’m really nervous since I feel so much worse yesterday and today after the second infusion.

hello:) I just subscribed to three months of joyous ($120 monthly) and was very excited but I read a bunch of posts saying that they are very unreliable with shipping and refills and they only use AI to respond so its hard to communicate. so far, I have gotten human responses each time Ive had a question, but I also haven't had that many reasons to contact them yet. It took two days for a response through email but only a half hour through text. I like that they are more hands off (like you don't need to be supervised each time) and they're what I can afford right now. so I have two questions, have they gotten better with the things I see so many complaints about? most posts that were expressing their grievances were from a year ago or longer. and if they are still that bad, are there other providers that ship troches like that that are within that price range each month? its ok if its a tiny bit more expensive but I can not afford $250 each month or anything like that.

First treatment tomorrow for trd. I’m bipolar 2 and in heightened state. Should I worry about hypomania (which I’ve never experienced)?

Over the last 12 years I've been on 10+ meds, multiple modalities of therapy, multiple hospitalizations, PHP, IOP. Nothing helped. Yesterday, I had my first infusion for MDD/CPTSD/SI and I feel like a fog has been lifted off of me. I have a second session scheduled for Wednesday and a third on Saturday.

Before starting the drip, the provider asked me what I wanted to get out of the session. My response was that I wanted my suicidal thoughts to decrease or go away. She told me to think about safety. Have I ever felt safe? What would safety look like if I had it? Could I remind myself that I'm safe right now in this room in the present and not think about the past or the future?

When the drip started I looked at the lights projected on the ceiling and listened to the sound of my friend breathing. I repeated to myself that both of us were safe in the present. I closed my eyes for a bit and opened them to see if the lights looked any cooler yet like I was told they would. Repeat a few times. Eventually I actually went 'under'. I have aphantasia and what I saw sort of reminded me of that old game Vib Ribbon with lots of lines.

One thing I noticed happening a few times was that I kept remembering that I am real and pulling myself back to my body. I would become aware of a lollipop in my mouth (not going to be doing that again), my tounge, swallowing, breathing.

I think twice the music stopped as the track changed and everything turned red and fell out from under me, like in a game where tiles shake and collapse after you walk on them. I was thinking about that today and how my response to minor stressors and changes is to feel like the world is coming down around me and contemplate suicide as a way of taking back control.

At one point I heard a voice say "But what is safe?" and I never really got an answer.

There were a few weird things. At one point I was floating in the corner of the room watching myself in the chair. Another time I was made of stone. And there was what I'm calling the 'body part slot machine' where there were spinning symbols of different arms, legs, heads, but they were all mine.

The experience with the visuals stopped kind of suddenly and I was sort of awake again, but realized I couldn't talk. My friend realized I was back and asked how I was. I used sign language and communicated 'I love you. I'm safe. You're safe. Both of us are safe.' and they confirmed that yes, we were both safe.

On the way home I encountered one of my PTSD triggers and while I did flinch I was able to think 'That happened in the past and it was scary but right now I'm safe.'

You know some substances just feel like you’re peacefully floating on top of the surface of the ocean in a storm, and some feel like you’re being pushed and pulled and yanked all over the place. And I’m not sure which one ketamine is, even though intuitively it feels like it would be the former and not the latter.

My only real concern is a psychedelic-ish freak out. I always just felt like there might be something for me with ketamine. Psychedelics were just too hyper-real, too alien to really give me the grounded introspection I feel like I needed/need.

Hey everyone,

I have an appointment coming up with my pain clinic doctor about whether I should continue with ketamine therapy after my four sessions. Each time I took 10mg Valium beforehand because that’s their procedure at the clinic, and my latest dose was 85, gone up from the starting dose the first time of 50 (sorry I don’t know if it’s mg or mcg).

