My own experience in a medical setting for psychedelic treatment

On this particular topic, I can throw in my own opinion, as I did receive ketamine treatments in a doctor’s office, as well as having previously used the drug on my own illicitly. I’ll take a second to remind that ketamine is a dissociative hallucinogen, not a psychedelic. It is used for therapy in a similar way to psychedelics, and is currently the only legal way to get such treatment, as neither state thus far that legalized any form of a hallucinogen, started services yet.

I ended up in the office of a psychiatrist in Guadalajara, Mexico, which is one of the only places in Mexico that provides ketamine treatments. Most of the doctor’s business is for pain. I went because of sleep issues, which falls under psychiatric. There are very few people who do this there. As such, the procedure isn’t established like it is in American facilities; and from the beginning I was left to feel like not everything was being covered. I made the most of the experience, but looking back I can see how badly it went.

I was hooked up to an IV, and I sat in a comfortable enough place, but was it really? It was a kind of cold office, with no blanket offered, dim lighting, and no window. I was on a couch facing a desk, with very little around me. Sure, it was okay, but I wasn’t super comfortable. Nor did I like having an IV hooked up to me, or seeing the blood squirt out when they had a hard time getting my vein (both times!) I left with blood stains on my pants the second time. I didn’t enjoy the actual drug experience at all; it left me feeling queasy, shaky, and incredibly anxious. And while this could represent my own personal reaction to ketamine, there’s a problem here…

I did ketamine plenty illicitly. I used to do lines with an ex-boyfriend frequently enough to have a great idea how the drug affects me. I liked it back then. Not my favorite of all drug experiences, but very interesting. I used to feel like I was floating, disconnected, like my brain was pulling in different directions. But not bad. And at no point with the anxiety and discomfort I suffered in the doctor’s office. An anxiety so bad the doctor did not push me for another appointment (or even contact me again for follow-up…I would never got back to that provider).

The experiences were so wildly different, that it makes me wonder how much of my negative experience in the medical setting with the psychedelic-like drug, was related to being in that setting, rather than a place I am more comfortable with. My experience gives a huge amount of credence to the idea of at-home ketamine therapy, and the ability to do the treatment in the comfort and privacy of your chosen location. Perhaps under other circumstances, I would not have been a non-responder.

Conclusion

It’s not for me to say what works for other people. But when it comes to expensive treatments, or ‘services’, how many people want to pay out for something that isn’t what they’re looking for? And how much do we damage our own understanding of the usefulness of something, when the controls for use are so extreme? It’s not like these drugs are used illicitly in a medical setting; and people turn out just fine when using a psychedelic on their own, or in a less restrictive way. Maybe that’s something that should be remembered.