Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that was developed in 1963 and is currently used as an anesthetic on humans. It is also widely used in veterinary medicine. It is also sold on the street, typically once it has been stolen from veterinarians’ offices. Taking this drug can produce several side effects, some more dangerous than others but nonetheless requiring medical attention.

Euphoria and hallucinations are common ketamine side effects.

Some of the ketamine side effects are psychological feelings:

• Euphoria
• Knowing what you want to say but the inability to say it out loud, similar to aphasia
• Bad dreams or nightmares
• Loss of attention span
• Inability to exercise good judgment
• Hallucinating

Ketamine is odorless and tasteless, so it can be added to beverages without being detected, and it induces amnesia. Most commonly called a “Club Drug” it can be given to somebody without his or her knowledge. If this is the intended use, it is sometimes mixed with alcohol and the side effects on the unsuspecting person can be devastating. Since it’s an anesthetic, a person can easily black out and forget what happened while under the drug’s influence. According to womenshealth.gov. ketamine is used by people to commit a crime on other people.

There are multiple side effects to abusing ketamine, and they deal with the mental and physical characteristics of the body.

Effects on the body

Ketamine has a tendency to cause a wide variety of effects, to almost every area of the body. In the stomach, it can cause severe abdominal pain. While on ketamine you can easily injure yourself and not even realize due to the fact it is an anesthetic. Your lack of response to pain while under the influence can lead to a much more extensive injury. Unfortunately, if you can’t feel the pain, you don’t realize you have been injured therefore, if you hurt your knee you might continue to walk around pain free while under the influence of the drug. In the end, you might have pulled or torn more ligaments or worse, walking on it because you never felt the pain of your injury.

Special K: Can Your Body Fully Recover from the Long Term Damage?

Ketamine also causes long-term damage to the bladder and urinary tract. The use of ketamine causes thickening in the walls of these organs, even getting to the point where the person is unable to urinate. Being unable to urinate can then lead to long-term damage to the bladder. It can also cause severe kidney issues as the drug begins leaving the body. If it is mixed with amphetamines the combination can cause extremely high blood pressure.

What are the effects of continued abuse of the drug?

The longer a person abuses the drug the longer the effects will be felt. It can take a year or longer to get one’s system back to a normal state. Unfortunately for some people the more serious side effects such as memory loss and brain damage may end up being permanent and as with the abuse of most any drug, death is always a possibility. The person abusing ketamine also must realize that this can affect other areas of their life as well. This addiction will also negatively affect their loved ones, their professional career as well as their financial health.

If you need help recovering from ketamine side effects, call 800-915-1270 (Who Answers?) to learn more about your treatment options. Help is available 24/7, completely toll-free.