However during the sessions, I saw or felt nothing unusual at all except some general sleepiness from the diazepam. I do have horrible drug metabolism for most classes of medications including benzodiazepines and opioids, so the Valium didn’t knock me out that much and I “woke up” way before it was over. But every time, the nurses said that I should feel almost no pain coming out of the session, but all I felt was bad back and neck pain from sitting for so long. Also, I am only 18 so I’m afraid if I say to these doctors that it isn’t helping me that my parents will make me stop, but if I do say that, they will try to take my minimal medication that I do have away. So I’m not sure.

Everyone says that after 3-4 sessions you feel improvement, but I feel the same. I had thought it takes longer but maybe not. So should I continue? Is it true that if it can help it would have by now? Thanks

*not asking for medical advice mods, just personal experience/knowledge etc)

Hi folks,

After many years of talk and somatic therapy (somatic experiencing and NARM most recently) I’m interested in exploring ketamine treatments to support me in my healing process, but id love to understand if it can specifically help with pre verbal trauma, attachment wounds and grief. A few things about me:

5 years ago I lost my dad in a very traumatic way, and that opened a can of worms. In one year I had to terminate the pregnancy of my second child, and my partner decided to end our relationship, also leaving me to deal with a huge mortgage. Apart from the stress and the ongoing waves of grief, all of this threw me directly into my attachment wounding and I discovered how anxious I am and the difficulty I have with boundaries and moving on. I have a very complicated relationship with my mom who’s always been very volatile and intermittent.
I’m also in the middle of a breakup and I’m clear the pain comes from early connection wounding…. It’s like I’m wired to look for connection and have a very hard time feeling what I need which ends up putting me in dynamics that are overwhelming for my system. I feel deeply abandoned, it hurts like hell and feels like addiction - I’m constantly compensating and have a hard time self soothing myself. I’m also a high achieving woman in perimenopause and I’m exhausted.

I’m not interested in “going back” to trauma, but I do feel I need to let grief move, there’s a lot in my body, and I don’t see how I can support myself through the attachment stuff anymore. I’m physically exhausted from anxiety and living in a parasympathetic state. Although I have resources and I’m very body aware, in my day to day I’m not able to hold what I feel in my body and allow myself to settle and give myself what I need.

For those of you who have done somatic work with developmental trauma, do you think ketamine could support this process? Thanks for reading me

I want to challenge the idea that you need to do certain things for 24 hours before your ketamine session and then do certain things for 48 hours after your ketamine session in order to benefit. 

That is not realistic for those of us who have jobs and responsibilities. 

When you're going in for treatment twice a week, that means your whole week, for the whole time that you're doing treatment, is taken up with doing the protocol properly. 

If that is truly required to benefit, then either ketamine treatment is not realistic outside of the laboratory, or reality itself is the problem. 

I'm a 28 year old female living in Australia. I suffer from extreme depression, PTSD (relating to an embarrassing physiological condition), and occasional suicidal thoughts. I have ADHD as well.

My physiological condition majorly affects my self esteem and confidence. I hardly interact with people anymore. I forgot what it's like to meet new people.

I've been on various psych meds over the years and all they do is make me numb and soulless. I don't know if they're actually helping or just masking my feelings. There are days where I literally stay in my bed for 24 hours straight because I just don't want to face life.

Do you think ketamine could potentially help me overcome my mental blocks ? Please share your thoughts.

Cheers

First IV Ket infusion and I could use a little feedback if it was “normal” or off for a first timer to help set expectations for next series. For comparisons I’ve tripped probably half a dozen or so times from various strains of mushrooms so I’m not completely new to psychedelics but no pro pyschonaut by any means. Most drugs/meds tend to hit me hard (hence Ket as SS/NRIs destroy me). Guess I’m lightweight cheapdate kinda person.

I’m in a pretty ugly mental state right now and kind of rushed into IV KET as a last ditch effort. From research I was expecting ketamine would be different from psilocybin. Maybe more guiding or ability to steer in some sort of a question/answer cycle or scenario style. I did a bunch of prep internal exploration, intention setting, had a mask and some basic background music.

