ketamine infusions
 

Hi everyone I wanted to know woh ever has had ketamine infusions as an out patient what was the highest dose the doctor did.
I went for one and my doctor did 150mgs . It took about an 1-1/2 hrs.
He told me that 150mgs was a pretty high dose to do. He gave me extra anit anxiety meds while doing it.
Actually he told me it was a pretty high dose to do as an in patient or out patient.
Does this sound correct?
Thanks Ashley

I have been having ketmine infusions for 4 years now. When it comes to the doses most doctors that I have seen treat every patient with the amount the person can handle as some use higher doses while others need smaller ones. The doctors I have seen always start at 60mg and go up each day until they get to the dose that is right for the person then keep it there. For me it stopped at 160mg as when they went higher my pain got severely worse. While others there went as high as 350mg. I even know of doctors in CA doing 750mg which to me and all the doctors I know think that amount is to much. The infusions are also given in 4 hr infusions no matter the amount. I have seen 4 different doctors for ketamine, one in NJ, one in NY, in RI and now PA, and this was their protocal but Iam sure many doctors have their own protocals on how they give ketamine and the doses. For the infusions we are also given versed to help us relax and sleep and to keep us from hallucinating. For him the 150 might me a high dose especially if hes doing the whole 150 in an hour and a half. I actually havent heard of doctors giving infusions in less then 4 hours as they want to give it time to slowly go in and infuse. The protocal dr schwartzman uses is starts at 70mg and goes as high as 200mg each infusion is given in a 4 hour time frame.
How did you react with the ketamine, did it help? Are you doing the 10 day out patient?

Samantha

Curious why does higher doses make the pain worse; is ketamine blocking receptors to reboot the brain?

The resons my doctors gave for some people developing high pain with ketmine is that what dose was given was to high and the bodies wouldnt accept it which causes neurotoxicity which in turn causes the bodies to react with more pain. When this happened to me they had to stop all ketamine for a week and then start at the begining again, so I started at 60 and went up and stopped at the 160 it was the 200 that was too high for me. But everyone at the office reacted different there were some that stayed at 60 while many were at the 360 mark.


Samantha

All the current research seems to indicate the time of infusion (4 hours) is more important than the dosage. It's all very individualized but the goal is to do the highest tolerated dose, but you have to work up to it. The standard protocol is start at 60, try to work up to 200 by the end of the 10 day treatment, usually 60,80,100,125,150, 2 days off 125, 150, 175, 200, 200 or something like that. Versed given concurrently to control the dreams and stuff and a 10 minute pause in the middle of the infusion. All the reputable dr's and clinics are doing it this way now. I'd be very leery of other things, especially shortened infusion times.

Ketamine Dr. Q
 

If you don't mind, what is the name of the doctor in NJ?:)