According to several research studies, there is some evidence that with repeated use ketamine users can develop a tolerance and/or dependence to the drug. This can occur for anyone who is taking ketamine, either recreationally or by prescription. In either case, you may need to seek help for ketamine tolerance.

If you or someone you love abuses ketamine, call 800-915-1270 (Who Answers?) now to get help. 

What is Ketamine Tolerance?

Call our treatment hotline to get Ketamine tolerance help today!

While ketamine has been found to be beneficial in the management of battlefield injuries, as a therapeutic treatment option for radiation and burns, and as an option “in treatment-resistant depression” (NCBI), it is also abused recreationally for its dissociative and perception distorting effects. Tolerance for ketamine can occur as a result of long-term use in either case.

Individuals who experience ketamine tolerance will:

• Realize that the same amount of the drug no longer causes the same effects
• Feel that they are unable to get the effects they desire from the dose they are prescribed
• Often abuse the drug in higher and higher doses in order to achieve the effect they want

CESAR states, “Tolerance in many instances can be very high and develop rapidly to the point where after a period of time users will no longer experience the dissociative effects” at all.

How Can I Get Help?

Because the issue of tolerance can be very extreme with ketamine and cause users to begin abusing or further abuse the drug, seeking help is necessary. The conditions for which ketamine is prescribed are very intense, and patients will often experience many issues when they can no longer feel the effects of the drug. Furthermore, ketamine has been known to cause withdrawal in dependent individuals.

Talk to Your Doctor

If you are being prescribed ketamine, it is absolutely vital that you speak to your doctor about your issues with the drug. You may be able to be placed on another medication, one that does not cause tolerance and other issues as rapidly or intensely, or you may be examined with the conclusion that your need for the drug has diminished. Either way, it is important to discuss your issues with your doctor before upping your dose on your own as the drug can cause addiction.

How Ketamine Tolerance & Withdrawal Effects Drive Continued Drug Use

Seek Addiction Treatment

If you have been abusing ketamine and are experiencing an incredibly high tolerance for the drug, you may be addicted to it as well. Feeling that you constantly need to take higher doses or that your need for the drug and its effects exceed all else are signs that you need formal treatment in order to stop.

Talk to Someone

The drug causes dissociation, detachment from the environment and from self, and derealization (where one often loses touch with reality). This may be the effect you were looking for when you started to abuse ketamine, but it could be isolating you from everyone to the point where you do not realize how bad your problem is.

Talking to a friend or loved one will allow you to get a perspective from outside yourself which is likely something you have not had in a while, if your tolerance for and dependence on ketamine has had you taking incredibly high doses of the drug.

Seek help for ketamine abuse today by calling us at 800-915-1270 (Who Answers?) toll-free.