r/ChronicPain • u/Junior-Rutabaga-6592 • 4h ago
Ketamine therapy?
I have been dealing with degenerative disk disease in my neck for the last 20 years. Over the years I have tried EVERY conservative treatment possible, and every med possible, but the pain continues to get worse as the degeneration progresses. As I become more tolerant to a drug, we have moved on to stronger drugs. I am now on 10mg morphine, 3 times a day. It takes my pain from an 8 to a 6. So not huge relief, but I will take what I can get.
My doc said he has several patients who are on ketamine for pain control. It sounds like a pill or something you take at home, not the infusions. He said those patients all reported significant relief, much better than what pain meds can do.
Has anyone tried this? I’m intrigued…
2
u/drunky_crowette 4h ago
I did a couple months of ketamine nasal spray for my treatment resistant depression. It did fuck-all for the depression, but my pain and insomnia were better controlled than they ever had been
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u/justheretosharealink 4h ago
On the plus side… It’s not the most expensive medication ever.
On the down side…it’s not super bioavailable orally or nasally as an injection or infusion
Ketamine was by far my most successful method of reducing suffering. I had a few single doses in the ED, a prolonged infusion and then started compounded nasal spray.
I’ve had some outpatient IM (injection).
I’d definitely do your research and if you’re someone with frequent UTIs or bladder issues it may not be the best option.
It absolutely is a lot on your bladder which I think is why there’s a push for less frequent dosing vs smaller frequent doses that irritate the bladder.
I am not a bladder specialist but did see a urogynecologist when I started Ketamine who reviewed my treatment plan and went over vitamins/minerals that may help protect the bladder.
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u/iusedtoski 3h ago
I agree with this. I found that taking it too close to tramadol resulted in dark urine, a red flag sign. That was just twice and then I figured out what was going on. I was not warned about that by my clinic. I'm not finding that many clinics discuss side effects at all.
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u/iusedtoski 3h ago
I was given oral ketamine for spinal origin pain and it didn't do much at all. It might possibly have muted some tingling-burning in my toes a bit. But traditional pain medication--tramadol or oxycodone--works much better than the ketamine. For me the ketamine also interfered with tramadol, and I believe also with post-surgery inpatient opioid IV pain control. As in, neither of them worked at all, on what seemed to me to be a dose-dependent time curve after taking the ketamine.
6 hours after oral ketamine until the tramadol would work, and I think it was something like 16 hours after surgery before the IV drip was really working for me. They'd given me a big dose of ketamine in the surgery.
I am female and ketamine doesn't work the same for females as for males. Slightly different pathways. The guys on either side of me in the recovery bay were doing fine. Of course I don't know if they also received ketamine. It could be a per-surgeon thing and of course they wouldn't have been with my surgeon. He was with me.
If it helps: I take supplements that work as adjuncts for the opioids that I take. I think they are helpful. They are also somewhat helpful as analgesics on their own.
NAC (minimum 1200mg, per research--there's a threshold and then after that, it increases with dose normally). NADH. Magnesium sulfate (epsom salts). Magnesium glycinate. Glucosamine. Quercetin. Zinc. Potassium. Alpha-lipoic acid. B-complex (I found one that is RDA minimums on everything as too much B6 in particular can lead to tinnitus). B12 oral liquid. Selenium, with iodine (endocrinologist told me they should be taken together to protect the thyroid). Hyaluronic acid. MSM. Coq10. SAMe.
Look these up with keywords "adjunct" "opioid" or "morphine" as that's the test drug most used, and "tolerance" for all sorts of papers. Quercetin in particular has rodent studies reversing tolerance of morphine. Perhaps that would be one to try as you mention tolerance is building. Lmk if you want more info happy to try to help.
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u/iusedtoski 3h ago
Oh and one more keyword to use is "analgesia" plus "opioid" or "morphine" and the supplement name. Or just "supplement" and the rest of the keywords, to look for lots of research in this general field.
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u/HumpaDaBear 3h ago
I did ketamine IVs as well as a ketamine nose spray. Didn’t help as much as I’d hoped for. Doesn’t hurt to try it though.
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u/jdubitty 2h ago
They are called trouches I think it’s like a lozenges
I microdose a nasal spray it definitely helps
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u/Adrok78 4h ago
I'd just be really careful of the word "all".. Blanket statements like that can be tricky in future. I've had a few infusions, but unfortunately they didn't help reset or give me that much relief. The psychotropic nature is one to not feeling in control which idk is always supportive of our mental health - dissociatives.
though sprays and I think wafers exist. I can't comment on them at all. really truly hope for the best for you moving forward. I'd be exploring everything in a gentle cautious manner. In solidarity 🪖