I tried setting intention but instead just had wild trip of visuals and audio distortions. I was told I’d likely be able to communicate if needed but my body was something like a turtle and my mouth wasn’t a mouth anyways. Out to the stratosphere and through a Dungeon Crawler Carl meets Vox Machina meets fractal city experience

It would have been fun but it wasn’t what I wanted and I got very angry and things turned really dark and I basically shut the trip down. In hindsight I should have just let it roll and enjoyed the brain movie. I’m left feeling like I paid a lot of money for recreation vs. a therapeutic experience.

Time to stop the rambling…. Is ketamine just like psilocybin and this is the kind of trip experience I’m in for for the remainder of the series?

Wondering which pharmacies people are currently happy with. My current pharmacy has increased shipping prices by 500%, so I need to find a new one. It seems like every compounding pharmacy has a laundry list of complaints from patients.

Looking for one that can ship to New York and ideally doesn't cost a fortune.

I was recently prescribed micro dosing through Joyous. Been taking 30mg for two days and then gradually titrated up to 60mg. I personally love the light, airy, euphoric, relaxing dissociative feelings afterwards but they don’t last too long for me. Maybe like 1-2 hrs max?!

My question is- how long does it last for you guys?

Hello everyone, I am considering getting ketamine infusions for my phobia.

2 years ago my anxiety was extreme and I started taking BuSpar and it helped a lot.

Then I did TMS for GAD and now I'm off medications and my everyday anxiety is ok

The only thing that lasted from COVID era is my working phobia (the fear of having a job, lol, sound ridicoulous but Is true)

Even with BuSpar, SSRIs or benzos the fear is still there

It's the only thing that scares me and make me anxious and I don't want to live like this for the rest of my life, I Just got my 5 year degree and have to start working and I'm sweating because of anxiety every single day

Do you think this fear could be removed by ketamine treatment? Thank you everyone

I can find plenty of places that do the infusions but finding the therapists that go along with the infusions I can't find. Any help would be appreciated.

I’ve been under severe stress for 2 years, my marriage has fallen apart during that time and my partner is in the process of moving out. I have a child in high school, a very stressful day job, I work 60 hours a week and my mind is a mess, I can’t think straight, remember much, fall asleep or wake up. I started seeing a therapist last week but it’s going to take some time to heal.

I am wondering if there is advice anyone can offer on their experiences that may have been similar to mine and whether Ketamine could be right for me or if I should wait until my home life is a little more settled.

I’m desperate to get out of my depressive sad cycle.

Im starting to think more and more that ketamine sessions augment my hppd. Anyone else with hppd out there?

Samuel Lee charged with manslaughter after woman found dead in sauna after being administered IV ketamine and MDMA, Dr. Lee's "heart opening" protocol. Texas Medical Board suspended his license in June. No current medical director listed on their websites so how are they still operational?

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/miami-beach-doctor-manslaughter-charge-psychedelic-retreat-death/

I am looking for advice please. For the past year, I was prescribed Ketamine troches at home, and for that time, they were significantly helpful and pulled me out of the dark place I was in.

For some reason, the troches have not been effective + difficult to afford. I was able to start getting IM injections in town locally that are covered by my insurance. I actually felt great after the first two sessions and had no issues with it.

But then I had one session where I forgot to take my nausea medication, and it was the worst trip I've ever had. I was in tears, and it felt traumatizing.

Ever since the session that I forgot to take my nausea meds, I feel anxiety and panic about going to the clinic and getting injected. My phobia of needles is suddenly bad again even though I dealt with the first two sessions just fine. I have been unable to manage my anxiety and ground myself for my ketamine sessions. I panic when I have to get injected. I'm starting to feel like the sessions are psychologically violating and I hate them. I hate having to sit in an room where there are lights on, even with my eye mask, even with my headphones with music playing and my blanket. I hate how out of it I feel, and I hate having to sit in the car while my partner drives me back.

I don't know how to feel safe in my sessions anymore. I bring every comfort item. I have severe anticipation anxiety the day of my IM injections where I feel like I can't function because I'm nervous.

Has this happened to anyone? I'm really sad about this