Description
What is Ketamine HCl?
Ketamine HCl (brand name Ketalar) is a dissociative anesthetic (blocks sensory perception) that has been available by prescription in the U.S. since the 1970s for human and veterinary uses. Dissociative drugs can lead to distortion of sights, colors, sounds, self, and one’s environment. It is available in a clear liquid or off-white powder form for intravenous injection. Other dissociative drugs include phencyclidine (PCP) and dextromethorphan (DXM).
Ketamine can provide pain relief and short-term memory loss (for example, amnesia of a medical procedure).
In surgery, it is used as an induction and maintenance agent for sedation and to provide general anesthesia.
It has also been used for pain control in burn therapy, battlefield injuries, and in children who cannot use other anesthetics due to side effects or allergies.
This drug is also under research and holding promise as a treatment for severe depression in difficult cases.
It is often preferred as an anesthetic due to a lower chance for depressed breathing, as often occurs with opioids.
Pharmacology of Ketamine HCl
Pharmacologically, ketamine HCl is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, but at higher doses may also bind to the opioid mu and sigma receptors. This drug disrupts the neurotransmitter (brain chemical) glutamate. Glutamate is involved with learning, memory, emotion, pain recognition. It can exhibit sympathomimetic activity which can lead to rapid heart rate and elevated blood pressure.
It is related to phencyclidine (PCP) but has less than 10% of the potency of pure PCP.
This agent is a lipid-soluble compound, has an initial rapid distribution and large volume of distribution, with a half-life of 10 to 15 minutes. Secondarily, the drug distributes into peripheral tissues with a slower elimination half-life of up to 3 hours, undergoes hepatic metabolism, and is excreted in the urine.
How is Ketamine Abused?
In addition to its legal use as an anesthetic, ketamine has become a drug of abuse and recreational drug and has hallucinogenic properties. Dangerous designer drugs, which are synthesized analogs of the original drug, have been developed as well.
For recreational purposes is illicitly sourced via the diversion of prescription products.
When abuse, it is typically insufflated (“snorted” up the nose) in social situations. It is also injected intravenously or intramuscularly, consumed orally as a liquid, or added to marijuana to smoke. In the U.S., ketamine is in schedule III under the DEA Controlled Substances Act; however, it is not classified as a narcotic.
How Quickly Does It Work?
An injection yields a quick response, with effects occurring in 1 to 5 minutes.
“Snorting” takes roughly 5 to 15 minutes.
Oral consumption requires between 5 and 30 minutes.
The effects of abuse typically last 1 to 2 hours, but the users judgement, senses and coordination may be affected for up to 24 hours or longer. Sensations the user may seek include floating, stimulation, and visual effects.
High doses may dangerously reduce breathing, lead to muscles spasms or weakness, dizziness, balance difficulty, impaired vision, slurred speech, nausea and vomiting, and severe confusion.
Binge use, where the user indulges in the drug in excess amounts in a short period of time has been reported, as well.
Ketamine Recreational Dose Ranges
Dose Route
75 to 125 mg Intramuscular (IM) injection
60 to 250 mg Insufflation (intranasal or “snorting”)
50 to 100 mg intravenously (IV)
200 to 300 mg orally (by mouth)
Abuse of large doses can also lead to powerful visual hallucinations that are intensified by environmental stimuli. Coma and deep unconsciousness can occur. When higher doses of ketamine are abused, or during emergence, it is reported to produce and vivid dreams and an “out-of-body”, “K-hole” or “near-death” hallucinogenic experience, often reported as terrifying.
In smaller doses, such as those typically used recreationally, ketamine can lead to various effects such as:
-feelings of calmness and relaxation, relief from pain
-depressed mental state
-dizziness
-detached feeling from the body
-slurred speech
-diminished reflexes
-hallucinations lasting from 30 to 60 minutes
-nystagmus (repetitive, uncontrolled movements of the eyes)
Health Hazards & Side Effects:
The intensity of side effects is related to the dose of the drug consumed. Reported side effects may include:
For those who abuse ketamine HCl via insufflation (“snorting”) adverse reactions may be less serious, but still present. Fast heart rate, high blood pressure, hallucinations, and impaired consciousness upon presentation to the emergency department may be the most common effects with “snorting”.
Tolerance can build to the effects over time, requiring greater doses of the drug to reach the same level of effect. Reports suggest that the dissociative effect may also disappear over time. The dissociative effect alters the users perception of light and sound and produces feelings of detachment from self and surroundings.
Withdrawal may occur after chronic, extended use of ketamine. Withdrawal symptoms may include chills, sweats, excitation, hallucinations, teary eyes, and drug cravings.
The risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other blood-borne infectious diseases exists for those who share needles when drugs are used recreationally.
Overdose
With an overdose of ketamine, emergency care, such as 911, should be contacted immediately.
There is no antidote for this drug. Overdose situations are treated with symptomatic and also supportive care in the hospital setting. In the emergency department, adverse effects typically resolve in 1 to 3 hours.
Benzodiazepines such as lorazepam may be used if needed for seizures, excitation, or muscle rigidity.
Respiratory support is rarely needed, but assisted ventilation or supplemental oxygen may be required. Respiratory depression may be more likely if combined with sedatives.
Those who abuse this drug should be referred for drug counseling.
Extent of Abuse
The only known source of ketamine is via diversion of prescription products. Illicit production usually involves evaporating the liquid from the diverted injectable solution to produce a powder that is formed into tablets or sold as a powder for intranasal use.
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